Navigate to News section

Daybreak: First Hearing for Museum Shooter

Good reasons for low hopes in the Mideast, and more in the news

by
Hadara Graubart
September 03, 2009

• James von Brunn, the alleged Holocaust Memorial Museum shooter, went to court for the first time yesterday; the prosecution made the case that his crime was premeditated and that with “nothing to lose,” von Brunn cannot be safely set free. [WaPo]
• Citing “violations of international humanitarian law,” Norway has divested from the Israeli company that supplied surveillance materials for a separation wall in the West Bank. [JPost]
• The Israeli government “hinted” that it may retroactively legalize construction in two settlements that would otherwise need to be destroyed. [Haaretz]
• The New York Times’ Ethan Bronner makes the wise point that, with the skepticism of everyone invested in peace between Israelis and Palestinians, “low expectations all around may actually make it easier to achieve results.” [NYT]
• After a visit to Moscow by Natan Sharansky, the Jewish Agency, which he chairs, has partnered with a Russian philanthropy giant to expand Jewish education programs in the former Soviet Union. [JPost]

Hadara Graubart was formerly a writer and editor for Tablet Magazine.