For seven consecutive seasons, archaeologists have been excavating a 5th-century synagogue in the Galilean village of Ḥuqoq, gradually uncovering mosaics that portray a series of biblical scenes. A depiction of the most famous passage from the book of Jonah is the latest discovery, as Amanda Borschel-Dan writes:

In the . . . mosaic, Jonah’s legs are shown dangling from the mouth of a large fish, which is being swallowed by a larger fish, which is being consumed by a third, even larger fish. . . . [T]his is the first known depiction of the story of Jonah in an ancient synagogue in Israel. . . .

According to Jodi Magness, [one of the archaeologists coordinating the excavation], “the Huqoq mosaics are unusually rich and diverse. In addition, they display variations on biblical stories which must represent oral traditions that circulated among the local Jewish population. . . . These scenes are very rare in ancient synagogues.” . . .

Among the other rich mosaic finds this season was a detailed scene of men at work constructing a stone tower, which the [archaeological] team hypothesizes is a depiction of the building of the Tower of Babel. Also, a mosaic medallion shows the Greco-Roman sun god Helios in a four-horse chariot. He is surrounded by personifications of the months, the signs of the zodiac, and personifications of the four seasons.

Early Friday morning, Israel attacked military installations near the Iranian cities of Isfahan and nearby Natanz, the latter being one of the hubs of the country’s nuclear program. Jerusalem is not taking credit for the attack, and none of the details are too certain, but it seems that the attack involved multiple drones, likely launched from within Iran, as well as one or more missiles fired from Syrian or Iraqi airspace. Strikes on Syrian radar systems shortly beforehand probably helped make the attack possible, and there were reportedly strikes on Iraq as well.

Iran itself is downplaying the attack, but the S-300 air-defense batteries in Isfahan appear to have been destroyed or damaged. This is a sophisticated Russian-made system positioned to protect the Natanz nuclear installation. In other words, Israel has demonstrated that Iran’s best technology can’t protect the country’s skies from the IDF. As Yossi Kuperwasser puts it, the attack, combined with the response to the assault on April 13,

clarified to the Iranians that whereas we [Israelis] are not as vulnerable as they thought, they are more vulnerable than they thought. They have difficulty hitting us, but we have no difficulty hitting them.

Nobody knows exactly how the operation was carried out. . . . It is good that a question mark hovers over . . . what exactly Israel did. Let’s keep them wondering. It is good for deniability and good for keeping the enemy uncertain.

The fact that we chose targets that were in the vicinity of a major nuclear facility but were linked to the Iranian missile and air forces was a good message. It communicated that we can reach other targets as well but, as we don’t want escalation, we chose targets nearby that were involved in the attack against Israel. I think it sends the message that if we want to, we can send a stronger message. Israel is not seeking escalation at the moment.