Does history repeat itself? The strongman prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, told an anti-Semitic joke this week featuring–of all things–the Holocaust. But don’t worry, it’s OK, because it’s not like the Italian government had anything to do with carrying out the Holocaust… right? Right? [NYT Lede]
In other hate news, it looks like “Price Tag” is very unfortunately back, as extremist settlers have reportedly torched some Korans in a West Bank mosque. [YNet]
This isn’t as bad, but it still sucks: Israeli Russians are–as a group–very right-wing, as evidenced by the following quote–which I think could have come out of a speech by Alexander I: “We will retain the land of our country, whether in open war or in everyday persistent fight for every centimeter of the Motherland.” [+972]
The situation is dire on the Israeli educational policy front as well: A former education official in the first Netanyahu government says that there’s no good reason why Israeli students should have to study a “Western curriculum,” including math and English. [Ha’aretz]
And finally, some comic relief: The prologue to “Al Jaffee’s Mad Life,” a biography of the MADD Magazine creator. [Heeb]
