• U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will visit Israel on July 27 to address the Iranian nuclear issue as well as, potentially, West Bank settlements. [JTA]
• In a statement, meantime, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected American calls to cease building settlements in East Jerusalem, asserting sovereignty over “united Jerusalem”. [NYT]
• In a skirmish, Gazans shot a rocket-propelled grenade at Israel soldiers over the border; the soldiers shot one unarmed Palestinian man, wounding him severely. [JTA]
• Last week, in the first-ever high-level meeting between the two governments, a senior Palestinian negotiator met with Iran’s foreign minister. [Arutz Sheva]
• And Jason Lezak set a new Maccabiah swimming record in the 100-meter freestyle: 47.78 seconds. [Haaretz]
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.