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Netanyahu's policies are, from Judt's left-of-center point of view, awful. But he expressed optimism that political developments there would lead to a more constructive debate here.

Referring to the man expected to be Israel's next foreign minister, the ultra-nationalist Avigdor Lieberman, he said, "A man like Lieberman, if he appeared in the government, particularly in a senior position in any other democratic country, he'd provoke a huge public debate. It may be that what it shows is that Netanyahu may be more than a little bit autistic—that is to say that he is so far away from the mainstream, I don't mean anti-Israeli or pro-Israeli, I just mean mainstream thought, not only on the Gaza problem, the Israel problem, the Palestine problem, but also on the sort of people you should have in your government—that it opens up a space in which to discuss Israel in ways that are not about Israel per se."

Judt, who has lived in Israel and volunteered as a driver and translator for the I.D.F. during the Six Day War, described a recent evolution of the political consensus in Israel as a "radical sort of series of steps, a shift to a sort of nationalist, mostly secular territorialist, resentfulist, excuse my language, fuck youist attitude towards the outside world." It is a sign, he said "that something has gone wrong in the Israeli political system."

Asked if the administration of Barack Obama, who in a press conference last night acknowledged that Netanyahu's government didn't make the realization of a two-state solution any easier, would apply more pressure on Israel, Judt said, "Yes, if they know how to do it."

Referring to Netanyahu's participation in the peace process, he said, "The only person who can force him into it is an American president who puts their feet to the fires and says, 'I'm talking to Iran, I don't care what you guys think, we're having a Palestinian state. We're closing down the settlements. If you open up a single new settlement or expand them, you can forget about your three billion a year.'"

But Judt said that supporters of more forceful American posture toward Israel on negotiating with its neighbors had received what he called "mixed messages."

The positive signs, according to Judt, were the appointment of George Mitchell over Dennis Ross as an envoy to the region, which he took to mean that the administration sees the Israeli-Palestinian issue as one that "doesn't have to be regarded as somehow unique and outside of history," but rather one that is "much more like Northern Ireland. No clear-cut wrong side or right side, but a situation that can't go on."

Judt was likewise enthusiastic about Obama's efforts to engage Iran in a constructive dialogue. "Because," he said, "in Israel, Iran is a sort of measuring stick. If you are absolutely pro-Israel you never compromise on Iran. But from Obama's point of view, Iran is absolutely vital to cover him in his overwhelming focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan. If you were doing a sort of Kissingeresque view of international interests, you'd see that Washington and Iran have similar interests. And I think the Israelis see that and realize that the message of the opening up to Tehran is that America will look after its own real interests and not always follow Israel's view of the matter. Those are very much counter to the 'we can do anything because American will let us' view.

Judt said that the mixed message came when Obama failed to come to the defense of Charles Freeman, the Israel critic who was up for a key intelligence post.

"He let him hang. I think that was a mistake, not because of the guy, he can always be replaced, but because symbolically it said to the Israelis 'safe, no pressure.'"

Judt said that there had already been clear signs that the political debate about Israel was becoming more vigorous in the United States. He pointed to the editorial page of The New York Times, which he said was a barometer of mainstream thinking and had published several pieces by Roger Cohen arguing that it was quite all right to criticize Israel. He also said there was a more reasonable and mature discussion on various blogs about the proposal to boycott Israel.

"The level of conversation was much better than the old days, which are not so old, which was one side saying, 'Boycott Israel, it's a fascist state,' and the other side was saying, 'That's Auschwitz talk.'"

That discussion would open up further as Israel appointed officials and followed policies that many Jews in and out of Israel took issue with, he said.

"The other thing is that as Israel does stupider things domestically and therefore Jews do stupider things to Jews, other Jews feel liberated to say that was a stupid thing to do. When Jews do stupid things to Arabs or nasty things to Arabs there is much greater pressure on mainstream Jewish opinion to remain silent, which I disapprove of, but I understand it. Now, no one I know feels that they have to be silent about the fact that Israel has gone a step too far in even considering Lieberman as foreign minister."

