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Daybreak: Bibi’s Coalition Jigsaw Falling Into Place?

Plus the Hagel “Friends of Hamas” rumor gets put to rest with gusto

by
Adam Chandler
February 20, 2013
Iron Dome(AFP)
Iron Dome(AFP)

• Following yesterday’s announcement that Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua would join Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, it seems other parties may now be lining up. Rumored to be next: Shas and Kadima, which would leave Bibi 10 seats short of a majority. [Times of Israel]

• Writing in the Daily News, Dan Friedman suggests that he was (unintentionally) the source of a rumor that turned into a widely reported story about Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel’s supposed address to a nonexistent group called Friends of Hamas. [NYDN]

• In a new report, an American security expert suggests that Iran’s successful completion of a nuclear weapon program would not set off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. It was not written in Slate. [JPost]

• Failure to stop American sequester would have dire effects on U.S. aid to Israel, including military support and Iron Dome funding, says an Israeli business paper. [Globes]

• JTA takes a look at Max Aaron, a 20-year-old Jewish figureskater who’s aiming for the gold medal in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. [JTA]

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.