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Daybreak: Israeli Mosque Vandalized

Plus SecDef warns of Israel’s isolation, and more in the news

by
Marc Tracy
October 03, 2011

• A mosque in an Arab village in northern Israel was burned last night, a suspected “price tag” attack perpetrated by Jewish settlers. Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed outrage. [Haaretz]

• En route there, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta argued that while Israel maintained its military edge, it was “isolating itself diplomatically.” [AP/WP]

• Vice President Biden, now more than ever the administration’s main pitchman to the Jewish community, told a group of rabbis on a conference call that he helped persuade President Obama not to release convicted spy Jonathan Pollard; the phrase “over my dead body” came up. [NYT]

• The ruling Egyptian military is showing signs that it will allow relatively free and fair parliamentary elections this November, complete with the Muslim Brotherhood’s participation. [NYT]

• Netanyahu insisted his cabinet would vote on the recommendations of the committee formed in the wake of the social-justice protests. The leaders of those protests have rejected the recommendations as too mild; the far-right elements in Bibi’s coalition have rejected them as too much. [JPost]

• Opposition leader Tzipi Livni will visit the United Kingdom, now that she can no longer be credibly sued for war crimes there. [Ynet]

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