He added, "A lot of people in this country beyond John Mearsheimer and other critics of the Israel lobby have started to say, 'How dysfunctional is it that we have to think twice before pointing out that our closest foreign ally may appoint as foreign minister someone who is going to do profound damage to our interests as well as Israel's?'"

And it was there, he said, that he saw an opening for greater debate.

"The lobby will fight back very hard because this is a sort of determining question: Are you allowed to criticize a part of Israeli politics without being thought to be anti-Israeli? If the lobby were smart, they would say it is O.K. to be angry about Lieberman and Netanyahu, but they are not particularly smart."

"The whole point of Zionism," Judt said, "was to make a normal country in which Jews were just like everyone else and had a world of politics just like everyone else and could therefore live real modern lives like everyone else. And if we can't talk about Israel as a normal country that does good things and bad things, screws up and is sometimes a lousy, dysfunctional ally, the same way Italy sometimes is, then Zionism has failed."

That is likely to make life more difficult for the Obama administration, which is in favor of the two-state solution that Netanyahu is skeptical of. In particular, it should make things complicated for Hillary Clinton, whose legacy will probably be judged much more on the progress in the Middle East  than her goodwill tour of Indonesia. 

As one expert on the region told me recently,  the lack of an obvious opportunity or an impending crisis in the region essentially means that the administration, its secretary of state, and its special envoy, George Mitchell, will have their hands tied.

One of Lieberman's conditions for joining Netanyahu's government is that the centrist Kadima party be asked to join as well, but it's not clear that that's going to happen.

On a conference call just now, Mitchell told Jewish leaders that the administration had in no way been pushing for a more moderate government.

Children of Turkish billionaires are getting in on the fun, too. According to city records, young Murat Ozyegin, whose father Husnu Ozyegin is one of the 250 richest people on the planet, just paid $6.2 million for an apartment on East 66th Street. His place has 2,458 square feet, three bedrooms, a 16-foot-long gallery, a living room, a dining room, a maid's room and a breakfast room off the kitchen.

According to a company Web site, Mr. Ozyegin, who holds a BS in Industrial Management and Economics from Carnegie Mellon (and an MBA from Harvard), now works for his father. His previous employer was Bear Stearns.

Though he briefly thanked an introductory speaker for complimenting his wife's engagement with Irish issues, including the peace process, and made a glancing reference to her earlier appearance at the Irish American Presidential Forum, the former president made no other allusions to her candidacy.

Instead, he focused upon the Good Friday Agreement, which was reached 10 years ago. He invoked the memory of assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who he said had told him after shaking Yasser Arafat's hand on the White House lawn in 1993, "You do not make peace with your friends."

Clinton suggested that Rabin's sentiment had played a significant role in his decision to issue Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams a visa to come to the U.S. in early 1994. And he praised Adams for having operated "with good faith" afterward, admitting that, "If he hadn't, I would have looked like a fool."

Clinton also referred to the incongruously close working relationship that has formed at the head of Northern Ireland's devolved government between Adams' party colleague Martin McGuinness, an erstwhile IRA commander, and Ian Paisley, once the most hardline of pro-British unionists.

"When Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley came here joined at the hip like Siamese twins, I thought, 'Rabin is smiling down on us from heaven,'" he said.

As to his own role, a soft-voiced Clinton said, "I got a lot more out of this than I gave. It was a joy. Every single minute."

He added that the pleasures even included his first meeting with the famously belligerent Paisley. He merely said hello, he recalled, before being treated to a verbal onslaught:

"For 20 minutes, I got it with both barrels. I didn't have to worry about forgetting my talking points, and falling asleep was not an option."

The former president was not entirely self-deprecating, however. When he spoke about the contribution of his special envoy George Mitchell to the peace process, he referred to the former Senate majority leader as "an inspired choice."

He added that because Mitchell's ancestry included Irish and Lebanese strains, "he was well prepared genetically for this. He understood the poetry and the BS"

Diverting at one point from his memories of the peace process, Clinton alluded to the strength of the economy in the Republic of Ireland and contrasted it with America's state of economic health.

"I expect sometime within the next three years, the Irish Republic might be giving foreign aid to the United States," he said light-heartedly. "Lord knows, we're entitled to it."

