Known to Ashkenazi Jews primarily from a Yiddish expression (“as cupping helps a corpse,” describing something not at all helpful), the folk-medicinal practice of cupping has recently received public attention because of its use by the Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps. The treatment can be traced back to ancient Egypt and China, and archaeologists have found evidence that it was used in ancient Israel as well. Megan Sauter writes:

Vessels like [the] small, hollow, bell-shaped cup [found at Masada] were used for the medical treatment of cupping, [which involved] placing heated cups on the skin to improve blood flow. . . .

Masada [was] a desert fortress in the Judean wilderness near the Dead Sea that was occupied by Jewish rebels during the first Jewish revolt (66–73 CE). The [cupping] glass was found in the destruction layer of 73 CE—when the Romans defeated the rebellion—with several coins inside, a clever hiding spot that remained concealed for nearly two millennia until the Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin uncovered it in the 1960s. [The archaeologist] Amnon Ben-Tor suggests that the rebels may have been using this therapy during their confinement in the fortress. Another scholar who studied the cupping glass, however, believes it belonged to a Roman physician and was taken as loot by the rebels, who hid it with the accompanying shekels.

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.