In modern times, Moroccan Jewry was divided between the more urban Jews of the Arabic-speaking coastal area, many of whom were descended from exiles from Spain, and those of the Berber (or Amazigh) areas in the mountainous hinterlands. Samuel Torjman Thomas explains how the combined influences of these two Jewish cultures created the distinctive elements of Moroccan Jewish music:

When people talk about Moroccan Jewish music, connections to the Arab-Andalusian past are often mentioned. Piyyutim or Hebrew [liturgical] poems by Spanish Golden Age poets—Judah Halevi, Solomon ibn Gabirol, Moses ibn Ezra—permeate the revered Moroccan bakkashot singing tradition, the canon of Tisha b’Av kinnot [dirges], and High Holy Day liturgy. The works of several well-known Moroccan paytanim or liturgical poets . . . are bursting with traces of Sephardi poetics. Instruments like the oud, darbuka, nay, and violin are prominent in every ensemble.

While these elements of classical Arab-Andalusian musical culture constitute an important marker of Moroccan identity, much more could be said of the Amazigh influences. For starters, elements of Amazigh musical culture still pervade the cantorial practices of Moroccan Jewry. Perhaps the most apparent musical element illuminating an Amazigh past is found in the Moroccan ḥazzan’s approach to rhythm. An incessant, driving twelve-beat cycle has found its way into many places during synagogue services.

For example, during the kedushah prayer, or for one of the many performances of kaddish, the ḥazzan regularly taps out the rhythm. Listen closely and you’ll hear the characteristic tek, tek-dum. Even when a ḥazzan lets loose on a melody clearly borrowed from . . . the classical Arab-Andalusian genre, or borrows a more recent composition from Israel, it is quite common to hear the pulse of the Amazigh. But not only Amazigh rhythms: melodies borrowed from cha’abi or folksongs work their way into the prayers, unearthing the influence of Morocco’s Amazigh foundations even more.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.