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Sundown: Hamas to Take to the Streets

Plus Hanukkah in Omaha, and more

by
Marc Tracy
December 23, 2011
(Amazon)
(Amazon)

The Scroll will be dark on Monday in observance of Christmas (hey, it’s a federal holiday!); it and Tablet Magazine will publish lightly next week.

• Without renouncing violence, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal pledged mass nonviolent protests against Israel. [AP/WP]

• As explosions rocked Damascus, the United States insisted that an Arab League plan to restore peace (and, potentially, enact regime change) be permitted to follow through. [Haaretz]

• President Abbas met with several former prisoners freed as part of the Gilad Shalit swap, including one responsible for the murder of an Israeli teenager. [AP/WP]

• Josh Block, the former AIPAC spokesperson involved in a controversy over liberal bloggers’ remarks and charges of anti-Semitism, was released by Rachel Kleinfeld’s Truman National Security Project, where he had been a fellow. [Salon]

• The amazing story of a multi-year film shoot—for a biopic about the Soviet Jewish physicist Lev Landau—that has basically become its own totalitarian state trapped in 1952, complete with a megalomaniacal director who is referred to as “Boss.” You’re asking if the director is Jewish? You need to ask if the director is Jewish? [GQ]

• A company uses baby foreskins to try to grow human skin. You’re asking if the company is German? You need to ask if the company is German? [Huff Post]

• A bittersweet visit to several former strongholds of Jewish life in both Poland and Spain finds the author mourning what was lost. [NYRB]

• Contributing editor Rachel Shukert remembers celebrating Hanukkah as one of the few Jews in Omaha, Nebraska. [VF]

Have happy fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh nights of Hanukkah!

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