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Sundown: Turkish Turn Feared

Plus R.I.P. Erich Segal, Hezbollah and drugs, and more

by
Marc Tracy
January 19, 2010

• The Israeli military intelligence head warned that Turkey is “moving further away from the secular Ataturk approach, closer to a radical approach,” and “no longer needs a close relationship with Israel.” [Haaretz]
• Erich Segal, the Harvard classics professor who wrote the popular novel Love Story, died at 72. Segal also penned Love Story’s screenplay, as well as the script of—who would have guessed?—The Beatles’s Yellow Submarine movie. [NYT]
• A Crete synagogue was set ablaze for the second time in two weeks. Israel asked Greece to prevent further attacks and to aid in the temple’s reconstruction. [Ynet]
• Hezbollah’s activities are funded in part through European drug-dealing, according to a big report in Der Spiegel. [Ynet]
• Sacramento Kings forward Omri Casspi, the first Israeli in the NBA, got into a heated argument with his coach over declining playing-time. [Haaretz]
• The papers of Chaim Potok, the rabbi and author of The Chosen, were moved to their new home: the University of Pennsylvania’s rare book and manuscript library. [ArtsBeat]

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.