But Senator Mitchell owns an excellent reason for letting all steroidal criticism roll off his back: His 3,150-square-foot, two-unit apartment at the posh Grand Millennium condo at 1965 Broadway, listed for $6.65 million, has gone to contract. That deal was signed two days before the Mitchell Report’s release.

The apartment’s interior was designed for the senator and his wife, Heather, by Robert A.M. Stern, the architect once famously mocked as a suede-loafered “Disney party boy,” on account of his massive projects for the Mickey Mouse conglomerate. Incidentally, Mr. Mitchell was Disney’s chairman until January 2007.

So the apartment has Floridian touches, like four huge closets in the master bedroom suite (two are walk-in, and one is 12-by-9.5 feet). And that suite leads to a 197-square-foot terrace, where, according to marketing pictures, there are scarily precise rectangular planted hedges.

One space to the left, a curvy living/dining room, has a full row of windows that stretch from the ceiling to the cherry wood floors. (The floors in the windowed gourmet kitchen, of course, are marble.)

The listing broker, Brown Harris Stevens’ Michael Reed, said he and the Mitchells wouldn’t comment. Mr. Reed listed a similar two-unit spread one floor up, which sold last month for $6 million to the science writer James Gleick, a three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, city records show.

Did Manny Alexander, who had been groomed to succeed Cal Ripken Jr. at shortstop for the Orioles, really think steroids would make him more likely to play in thousands of consecutive games?

Didn’t Gary Bennett realize that buying HGH while playing in Coors Field is redundant?

Does Barry Bonds feel a little less lonely now?

When Kevin Brown punched a wall, knocking him out of action for a month of the 2004 season… was that ‘roid rage?

Was Jose Canseco using steroids when he saved that lady’s player piano in the Simpsons’ episode “Homer at the Bat”?

Do steroids make a pitcher throw shards of bat at Mike Piazza? If so, given the pervasive nature of steroid use in baseball, is Piazza in constant danger?

Lenny Dykstra was famous for leaving tobacco stains all over the center field wall at Veterans’ Stadium. Given the evidence of his steroid use, does this still count as disgusting?

Will records like Matt Franco’s most pinch-hit walks in a season still have resonance to future generations of baseball fans?

Just how high would Eric Gagne’s ERA have been with the Red Sox if he’d played clean?

Does drug use explain David Justice’s harsh treatment of Halle Berry?

Considering that Paul Lo Duca hit just 14 home runs in nearly 1,000 at bats for the Mets, don’t fans have a right to demand a note of apology on the same Dodger Stadium stationary Lo Duca reportedly used to thank his dealer?

Did Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman think it was strange that after finalizing Andy Pettitte’s one-year, $16 million deal just a day before the release of the Mitchell Report, his agent yelled out, “No take-backs!”

Didn’t Gary Sheffield think $50,000 was too much to pay for, as he reportedly said in the Mitchell Report, “vitamins?”

Were the boos directed at Mets reliever Scott Schoeneweis artificially amplified by HGH?

Did HGH give Mo Vaughn the munchies?

Was Toronto Blue Jays catcher Gregg Zaun’s criticism of the Mitchell Report related to the copy of Zaun’s check for purchase of steroids found in the Mitchell Report?

And a bonus: On the night of August 7, 1989, Mets left fielder Mark Carreon misplayed a deep fly ball by Philadelphia’s Charlie Hayes, costing the Mets the game. In light of Carreon’s alleged steroid use, do my tears still count?

Shortly thereafter, a link on the Drudge Report -- "complete steroid list" -- directed browsers to the Web site of WNBC, the New-York-based flagship station of the NBC network. There, justice reporter Jonathan Dienst had posted a roster of player names, "expected" to be included later in the afternoon in the official Mitchell Report, which included stars like Albert Pujols, Nomar Garciaparra, Johnny Damon, and Jason Varitek.

But soon after posting that list, Mr. Dienst received a phone call from an official at Major League Baseball questioning the accuracy of his reporting. WNBC soon took down the list and posted a note, saying that it had received a phone call from an official at Major League Baseball questioning the accuracy of its reporting. The note added that "original sources are standing by the preliminary list provided to WNBC.com" and that they were "working to clarify" the list.

