As part of excavations of the caves in the Judean Desert—including those in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were famously found—archaeologists have uncovered a box of coins from the early 2nd century BCE, brought there by Jews fleeing the persecution of the Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes. The same persecution eventually prompted the uprising whose success the upcoming holiday of Hanukkah celebrates. Amanda Borschel-Dan writes:

As told in 1Maccabees 2:29, in the period prior to the Maccabean revolt, righteous men were exhorted to leave everything and flee to the desert. “At that time, many who sought righteousness and justice went to live in the desert.” Subsequently, while upholding the laws of Shabbat, they were slaughtered by the king’s forces.

During rescue excavations in May, a small, incredibly preserved wooden box holding fifteen silver tetradrachma coins was discovered in a cave in the Darageh Stream Nature Reserve. The coins were minted by Ptolemy VI, king of Egypt, and date to up to 170 BCE, which is just before Antiochus IV Epiphanes began handing down harsh measures against Jews’ freedom of worship. According to Eitan Klein of the Israel Antiquities Authority, which announced the find on Tuesday, the hoard was stashed by a fleeing Jew, who presumably subsequently died in the violence leading up to the Maccabean revolt.

At that time, the caves were very difficult to reach, which also shows the desperation [of the coins’ owner], said Klein. “Today, we can take a jeep. In that period, there was a path to the Dead Sea, but it was flanked by many unfriendly tribes and it was dangerous to walk in the middle of the desert.”

But the presumed Hasmonean supporters were not the only rebels to have used these caves. In the early 1950s, the French priest-cum-archaeologist Roland de Vaux discovered a cache of letters in a cave—one of which was penned by the leader of the 132–136 CE revolt Simon Bar-Kokhba.

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.