Martin Kramer’s recent War on Error is a collection of essays—several of which first appeared in Mosaic—addressing abuses of Middle Eastern history committed by scholars and others intent on arriving at particular conclusions, facts be damned. Chief among such abuses is the Israeli writer Ari Shavit’s unfounded claim in My Promised Land that a “Zionist massacre” took place in Lydda in 1948. In an in-depth and provocative exchange, Kramer discusses the book with critics Benny Morris and Hussein Ibish. (Moderated by Robert Satloff. Video, 90 minutes. A written summary is available at the link below.)

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.