The British Christian Political Theorist Who Found the Answers in the Talmud

In 1628, the English lawyer, scholar, and parliamentarian John Selden found himself confined to the Tower of London, and allowed access to only one book. He requested a copy of the Babylonian Talmud, knowing that its many volumes could keep him occupied for a lifetime. A man of immense erudition who had mastered Hebrew and Aramaic, despite likely having never met a Jew in his life, Selden henceforth dedicated most of his spare hours to studying this text. As the historian Ofir Haivry explains in conversation with Ari Lamm, he found therein the basis for a political and legal philosophy that could reconcile tradition with reason and universalism with particularism. (Audio, 59 minutes.)

 

Read more at Good Faith Effort

More about: Britain, Christian Hebraists, John Selden, Political philosophy, Talmud

What a Strategic Victory in Gaza Can and Can’t Achieve

On Tuesday, the Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant met in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Gallant says that he told the former that only “a decisive victory will bring this war to an end.” Shay Shabtai tries to outline what exactly this would entail, arguing that the IDF can and must attain a “strategic” victory, as opposed to merely a tactical or operational one. Yet even after a such a victory Israelis can’t expect to start beating their rifles into plowshares:

Strategic victory is the removal of the enemy’s ability to pose a military threat in the operational arena for many years to come. . . . This means the Israeli military will continue to fight guerrilla and terrorist operatives in the Strip alongside extensive activity by a local civilian government with an effective police force and international and regional economic and civil backing. This should lead in the coming years to the stabilization of the Gaza Strip without Hamas control over it.

In such a scenario, it will be possible to ensure relative quiet for a decade or more. However, it will not be possible to ensure quiet beyond that, since the absence of a fundamental change in the situation on the ground is likely to lead to a long-term erosion of security quiet and the re-creation of challenges to Israel. This is what happened in the West Bank after a decade of relative quiet, and in relatively stable Iraq after the withdrawal of the United States at the end of 2011.

Read more at BESA Center

More about: Gaza War 2023, Hamas, IDF