Today, The Smoking Gun called into question those WNBC "sources," writing:

And of course, the WNBC.com list -- which is no longer online, but which The Smoking Gun has preserved an image of -- contains many names that are nowhere to be found in the Mitchell Report. In addition to the stars mentioned earlier, there were also Ivan Rodriguez, Jeff Bagwell, Milton Bradley, Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Trot Nixon, Mike Cameron, Brady Anderson, Albert Belle, Kyle Farnsworth, and Wally Joyner, none of whose names ended up in the report.

A chain email that sounded like the one referred to on Deadspin had whipped into Media Mob's inbox yesterday morning, a fact which also made us curious about WNBC.com's sourcing. Reached by phone yesterday evening, Mr. Dienst of WNBC told Media Mob that he had not received the list as part of a chain email, but rather that he had got it from two "separate and distinct" sources. One, he said, was "in very well with Mitchell's people," while the other was "in very well with baseball people."

"They came to us with the same names in the same orders," said Mr. Dienst. "They had different typings. One had first names first. The other was reversed. But the lists matched exactly."

Mr. Dienst said that after yanking his inaccurate list from the WNBC.com web site, he hit the phones trying to figure out what had gone wrong.

"I spoke to a fourth person after I got the complaint from Major League Baseball," said Mr. Dienst. "His explanation was that the people who shared the stuff with me, had an earlier version that had probably been [subsequently] changed and edited because they had been working on the report up until the final minute."

Mr. Dienst said he regretted the error. "We want to be right," he said. "We like to be right and first. But we want to be right before we're first."

The 77 names ran the gamut, as Mitchell wrote in his report, “from players whose major league careers were brief to potential members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. They include both pitchers and position players, and their backgrounds are as diverse as those of all major league players.”

Some of the most prominent players named include Clemens, Giambi and Pettitte, Miguel Tejada, Lenny Dykstra, Juan Gonzalez, and of course, Barry Bonds.

The evidence against players varies widely, from a hearsay case against current Baltimore Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts, to the evidence against former Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca, whose canceled checks and a thank-you note on Dodger Stadium stationary was provided to Mitchell by former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski.

The case against Roger Clemens rests in large part from a written agreement between the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Northern California and Roger Clemens’ longtime trainer, Brian McNamee. He was interviewed three times by Mitchell, and advised that his statements were covered by the agreement.

According to the report, Clemens approached McNamee in June of 1998 about steroids, and began taking them, with McNamee injecting Clemens at his home. Clemens pitched to a 3.55 ERA in the first half of 1998 and a 1.71 ERA during the second half of the season. He struck out 120 batters in 119 innings during the first half; 151 in 115 2/3 in the second half.

After coming to the Yankees, McNamee was then hired by New York at Clemens’ recommendation, according to the report, and was paid both by the team and Clemens himself. Clemens took both steroids and human growth hormone (HGH) on many occasions, according to McNamee.

As for Andy Pettitte, he reportedly approached McNamee about human growth hormone while recovering from elbow tendonitis during the 2002 season. McNamee said he traveled to Tampa, where Pettitte was rehabilitating, and injected him with HGH. Pettitte’s ERA in the first half of 2002 was 4.74—in the second half, 2.70.

The most prominent recent Mets named in the report were Todd Hundley and Lo Duca. Hundley had been a defense-first catcher with the Mets, whose career-high in home runs was 16. After taking steroids that Radmonski promised would allow Hundley to hit 40 home runs, he set the single-season record for home runs by a Met with 41. According to the report, after the season, “Hundley took [Radmonski] out to dinner.”

According to former Hundley teammate Chris Donnels, the two discussed performance-enhancing drugs many times while teammates; Hundley was found in Radmonski’s address book as well when it was seized by Federal agents.

Hundley went on to introduce Radmonski to Lo Duca when Lo Duca played for the Los Angeles Dodgers. According to the report, Radmonski supplied Lo Duca with human growth hormone six or more times. Radmonski supplied Mitchell with checks from Lo Duca, along with the handwritten note of thanks.

The Lo Duca case also provides insight into the level of knowledge front offices had concerning steroid use.

