While religious tolerance does not come naturally to human society, neither does the sort of intolerance that predominated in 17th-century Europe. The widespread insistence on doctrinal uniformity was very much a product of the rise of Christianity and Islam. For this reason, it has long been assumed that the decline of the Jewish community in the Galilee—which thrived even after the destruction of the Second Temple—was the result of the Roman empire’s adoption of Christianity in the 4th century CE. Jodi Magness has come to a different conclusion, based on her excavation of the Huqoq synagogue, whose magnificent mosaics have been slowly unearthed over the past several years. Rossella Tercatin writes:

Galilean-type synagogues are monumental structures built of large stone blocks. . . . “This type of synagogue has traditionally been dated to the 2nd and 3rd century CE,” Magness noted. “However, while analyzing excavation reports of these structures over the last couple of decades, I had concluded that the archaeological evidence indicated a later time for them, mostly 4th to 6th centuries.”

“Many of my colleagues object to a later dating precisely because they argue that Christian rule was oppressive to Jews, and they could not have built such monumental synagogues,” she added.

“Since Christian sources presented a very negative view of Judaism, the assumption has been that the relations between Jews and Christians were not good and Jews must have been persecuted,” Magness said. “However, my impression based on archaeological evidence has always been the opposite.”

Addressing a recent meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Committee, Mahmoud Abbas criticized Hamas more sharply than he has previously (at least in public), calling them “sons of dogs.” The eighty-nine-year-old Palestinian Authority president urged the terrorist group to “stop the war of extermination in Gaza” and “hand over the American hostages.” The editors of the New York Sun comment:

Mr. Abbas has long been at odds with Hamas, which violently ousted his Fatah party from Gaza in 2007. The tone of today’s outburst, though, is new. Comparing rivals to canines, which Arabs consider dirty, is startling. Its motivation, though, was unrelated to the plight of the 59 remaining hostages, including 23 living ones. Instead, it was an attempt to use an opportune moment for reviving Abbas’s receding clout.

[W]hile Hamas’s popularity among Palestinians soared after its orgy of killing on October 7, 2023, it is now sinking. The terrorists are hoarding Gaza aid caches that Israel declines to replenish. As the war drags on, anti-Hamas protests rage across the Strip. Polls show that Hamas’s previously elevated support among West Bank Arabs is also down. Striking the iron while it’s hot, Abbas apparently longs to retake center stage. Can he?

Diminishing support for Hamas is yet to match the contempt Arabs feel toward Abbas himself. Hamas considers him irrelevant for what it calls “the resistance.”

[Meanwhile], Abbas is yet to condemn Hamas’s October 7 massacre. His recent announcement of ending alms for terror is a ruse.

Abbas, it’s worth noting, hasn’t saved all his epithets for Hamas. He also twice said of the Americans, “may their fathers be cursed.” Of course, after a long career of anti-Semitic incitement, Abbas can’t be expected to have a moral awakening. Nor is there much incentive for him to fake one. But, like the protests in Gaza, Abbas’s recent diatribe is a sign that Hamas is perceived as weak and that its stock is sinking.