The four rabbis murdered in last week’s terrorist attack on a Jerusalem synagogue came to Israel to devote themselves to the study of sacred texts, to teach, and to serve. Giulio Meotti remembers them and contemplates their legacy:

When Palestinian terrorists stormed the synagogue in Har Nof, the four rabbis had their eyes turned to the east praying toward the Old City of Jerusalem where once stood the Temple and the holy Ark of the Covenant. They were killed wearing their phylacteries and prayer shawls, eyes still fixed on the siddur, the book of prayer, about to say a psalm: “This is the gate of the Lord and the righteous will enter it.”

They were really the princes of Israel. The day after the massacre, at the yeshiva of Bnei Torah on the western hill of Jerusalem, the blood of the martyrs, the kedoshim, was removed to be buried along with their poor remains. But the day after, dozens of Jews returned to the synagogue to thank God. So that God can smile down at His people again after that horrific day. I bow before them.

Ron Ben-Yishai explains Hamas’s current calculations:

Strategically speaking, Hamas is hoping to add more and more days to the pause currently in effect, setting a new reality in stone, one which will convince the United States to get Israel to end the war. At the same time, they still have most of the hostages hidden in every underground crevice they could find, and hope to exchange those with as many Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners currently in Israeli prisons, planning on “revitalizing” their terrorist inclinations to even the odds against the seemingly unstoppable Israeli war machine.

Chances are that if pressured to do so by Qatar and Egypt, they will release men over 60 with the same “three-for-one” deal they’ve had in place so far, but when Israeli soldiers are all they have left to exchange, they are unlikely to extend the arrangement, instead insisting that for every IDF soldier released, thousands of their people would be set free.

In one of his last speeches prior to October 7, the Gaza-based Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar said, “remember the number one, one, one, one.” While he did not elaborate, it is believed he meant he wants 1,111 Hamas terrorists held in Israel released for every Israeli soldier, and those words came out of his mouth before he could even believe he would be able to abduct Israelis in the hundreds. This added leverage is likely to get him to aim for the release for all prisoners from Israeli facilities, not just some or even most.