The northern Iraqi city of Mosul—whose eastern half lies on the ruins of Nineveh—remains, despite the best efforts of Islamic State (IS), a major center of Assyrian Christianity. But once it was also home to a substantial Jewish community, which dates to the mid-7th century CE and in 1947 had nearly 6,000 members. Like the rest of Iraqi Jewry, the Jews of Mosul emigrated en masse in the 1950s due to increasingly brutal anti-Semitism. Rebecca Collard reports on the efforts of Omar Mohammed—a local history professor who achieved global attention for his reporting during the Islamic State occupation—to preserve the remnants of Jewish history in the city’s old Jewish quarter. (Audio, 8 minutes.)

Considering the current state of Israel-Arab relations, Ghaith al-Omari writes

First and foremost, no ceasefire will be possible without the release of Israeli hostages and commitments to disarm Hamas and remove it from power. The final say on these matters rests with Hamas commanders on the ground in Gaza, who have been largely impervious to foreign pressure so far. At minimum, however, the United States should insist that Qatari and Egyptian mediators push Hamas’s external leadership to accept these conditions publicly, which could increase pressure on the group’s Gaza leadership.

Washington should also demand a clear, public position from key Arab states regarding disarmament. The Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas endorsed this position in a June letter to Saudi Arabia and France, giving Arab states Palestinian cover for endorsing it themselves.

Some Arab states have already indicated a willingness to play a significant role, but they will have little incentive to commit resources and personnel to Gaza unless Israel (1) provides guarantees that it will not occupy the Strip indefinitely, and (2) removes its veto on a PA role in Gaza’s future, even if only symbolic at first. Arab officials are also seeking assurances that any role they play in Gaza will be in the context of a wider effort to reach a two-state solution.

On the other hand, Washington must remain mindful that current conditions between Israel and the Palestinians are not remotely conducive to . . . implementing a two-state solution.