A traveling exhibit of artifacts from Qumran, now on view in Los Angeles, is more extensive than any that preceded it, and includes information about new technology being used to understand the scrolls. Naomi Pfefferman writes:

Scientists at Hebrew University . . . are investigating the chemical composition of the scrolls’ parchment and ink by artificially aging modern materials known to have been used during the Second Temple period, and through experimentation are deciding how best to sample the fragile ancient documents themselves. Others are engaging in DNA analysis of the parchment upon which the scrolls were written. . . . “If you know that two fragments come from the same animal, you may have an easier time piecing them back together,” said [co-curator Risa] Levitt Kohn. . . .

The most ancient artifacts on display date from more than 3,000 years ago, including collared-rim storage jars, which possibly were used to store grain, circa 1100 BCE, as well as real stones from a typical four-room house that [have been] used to recreate a dwelling from Israel’s hill country.

Objects dating from the 8th century BCE reveal the beginnings of Hebrew as a written language, such as an alphabet table, written on a shard of pottery (the era’s scrap paper), which depicts what is likely a school boy’s primer.

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.