Established in 1516, Venice’s walled-off Jewish quarter would give its name to, and provide a model for, scores of similar zones in cities throughout Italy and Germany that decided Jews simply couldn’t be allowed to live among Christians. The 500th anniversary of its founding has occasioned celebrations and commemorations in the city, including an elaborate exhibit that will be on display in the summer and fall. David Laskin writes:

When the ghetto was at its height in the 17th century, 5,000 Jews from Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and the Ottoman empire carved out tiny, distinct fiefs, each maintaining its own synagogue, all of them crammed into an acre-and-a-quarter of alleys and courtyards. Confinement was a burden, but it also provided an opportunity for cultural exchange unparalleled in the Diaspora. . . .

Jewish merchants and bankers were vital to the flow of commodities [through the city during its commercial golden age], but as Venice declined, the Jewish presence dwindled. By the outbreak of World War II, Jewish Venice had shrunk to 1,200 residents. Today, with the city’s total population hovering around 58,000 (down from 150,000 before the war), there are about 450 Venetian Jews left, only a handful of them residing in the [former] ghetto.

Yesterday, the Iranian foreign minister flew to Geneva to meet with European diplomats. President Trump, meanwhile, indicated that cease-fire negotiations might soon begin with Iran, which would presumably involve Tehran agreeing to make concessions regarding its nuclear program, while Washington pressures Israel to halt its military activities. According to Israeli media, Iran already began putting out feelers to the U.S. earlier this week. Aviram Bellaishe considers the purpose of these overtures:

The regime’s request to return to negotiations stems from the principle of deception and delay that has guided it for decades. Iran wants to extricate itself from a situation of total destruction of its nuclear facilities. It understands that to save the nuclear program, it must stop at a point that would allow it to return to it in the shortest possible time. So long as the negotiation process leads to halting strikes on its military capabilities and preventing the destruction of the nuclear program, and enables the transfer of enriched uranium to a safe location, it can simultaneously create the two tracks in which it specializes—a false facade of negotiations alongside a hidden nuclear race.