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.”

With the IDF engaged in ground maneuvers in both northern and southern Gaza, and a plan about to go into effect next week that would separate more than 100,000 civilians from Hamas’s control, an end to the war may at last be in sight. Yet there seems to be no agreement within Israel, or without, about what should become of the territory. Efraim Inbar assesses the various proposals, from Donald Trump’s plan to remove the population entirely, to the Israeli far-right’s desire to settle the Strip with Jews, to the internationally supported proposal to place Gaza under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA)—and exposes the fatal flaws of each. He therefore tries to reframe the problem:

[M]any Arab states have failed to establish a monopoly on the use of force within their borders. Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, and Sudan all suffer from civil wars or armed militias that do not obey the central government.

Perhaps Israel needs to get used to the idea that in the absence of an entity willing to take Gaza under its wing, chaos will prevail there. This is less terrible than people may think. Chaos would allow Israel to establish buffer zones along the Gaza border without interference. Any entity controlling Gaza would oppose such measures and would resist necessary Israeli measures to reduce terrorism. Chaos may also encourage emigration.

Israel is doomed to live with bad neighbors for the foreseeable future. There is no way to ensure zero terrorism. Israel should avoid adopting a policy of containment and should constantly “mow the grass” to minimize the chances of a major threat emerging across the border. Periodic conflicts may be necessary. If the Jews want a state in their homeland, they need to internalize that Israel will have to live by the sword for many more years.