Speaking of the pitfalls of popular reporting on historical research, a Spanish documentary received much attention in October because of its claim that new genetic evidence implied that Christoper Columbus was of Jewish ancestry. Mosaic noted reasons for skepticism on historical grounds. Razib Khan, a geneticist, points out the flimsy biological reasoning behind the claim:

Though [the documentary] showed that Columbus’s paternal and maternal lineage were compatible with Sephardi Jewish ancestry, it didn’t establish that he had clear Sephardi Jewish ancestry. . . . When it comes to famous figures, however, media outlets often elide this complexity,

It is true that [Columbus’s] paternal lineage, J2, is very common among Sephardi Jews. But J2 is distributed from eastern China to Spain. In Spain, its frequency is 10 percent in the overall male population and 25 percent in Sephardi Jews. In northern Italy—home to Columbus’s notional birthplace, Genoa—J2 is also 25 percent in frequency. A simple inspection of the frequencies of the J2 haplogroup should raise doubts about the Columbus documentary’s claims.

Though it is still possible that Columbus’s recent ancestors were Jews, it seems more likely that they shared the same deep ancestors, with both northern Italians and Sephardi Jews being the products of the world after the collapse of Rome.

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.