Many Thanksgiving meals conclude with pumpkin pie—fittingly, since the pumpkin is a New World crop. But it was also a crop that didn’t take long to find its way onto Old World tables, in part because of Jews, who made it a staple of their own cuisine. Paola Gavin explains:

Pumpkins were first introduced to Europe by the conquistadors in the 16th century, where they were quickly adopted by Sephardi Jews, who then introduced them to Italy after fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. Sephardim and Italian Jews not only began trading in pumpkins, they also incorporated the new gourd into numerous dishes both sweet and savory—especially soups, puddings, fritters, cakes, and preserves—so much so that the new vegetable became associated with Jews. As Claudia Roden writes in The Book of Jewish Food, tortellini di zucca gialla (pumpkin ravioli) “is said to be a Jewish legacy.”

Soon every Jewish community around the Mediterranean and beyond developed its own pumpkin specialties. . . . Farther afield, Bukharan Jews celebrate the New Year with bichak (savory pumpkin pastries) while the Baghdadi Jews of Bombay (now Mumbai) enjoy pumpkin preserves flavored with cardamom.

In 2003, the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, spooked by the American display of might in Iraq, decided to destroy or surrender his entire nuclear program. Informed observers have suggested that the deal he made with the U.S. should serve as a model for any agreement with Iran. Robert Joseph provides some useful background:

Gaddafi had convinced himself that Libya would be next on the U.S. target list after Iraq. There was no reason or need to threaten Libya with bombing as Gaddafi was quick to tell almost every visitor that he did not want to be Saddam Hussein. The images of Saddam being pulled from his spider hole . . . played on his mind.

President Bush’s goal was to have Libya serve as an alternative model to Iraq. Instead of war, proliferators would give up their nuclear programs in exchange for relief from economic and political sanctions.

Any outcome that permits Iran to enrich uranium at any level will fail the one standard that President Trump has established: Iran will not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Limiting enrichment even to low levels will allow Iran to break out of the agreement at any time, no matter what the agreement says.

Iran is not a normal government that observes the rules of international behavior or fair “dealmaking.” This is a regime that relies on regional terror and brutal repression of its citizens to stay in power. It has a long history of using negotiations to expand its nuclear program. Its negotiating tactics are clear: extend the negotiations as long as possible and meet any concession with more demands.