Sundown: Biden Defends Israeli Self-Defense
Plus Obama forsakes sticks and stones against Syria, and more

• Speaking to a Rabbinical Assembly confab today, Vice President Biden insisted Israel retains the right to take action against Iran on its own. [JTA/Times of Israel]
• Jeff Goldberg on the fierce linguistic assault the Obama administration has launched against President Assad’s regime, which is engaged in its own fierce assault—but like with guns—against its own people. [Bloomberg View]
• The saga over Franz Kafka’s papers continues to defy the use of any adjective other than “Kafkaesque.” [Haaretz]
• The leader of the negotiations that brought this morning’s Likud-Kadima deal actually had had to leave the prime minister’s office following harassment allegations. [Haaretz Diplomania]
• The chemistry of delicious bagels. [i09]
• A rabbi/accused Torah thief used an East Village synagogue as an alibi, which said synagogue denies. [The Villager]
We hear there will be a Mighty Rumpus around 11pm tonight at Park Slope’s Congregation Beth Elohim to honor the life and work of Maurice Sendak. Here’s “One Was Johnny”: lyrics by Sendak, music by Carole King.
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.