To conclude with something lighter: Lior Zaltzman has discovered a scene from the 1967 Hollywood musical Thoroughly Modern Millie in which the protagonist, played by Julie Andrews, sings in Yiddish at a Jewish wedding. The song is a medley of traditional tunes, and Andrews’s pronunciation is reasonably good. André Previn, a Jew born in Berlin, arranged the film’s songs, and the famed composer Elmer Bernstein, the child of East European Jewish immigrants, wrote the score, so it’s possible either of them came up with the idea. In any case, the scene suggests a time when American Jews were fully part of New York City’s cultural mosaic, and such scenes didn’t raise too many Jewish or Gentile eyebrows.

Concluded in 1979, the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty ended nearly 30 years of intermittent warfare, and proved one of the most enduring and beneficial products of Middle East diplomacy. But Egypt may not have been upholding its end of the bargain, write Jonathan Schanzer and Mariam Wahba:

Article III, subsection two of the peace agreement’s preamble explicitly requires both parties “to ensure that that acts or threats of belligerency, hostility, or violence do not originate from and are not committed from within its territory.” This clause also mandates both parties to hold accountable any perpetrators of such acts.

Recent Israeli operations along the Philadelphi Corridor, the narrow strip of land bordering Egypt and Gaza, have uncovered multiple tunnels and access points used by Hamas—some in plain sight of Egyptian guard towers. While it could be argued that Egypt has lacked the capacity to tackle this problem, it is equally plausible that it lacks the will. Either way, it’s a serious problem.

Was Egypt motivated by money, amidst a steep and protracted economic decline in recent years? Did Cairo get paid off by Hamas, or its wealthy patron, Qatar? Did the Iranians play a role? Was Egypt threatened with violence and unrest by the Sinai’s Bedouin Union of Tribes, who are the primary profiteers of smuggling, if it did not allow the tunnels to operate? Or did the Sisi regime take part in this operation because of an ideological hatred of Israel?