Jacob’s Sheep Come to Israel

After three years of negotiations between Jerusalem and Ottawa, three planeloads of sheep from British Columbia have arrived in Israel. These are no ordinary sheep, but an ancient breed known as “Jacob’s sheep,” as Melanie Lidman writes:

Genetic markings for the breed date back at least a few thousand years to the Middle East. The journey for the sheep began in ancient times and passed through North Africa. Moorish invaders later brought the breed to Spain, whence it came to England, where the animal was something of a trophy sheep. A number were brought to North America, originally for zoos and then later for commercial use.

The breed received the name “Jacob sheep” based on Genesis 30, where Jacob talks about leaving his father-in-law Laban’s home and taking part of the flock as his payment for years of service. “I will pass through all thy flock today, removing from thence every speckled and spotted one, and every dark one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and of such shall be my hire,” he is quoted as saying in Genesis 30:32. . . .

But somewhere along the way, although the Jews returned to Israel, the uniquely speckled sheep did not return with them. . . . [T]he sheep has not been found in Israel for thousands of years.

Read more at Times of Israel

More about: Animals, Canada, Hebrew Bible, Jacob, Religion & Holidays

What a Strategic Victory in Gaza Can and Can’t Achieve

On Tuesday, the Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant met in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Gallant says that he told the former that only “a decisive victory will bring this war to an end.” Shay Shabtai tries to outline what exactly this would entail, arguing that the IDF can and must attain a “strategic” victory, as opposed to merely a tactical or operational one. Yet even after a such a victory Israelis can’t expect to start beating their rifles into plowshares:

Strategic victory is the removal of the enemy’s ability to pose a military threat in the operational arena for many years to come. . . . This means the Israeli military will continue to fight guerrilla and terrorist operatives in the Strip alongside extensive activity by a local civilian government with an effective police force and international and regional economic and civil backing. This should lead in the coming years to the stabilization of the Gaza Strip without Hamas control over it.

In such a scenario, it will be possible to ensure relative quiet for a decade or more. However, it will not be possible to ensure quiet beyond that, since the absence of a fundamental change in the situation on the ground is likely to lead to a long-term erosion of security quiet and the re-creation of challenges to Israel. This is what happened in the West Bank after a decade of relative quiet, and in relatively stable Iraq after the withdrawal of the United States at the end of 2011.

Read more at BESA Center

More about: Gaza War 2023, Hamas, IDF