While the Russian-born English-language writer Vladimir Nabokov’s warm attitudes toward Jews, and principled opposition to anti-Semitism, have often been attributed to the fact that he was married to a Jewish woman, Shalom Goldman argues that these feelings went deeper still. Indeed, he claims, they were something of a family legacy:

Nabokov’s parents and grandparents were prominent liberals and advocates for Jewish rights in tsarist Russia. . . . Vladimir’s grandfather Dmitri Nabokov (1826–1904) . . . became an advocate for Jewish rights and an outspoken opponent of Konstantin Pobedonostev, Tsar Alexander III’s reactionary adviser who famously declared of Russian Jews that “one third will be baptized, one third will starve, and one third will emigrate, . . . then we shall be rid of them.” Pobedonostev vilified Dmitri Nabokov for his objections to the persecution of Russian Jews.

Dmitri’s son, Nabokov’s father Vladimir, condemned the publication of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the notorious pamphlet first circulated in 1903. . . . When he condemned the Kishinev pogrom of 1903 and pointed the finger of blame at the politicians and policemen who enabled the attacks, he suffered the consequences of taking a principled stand.

In his fiction, Nabokov links the persistence of anti-Semitism to the rise of totalitarian regimes. Two short stories written in the 1930s, “Cloud, Castle, Lake” and “Tyrants Destroyed,” express the writer’s contempt for the Nazi and Stalinist regimes. . . . The persistence of anti-Semitism, even after the Nazi crimes against the Jews had been revealed, is the theme of another Nabokov short story, “Conversation Piece.”

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?