Yesterday, Israeli negotiators arrived in Cairo to discuss another exchange of Israeli hostages for imprisoned Palestinian terrorists. But who exactly speaks for Hamas in its conversations with Egyptian intermediaries? Is it Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7 attacks who has ruled Gaza since 2017? Or is it Ismail Haniyeh, the chairman of the Qatar-based Hamas politburo? Although Haniyeh and Sinwar share a commitment to terrorism, the destruction of Israel, and the slaughter of Jews, they have not always seen eye-to-eye about tactics. Matthew Levitt, in conversation with Dan Senor, explains the opaque governance structure of the jihadist group, its personalities, its present internal divisions, and its relations with its various patrons. (Audio, 45 minutes.)

At the Wimbledon tennis tournament last weekend, the Israeli player Guy Sasson, together with the Dutch player Niels Vink, won a victory in the doubles wheelchair-tennis category. Speaking to BBC reporters after winning the crown, Sasson—an IDF veteran whose lower legs have been paralyzed since a 2015 snowboarding accident—cited Numbers 23:24: “Behold, a people shall rise up as a lion, and exalt himself as a regal lion.” This verse appeared in Saturday’s Torah reading, and is also the source of the IDF’s official name for its recent campaign against Iran.

Warren Zev Harvey comments on the verse and its changing significance:

The great prophet of the Gentiles, Balaam son of Beor, blessed the people of Israel with a blessing for military success: “Behold, a people shall rise up as a lion, and exalt himself as a regal lion, and shall not lie down until he eat of the prey and drink the blood of the slain.” Israel shall leap up like a lion and not rest until it has fully conquered its enemies. The prophet’s blessing is raw, forceful, and not politically correct. It is just because of verses like this that Friedrich Nietzsche so admired the Hebrew Bible. Indeed, what is the lion rising up and exalting himself if not the terrible blonde Bestie? Such is the morality and style of ancient Hebrew Scripture.

But “the language of the Torah is one thing, and that of the Sages something else” (Talmud, Avodah Zarah 58b). The sages took Balaam son of Beor’s militaristic prophecy and turned it into a prophecy concerning a spiritual “rising up.” They changed “prey” and “blood” to “Torah” and “mitzvot.” [One classical rabbinic work, Midrash Tanḥuma], speaks of a metaphorical slumber, that is, a period during which Jews neglected the Torah and the mitzvot, such as the Babylonian exile, but in the end they awakened from their slumber and arose like lions to proclaim the unity of God and to crown Him as King.

Now, Harvey observes, the verse has been returned to its original, martial meaning.