Jerusalem’s Reḥov Heleni ha-Malkah (Queen Helena Street) was named for a Byzantine Christian queen. After Israel gained its independence, a second Helena’s name graced the street. This Helena was the 1st-century-CE queen of Adiabene—a principality located in what is now Iraq—who converted to Judaism. Elaine Rose Glickman recounts some of the talmudic legends about this remarkable historical figure:

Helena became acquainted with Judaism through Jewish merchants who visited her country and—according to legend—hired a tutor in order to learn everything she could. Around the year 30 CE, she turned her back on the dominant [local] religion and—along with her younger son Izates—formally converted to Judaism. . .

[The Talmud relates that Helena, in] addition to giving money for the beautification of the Second Temple and to support the poor in the Holy Land, . . . dipped into the royal treasury to purchase grain from Egypt and dried fruits from Cyprus when famine threatened the lives of Jerusalem’s Jews. . . . Helena also donated several significant pieces of art to the Temple: a gold ornament placed over the door, whose reflection of the sun’s rays would indicate the time to recite the morning Shema prayer, a plate onto which was carved a passage from the Torah, and the golden handles that were fastened to the Temple vessels on Yom Kippur. . . .

Queen Helena also erected a magnificent palace that may have been unearthed during excavations of the City of David, as well as an ornate mausoleum where her body and those of her descendants now lie. Her burial place is known as the Tomb of the Kings, . . . because the tomb was so glorious that early excavators assumed it housed the royal dynasty of Judah.

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.