Scholars currently agree that the ancient manuscripts found in the Qumran caves came from the library of a Jewish sect that lived there before the destruction of the Second Temple in the 1st century CE. But despite the extensive research done on these texts, there remains much debate over which were written in Qumran and which were written elsewhere, and about how different fragments fit together. Rossella Tercatin explains how genetic testing can provide answers:

Almost all the fragments analyzed turned out to be made from sheep skins, a species compatible with the desert environment, yet the parchment of two fragments was identified as cow hide. “Cattle breeding in principle is not possible in the desert, as cows require a lot of grass and water—therefore most likely those parchments were not produced locally but brought from outside,” the Bible scholar Noam Mizrahi said.

Moreover, one of the two fragments written on cow hide, featuring some text from the biblical book of Jeremiah, was previously believed by many experts to be part of the same scroll of another two fragments from the same book. However, the research proved that this was not possible, as the parchment was different.

The researchers did not stop at the animal species: they were able to ascertain more than whether two fragments were made of parchment manufactured from the same animal or from genetically related animals.

Among the fragments analyzed was a scroll uncovered in Masada featuring the Song of the Sabbath Sacrifice, considered very connected to the Qumran community. The artifact confirmed one of the pillars of the theory that refugees from Qumran made their way to Masada after its destruction by the Romans in 68 CE. However, that parchment was created using the skin of a sheep that seems genetically unrelated to the ones used for the Qumran copies examined, suggesting that the scroll was actually not originally from there.

Addressing a recent meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Committee, Mahmoud Abbas criticized Hamas more sharply than he has previously (at least in public), calling them “sons of dogs.” The eighty-nine-year-old Palestinian Authority president urged the terrorist group to “stop the war of extermination in Gaza” and “hand over the American hostages.” The editors of the New York Sun comment:

Mr. Abbas has long been at odds with Hamas, which violently ousted his Fatah party from Gaza in 2007. The tone of today’s outburst, though, is new. Comparing rivals to canines, which Arabs consider dirty, is startling. Its motivation, though, was unrelated to the plight of the 59 remaining hostages, including 23 living ones. Instead, it was an attempt to use an opportune moment for reviving Abbas’s receding clout.

[W]hile Hamas’s popularity among Palestinians soared after its orgy of killing on October 7, 2023, it is now sinking. The terrorists are hoarding Gaza aid caches that Israel declines to replenish. As the war drags on, anti-Hamas protests rage across the Strip. Polls show that Hamas’s previously elevated support among West Bank Arabs is also down. Striking the iron while it’s hot, Abbas apparently longs to retake center stage. Can he?

Diminishing support for Hamas is yet to match the contempt Arabs feel toward Abbas himself. Hamas considers him irrelevant for what it calls “the resistance.”

[Meanwhile], Abbas is yet to condemn Hamas’s October 7 massacre. His recent announcement of ending alms for terror is a ruse.

Abbas, it’s worth noting, hasn’t saved all his epithets for Hamas. He also twice said of the Americans, “may their fathers be cursed.” Of course, after a long career of anti-Semitic incitement, Abbas can’t be expected to have a moral awakening. Nor is there much incentive for him to fake one. But, like the protests in Gaza, Abbas’s recent diatribe is a sign that Hamas is perceived as weak and that its stock is sinking.