In more than one of his works, Elie Wiesel mentions a “Mr. Shushani” (or Chouchani), whom he knew in Paris after World War II. Wiesel describes him as a polymath of extraordinary erudition and intelligence, who “looked like a hobo turned clown, or a clown playing a hobo” and who kept his personal history shrouded in mystery. Yet Wiesel considered himself Shushani’s student, as did the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. No less a figure than Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook praised Shushani’s intellectual abilities. The National Library of Israel has recently acquired some 50 notebooks that belonged to Shushani, in which he recorded his reflections on Jewish theology and numerous other topics. Zack Rothbart writes:

Shushani zealously guarded his identity and few details about his personal life are known today, more than 50 years after his death. Even his name is something of a mystery. Wiesel concluded it was Mordecai Rosenbaum, while most leading scholars today, including the philosopher Shalom Rosenberg, also a disciple of Shushani’s, [and who donated the notebooks], believe that it was Hillel Perlman.

Shushani traveled across the globe throughout his life, apparently penniless, and—according to Wiesel—without a passport. . . . Shushani’s travels brought him throughout Europe, the United States, allegedly to North Africa, and elsewhere—including Mandatory Palestine and the young state of Israel, where for a few months in the late 1950s, he wandered among religious kibbutzim sharing his knowledge and perhaps gaining some too.

Ultimately, Shushani landed in Uruguay.

Probably born in Russia in the early 20th century, Shushani died in Uruguay in 1968.

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.