In 1963, an archaeological excavation at Masada uncovered a jar containing six ancient seeds, originating sometime between 155 BCE and 64 CE, of a now-extinct species of date palm. In 2005, a researcher planted them in Israeli soil, and one grew into a robust tree, given the name Methuselah. Diane Bolz writes:

Date palms once flourished in the Judean Valley and were an important source of food, shelter, and medicine. The palm’s fruit—the [likely source of the] honey of the “land of milk and honey”—was large, dark, and seductively sweet. Able to survive for long periods in storage, the dates were suitable for export and were used to make laxatives, aphrodisiacs, and life-prolonging tonics. There were even claims that the dates could increase fertility, ease labor, and act as a defense against infections and tumors.

The tree itself, which was praised in both the Bible and Quran, was featured on ancient coins. Today, a reproduction of an early coin picturing a date palm and two baskets full of dates appears on the front side of Israel’s ten-shekel coin. In the Bible, King David named his daughter Tamar, the Hebrew word for the palm.

When the Roman empire invaded ancient Judea, thick forests of date palms covered the valley from the Galilee in the north to the Dead Sea in the south. One of the earliest domesticated tree crops, the palms were later grown in plantations in the area. Over the centuries the Judean palm was decimated by years of war and foreign conquest. The crowning blow came some 800 years ago, when Crusaders destroyed the last remaining specimens, rendering the plant extinct.

Methuselah is male, and the researchers are trying to find a suitable female it can pollinate.

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.