While the book of Genesis has Jacob prophesy that the territory of the tribe of Zebulun “shall be a haven for ships,” archaeologists have generally believed that in the Bronze Age seafaring vessels were fairly limited in their range. The recent discovery of ancient craft from around the putative time of Moses changes that conclusion, as Renee Ghert-Zand writes:

In a groundbreaking archaeological discovery, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Thursday that a natural-gas company’s standard survey of the Eastern Mediterranean floor had uncovered the most ancient ship ever found in the deep seas.

The discovery of the remains of the ship from the 14th or 13th century BCE proves that Late Bronze Age mariners could navigate the seas without a line of sight to the shore, contrary to what was previously believed. . . . The approximately 3,300-year-old ship with a cargo of hundreds of intact amphorae was found 90 kilometers off northern Israel’s coast, at a depth of 1.8 km.

It is presumed that the seafarers navigated using the celestial bodies, taking sightings and angles of the sun and star positions.

Recent reports suggest that the White House has at last acted to allow the shipments of weapons that had been withheld from Israel and to end further the delays. On this topic, Elliott Abrams comments, “I don’t know what and how much has been held up, but it shouldn’t have happened. The level of delay should be zero.”

In this interview with Ariel Kahana, Abrams also comments on the failings of U.S. policy toward Iran, and the Biden administration’s refusal to enforce existing sanctions:

According to Abrams, Iran has indeed halted the advancement of its nuclear program on rare occasions. “This happened when Bush invaded Iraq in 2003, and when [President] Trump eliminated Qassem Suleimani in 2020. The U.S. needs to be ready to use force in Iran, but credibility is critical here. Only if [Iran’s leaders] are convinced that the U.S. is willing to act will they stop.”

Abrams claims that the U.S. president tried for two-and-a-half years to revive the nuclear deal with Iran until he realized it wasn’t interested. “Iran has benefited from this situation, and everyone outside the administration sees it as a failure.”