Seeking to explain the various ways racism runs counter to the Jewish moral tradition, Daniel Z. Feldman points to the extensive prohibition on speaking ill of others, which applies to groups as much as it does to individuals. He then observes that for this sin,

repentance, as normally required by Jewish law, is profoundly difficult. The basic obligation of attaining forgiveness from the victim becomes an insurmountable challenge when the offense is against a large group with undefined members. More so, undoing the damage in this case is usually beyond possibility.

Of course, speaking ill is not the only prohibition that the racist violates:

Both within and beyond the specifics above, degrading treatment of all kinds constitutes an assault on human dignity, or k’vod ha-briyot. This is a hallowed meta-value in the Torah’s worldview, occupying an elevated perch in the hierarchy of halakhah. By its very nature, this value is addressed universally, as it is rooted in the creation of all humanity in the image of God; the demeaning of any human is considered an affront to the Creator.

The Talmud specifically states that humanity is descended from a common ancestor, Adam, so that no group would invoke genetics to claim superiority over any other (Sanhedrin 37a), a point repeated stressed by Rabbi Jacob Kamenetsky [1891–1986, a leading Russian-born American scholar].

The distinct status of the Jewish people is not based on racial differentiation, but rather on the common belief system that unites them. This was stated by Maimonides in his Epistle to Yemen, where he writes that it is only the Torah that distinguishes the Jewish people.

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.