• Christians and Jews alike have found a reason to love the Hebrew Bible—not just as a record of God’s laws, but as a treasure map detailing where to drill for oil in Israel. [Examiner]
• Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen makes an over-simplified, by-the-books argument against the necessity of “hate crime” laws, but ends with a provocative idea on the Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting: “To suggest that the effects of this attack were felt only by the Jewish or the black communities … ghettoizes both its real and purported victims. It’s a consequence that von Brunn himself might applaud.” [WPost]
• The Anti-Defamation League and some other Jewish groups are chagrined that President Obama has chosen to give a Medal of Freedom to Mary Robinson; they blame the former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights for allowing the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban to be dominated by anti-Israel voices. [ABC]
• Renovations have begun on the oldest synagogue in Beirut, with the approval of Hezbollah: “We respect the Jewish religion.… We have an issue with Israel’s occupation of land.” [LAT]
• On that note, Hezbollah is stockpiling weapons in its capacity as “Iran’s insurance policy” against Israel. [London Times]
Hadara Graubart was formerly a writer and editor for Tablet Magazine.