A leading German jurist and humanist, Johannes Reuchlin (1455-1522) was one of the first European Christians to gain not only thorough knowledge of Hebrew, but also of Jewish religious texts. Reuchlin studied with the renowned Italian rabbi Obadiah Sforno and paved the way for future Christian Hebraists. A philo-Semite, Reuchlin would defend the Jews against the libels of the apostate Hebraist Johannes Pfefferkorn, and later played a role in dissuading the Holy Roman Empire from destroying Jewish books wholesale. David Price discusses Reuchlin’s remarkable career with Ari Lamm. (Audio, 63 minutes.)

If there is to be peace, Palestinians will have to unlearn the hatred of Israel they have imbibed during nearly two decades of Hamas rule. This will be a difficult task, but Cole Aronson argues, drawing on the experiences of World War II, that Israel has already gotten off to a strong start:

The population’s compliance can . . . be won by a new regime that satisfies its immediate material needs, even if that new regime is sponsored by a government until recently at war with the population’s former regime. Axis civilians were made needy through bombing. Peaceful compliance with the Allies became a good alternative to supporting violent resistance to the Allies.

Israel’s current campaign makes a moderate Gaza more likely, not less. Destroying Hamas not only deprives Islamists of the ability to rule—it proves the futility of armed resistance to Israel, a condition for peace. The destruction of buildings not only deprives Hamas of its hideouts. It also gives ordinary Palestinians strong reasons to shun groups planning to replicate Hamas’s behavior.