Updates

UK

• An Israeli theatre company due to perform Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice in London’s Globe Theatre — Shakespeare’s original theatre — is being targeted by anti-Israel boycotters. In response, Steven Marche explained the play’s complex antisemitic history in the New York Times and Rafael Medoff contemplated the morality of banning plays in the Jerusalem Post. (NYT, JPost)

Jordan

• Oraib al-Wantawi in the Lebanese Daily Star explains how Jordan is supporting negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in order to avoid answering difficult questions about the majority of Jordanians who are ethnically Palestinian. (Daily Star)

Islamist Winter

• Ryan Mauro notes that the recent Kuwaiti elections resulted in a victory for Islamists, despite the previous elections going the way of secular parties and possibly indicating an Islamist rise across the Arab world. (World Threats)

• The situation in Yemen continued to deteriorate as al-Qaeda linked groups expanded their influence. (POMED)

Syria

• Syrian rebels repelled a government attack on the town of Rastan, the UN and the Syrian regime traded condemnations again and violence spilled over into Lebanon. (AP, Reuters, Via Media)