Also on the subject of military powers not prepared for attack, the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy mention Og, ruler of the kingdom of Bashan—roughly equivalent to the modern Golan Heights—whom the Israelites, led by Moses, defeat in battle. Og is described as being an enormous man, and as “the last of the Rephaites,” who seem to be a race of giants. While the Hebrew Bible spends only a handful of verses on Og, rabbinic literature constructed an array of tales about him, linking him—or even identifying him—with a number of other characters. Stuart Halpern takes a look at these stories:

Og clung to the side of Noah’s ark during the flood, the Talmud tells us. Though God was raining down boiling water, the side of the boat miraculously cooled, allowing Og to eventually emerge unscathed on dry land. The midrashic collection Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, in an alternate rendering, has Og sitting down on a piece of wood under the gutter of the ark, fed by Noah’s family after pledging them his undying loyalty. The medieval sage Rashi records yet another survival scene: Og ran to Israel, the land of God’s protection, which was divinely spared from the flood.

Fast forward a few chapters in Genesis, and Abraham replaces Noah as the Bible’s main character. Wouldn’t you know it, Og pops up again in a supporting role. Eliezer, a servant of Abraham mentioned in the text, in the rabbis’ creative retelling, had a secret identity. He was actually Og.

To the rabbis, Og’s many manifestations were more than an amusing series of “What ifs.” They were an extended testament to the belief that while the Jewish people would be faced throughout their history with towering forces seeking their destruction, God would ultimately provide their salvation.

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.