To commemorate the 500th anniversary of the establishment of the Venice ghetto—a restricted area of Jewish settlement that gave subsequent ghettos its name—Jerusalem’s Israel Museum is displaying artifacts that show how Venetian Jews flourished despite the widespread anti-Semitism that led to their segregation. Eli Mendelbaum writes:

One of the more moving artifacts is a curtain from 1601, . . . displaying symbols from the family to which it belonged—the Cohen family. The curtain is embroidered with silk and gold thread on velvet fabric and reads: “Alms for God, in honor of Dr. Joseph Cohen.” The curtain is embroidered with a coat of arms, hands [formed as when making] the priestly blessing, and five small medallions in a decorative pattern.

“This is an opportunity to experience spiritual and cultural creativity, despite the limitations imposed upon them,” said [the curator, Gioia] Sztulman. “Patchwork velvet is a technique typical of the 16th and 17th centuries in general and Venice in particular. Trading in second-hand fabrics was also one of the few professions Jews were allowed to engage in, apart from usury and medicine. Due to their availability, Jewish ritual items were made of the most luxurious of fabrics.”

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.