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Sundown: Britain Kicks Israeli Diplomat Out

Plus Shimon Peres’s ‘sex appeal,’ and more in the news

by
Marc Tracy
March 23, 2010
President Shimon Peres earlier this week.(Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images)
President Shimon Peres earlier this week.(Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images)

• Great Britain expelled an unnamed Israeli diplomat. According to Foreign Secretary David Miliband, this was to protest the alleged misuse of fake British passports by “a state intelligence service” in the assassination of Hamas weapons procurer Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. [NYT]

• Bonus! Last paragraph of the same article notes that South African authorities reportedly couldn’t come up with footage of the assassins in a Johannesburg airport because said footage has been “mysteriously wiped.”

• 86-year-old Israeli President Shimon Peres said of the Negev Desert, “This is an attractive area. If I wasn’t a politician, I would even say it had sex appeal.” [Ynet]

• The Arab League head wants to cultivate closer ties with Iran. [Haaretz]

• Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California) said it was appropriate that health care passed when it did: “The meaning of the seder is that no one should be left behind.” [JTA]

• Mark Bittman tells you how to make olive oil matzah. [NYT]

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