Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940s, looters have sought to make similar finds in the many caves near in Qumran, leading to a recent push by archaeologists to conduct a thorough expedition in search of ancient artifacts. Investigating a remote cliffside cavern, they recently came across dozens of pieces of two-millennia-old manuscripts. Amanda Borschel-Dan writes:

Most of the newly discovered scroll fragments—the first such finds in 60 years—are Greek translations of the books of Zechariah and Nahum from the Twelve Minor Prophets, and are written in two scribal hands. Only the name of God is written in Hebrew in the texts. The fragments from the prophets have been identified as coming from a larger scroll that was found in the 1950s, in the same “Cave of Horror” in Naḥal Ḥever, which is some 260 feet below a cliff top. According to an Israel Antiquities Authority press release, the cave is “flanked by gorges and can only be reached by rappelling precariously down the sheer cliff.”

Along with the “new” biblical scroll fragments, . . . the team excavated a huge 10,500-year-old perfectly preserved woven basket—the oldest complete basket in the world—and a 6,000-year-old mummified skeleton of a child, tucked into its blanket for a final sleep.

Several of the [nearby] caves offered random finds left behind by Jewish rebels who fled to the caves at the end of the Bar Kokhba Revolt [against Roman rule, around 135 CE], including a cache of coins that were overstruck with Jewish rebels’ symbols such as a harp and a date palm, an array of arrowheads and spearheads, pieces of woven fabric, sandals, and lice combs, which illustrated the everyday items taken by the fleeing Jews.

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.