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Daybreak: Iran and the 2012 Election

Plus IDF makes plans for Gaza offensive, and more in the news

by
Marc Tracy
January 17, 2012
President Obama at a fundraising rally last week.(Scott Olson/Getty Images)
President Obama at a fundraising rally last week.(Scott Olson/Getty Images)

• All else aside, the rock of Iran’s nuclear program and the hard place of sanctions squeezing energy supply put President Obama in an extremely difficult position in an election year. [NYT]

• The NYPD have arrested the man allegedly responsible for the recent spate of anti-Semitic vandalism in various Brooklyn neighborhoods. He’s Jewish. [NY Daily News]

• Cast Lead 2? The IDF’s southern command has been ordered to plan for a major Gaza offensive in case the rockets continue. A more important question is: Why would Israel expect more rockets? [JPost]

• Maybe for the same reason the U.S. and Israel postponed a joint military drill: Israel may be in earnest planning a strike on Iran. Or not. (More at 10.) [NYT]

• When Egypt’s parliament meets within a week, its speaker will be Muslim Brotherhood. The army okayed it. [WP]

• Syria continues its slip into civil war. [NYT]

• The Websites of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and El Al were temporarily shut down by hackers yesterday, similar to the theft of thousands of Israelis’ credit card numbers a couple weeks back. [NYT]

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