The Islamic Republic of Iran likes to claim, at least to Western audiences, that it is opposed to Israel as a matter of policy and principle, but harbors no hostility toward Jews, and, moreover, that it’s 8,000 Jews enjoy tolerance and government protection and themselves want nothing to do with the “Zionist entity.” But that is a lie, as evidenced by the state-sponsored Center for Jewish Studies, which is quite unlike similarly named institutions in the West. After reading through many of the hundreds of articles the center publishes on its website, Behnam Gholipour reports:

In many of the texts published by this hate-filled website, Jews are presented as a “bloodthirsty,” “deviant” people who are guilty of “infanticide.” The site tries to present Israel and the Jewish people as one and the same, and claims “Israeli infanticide” is permitted in Judaism. One article claims that the roots of “child-killing” by Zionists in Palestine lies in the Old Testament, which “both the Jews and Christians believe in.”

Another article, filed under the category “Jewish Ethnic Traits,” explicitly calls “Jews and Judaism” perfect lab subjects for psychologists and psychiatrists to observe in order to verify their theories about pathological behavior in action. Echoing many Islamic Republic officials, another claims, “one of the most distinct characteristics of the Jews is their animosity towards religion and God, . . . even murdering divine prophets.”

In at least 30 articles, the Jewish Studies Center has tried to portray the Jewish people as promoters of corruption, drug trafficking, superstition, racism, and homosexuality around the world. . . . Several other articles . . . try to portray Jews as responsible, variously, for cancer, climate change, the production of weapons of mass destruction, bioterrorism, and efforts to alter humans genetically. In other words, they blame the Jews for every problem the world faces, and the ones it doesn’t.

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.