According to handwritten notes from the Los Angeles Dodgers discussing Lo Duca, “Steroids aren’t being used anymore on him. Big part of this. Might have some value to trade . . . Florida might have interest.. . . Got off the steroids . . . Took away a lot of hard line drives.. Can get comparable value back would consider trading. . . . If you do trade him, will get back on the stuff and try to show you he can have a good year. That’s his makeup. Comes to play. Last year of contract, playing for 05.”

According to Mitchell, Clemens, Pettitte, Hundley and Lo Duca all declined to speak with him.

Talking to the press shortly after the report was released, baseball commissioner Bud Selig said he would review each case to determine what punishment would be appropriate; Senator Mitchell’s recommendation was that baseball move on, forsaking penalty in favor of a comprehensive testing plan to prevent future violations. He also said he hadn’t read the report, providing a convenient dodge for questions he preferred not to answer.

Responding to a question about his feelings on the report as a fan of the game, Selig said, "In all candor, let me say that I haven't read it, I haven't had a chance to study it fully." But he added, "Senator Mitchell acknowledges in his report that the ultimate decisions on discipline rest with the Commissioner and he is correct. Discipline of players and others identified in the report will be determined on a case-by-case basis. If warranted, those decisions will be made swiftly and I, of course, will give thorough consideration to Senator Mitchell's views on the subject."

Below is the complete list of players implicated in the report. Depth of evidence varies, of course: Brian Roberts was named by a teammate through hearsay, while the report contains cancelled checks from Paul Lo Duca along with a handwritten thank-you note on Dodger Stadium stationary.

Chad Allen
Manny Alexander
Rick Ankiel
Mike Bell
David Bell
Gary Bennett Jr.
Marvin Bernard
Larry Bigbie
Barry Bonds
Kevin Brown
Paul Byrd
Ken Caminiti
Jose Canseco
Mark Carreon
Jason Christiansen
Howie Clark
Roger Clemens
Jack Cust
Brendan Donnelly
Lenny Dykstra
Bobby Estalella
Matt Franco
Ryan Franklin
Eric Gagne
Jason Giambi
Jeremi Giambi
Jay Gibbons
Troy Glaus
Jason Grimsley
Jose Guillen
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Matt Herges
Phil Hiatt
Glenallen Hill
Darren Holmes
Todd Hundley
David Justice
Chuck Knoblauch
Tim Laker
Mike Lansing
Paul Lo Duca
Nook Logan
Josias Manzanillo
Gary Matthews Jr.
Cody McKay
Kent Mercker
Bart Miadich
Hal Morris
David Naulty
Denny Neagle
Jim Parque
Andy Pettitte
Adam Piatt
Todd Pratt
Stephen Randolph
Adam Riggs
Brian Roberts
John Rocker
F.P. Santangelo
Benito Santiago
Gary Sheffield
Scott Schoeneweis
David Segui
Mike Stanton
Miguel Tejada
Ismael Valdez
Mo Vaughn
Randy Velarde
Ron Villone
Fernando Vina
Rondell White
Todd Williams
Jeff Williams
Matt Williams
Steve Woodard
Kevin Young
Gregg Zaun

UPDATE: Just to provide an idea of the breadth of all this, here are two all-star teams comprised entirely of players implicated in the report:

C Todd Hundley
1B Rafael Palmeiro
2B Chuck Knoblauch
3B Matt Williams
SS Miguel Tejada
LF Barry Bonds
CF Lenny Dykstra
RF Juan Gonzalez
DH Jason Giambi
SP Roger Clemens
SP Andy Pettitte
RP Eric Gagne
RP Mike Stanton

C Paul Lo Duca
1B Mo Vaughn
2B Brian Roberts
3B Troy Glaus
SS Randy Velarde
LF David Justice
CF Rondell White
RF Jose Guillen
DH Jose Canseco
SP Kevin Brown
SP Denny Neagle
RP Brendan Donnelly
RP John Rocker

Honorable Mention: Benito Santiago, Hal Morris, Fernando Vina, Ron Villone, Gregg Zaun, Kent Mercker, Jack Cust, Glenallen Hill