Countless Americans now have an image of aristocratic English life formed by the television series Downton Abbey. But few would know that the very real castle where the show was filmed was the longtime residence of Countess Almina Herbert, who was an illegitimate daughter of Alfred de Rothschild, a leading member of the famous Jewish banking family. Phoebe Maltz Bovy reviews the book whence she learned this tidbit, and much else:

“Country houses conferred on their inhabitants a significant position in the local community—sometimes even stewardship of its affairs.” So explains the collaborative introduction of Jewish Country Houses, a collection published late last year that is part academic anthology and part coffee-table book. Prior to emancipation, European Jews were, with rare exceptions, barred from property ownership, kept out of many professions, and otherwise legally constrained. The lifting of these legal restrictions did not immediately bring about social or economic integration, but in time some Jews became, in effect and sometimes in fact, aristocracy. What did it mean that a Jew could become a member of any part of mainstream society, including lord or lady of the manor?

The prospect of wealthy Jews displacing old-stock European nobility would come to be one of the main anxieties animating modern Western anti-Semitism.

How did Qatar, an American ally, become the nerve center of the leading Palestinian jihadist organization? Natalie Ecanow explains.

When Jordan expelled Hamas in 1999, Qatar offered sanctuary to the group, which had already become notorious for using suicide-bombing attacks over the previous decade. . . . Hamas chose to relocate to Syria. However, that arrangement lasted for only a decade. With the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, the terror group found its way back to Qatar.

In 2003, Hamas leaders reportedly convened in Qatar after the IDF attempted to eliminate Hamas’s founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, following a Hamas suicide bombing in Jerusalem that killed seven people, including two American citizens. This episode led to one of the first efforts by Qatar to advocate for its terror proxy.

Thirteen years and five wars between Hamas and Israel later, Qatar’s support for Hamas has not waned. . . . To this day, Qatari officials maintain that the office came at the “request from Washington to establish indirect lines of communication with Hamas.” However, an Obama White House official asserted that there was never any request from Washington. . . . Inexplicably, the United States government continues to rely on Qatar to negotiate for the release of the hostages held by Hamas, even as the regime hosts the terror group’s political elite.

A reckoning is needed between our two countries. Congressional hearings, legislation, executive orders, and other measures to regulate relations between our countries are long overdue.