In his recent biography of King George III, the English historian Andrew Roberts presents a revisionist history of the last monarch to reign over the thirteen colonies—presenting him as a prudent ruler and even going so far as to dispute some of the charges leveled against him in the Declaration of Independence. After discussing his book with Jonathan Tobin, Roberts goes on to address attitudes toward Jews and Israel in contemporary British politics. He makes the case that anti-Semitism in the UK has grown worse since the Israel-hating leftwing firebrand Jeremy Corbyn lost his position as leader of the Labor party. (Video, 45 minutes. The conversation moves to Jewish topics around the 31-minute mark.)

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.