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Sundown: A Hot Summer in Sinai

Plus, Iranian leaders feud, Drake joins Kravitz, and more

by
Marc Tracy
August 19, 2011
Israeli troops stand guard near the Egyptian border.(Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)
Israeli troops stand guard near the Egyptian border.(Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

• Israeli-Egyptian tensions rose as Egypt formally complained about the shooting of three officers in Sinai yesterday and Israel alleged that yesterday’s attackers infiltrated Israel through Egypt rather than Gaza. [NYT]

• Israel is blaming Popular Resistance Committees, a Gaza-based group with ties to Hamas and Hezbollah, for yesterday’s attacks. [The Envoy]

• In Iran, is Supreme Leader Khamanei gearing up to arrest his underling President Ahmadinejad? [Frontline]

• Despite prior statements that they would, Sen. Joe Lieberman and Rep. Eric Cantor will not attend Glenn Beck’s rally next week in Israel. [Washington Jewish Week]

• Former Sen. Russ Feingold, Democrat from Wisconsin, won’t run for president, senator, or governor. [Ben Smith]

• Bar Refaeli has shot a new bikini catalogue. Yes, Virginia, there is a photo gallery. [Page Six]

• This Ed Koch robo-call in that Queens/Brooklyn race has to be read (and ideally heard) to be believed. [PolitickerNY]

• Half-black Jewish songsters unite: Drake is featured on a new Lenny Kravitz track. [The Fader]

• A Forward editorial notes all the “Rich Jews for Tax Hikes,” and rightfully schleps naches from them. [Forward]

• The woman in That Black-and-White Photo You’ve Seen in Italian Restaurants speaks out. But the photographer was Ruth Orkin, a Jew! [MSNBC]

• Hebrew U. is 57th. [Haaretz]

• Frequent Vox Tablet contributor Jon Kalish has a podcast on contemporary musicians covering old pioneer songs. [iTunes]

Contributing editor Mark Oppenheimer gets frequently insightful, frequently infuriating critic Lee Siegel exactly right: he’s an intellectual tummler. As opposed to a tumbler, born under punches (I’m so thin).

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