The Philistines—biblical enemies of the ancient Israelites—were one of many tribes known to historians as the “Sea Peoples,” who appeared in Near Eastern history in the 12th century BCE. It has long been thought that they originated somewhere in the Aegean, from where they invaded Anatolia and the Levant. But recent archaeological discoveries at Tel Tayinat (known in the Bible as Calno) in southern Turkey suggest a different theory. Julia Fridman writes

More than one inscription found at Tel Tayinat, written in the Luwian language used by the Hittites, referred to a mysterious “King Taita,” ruler of “Walistin” or “Patin.” . . . No one had ever heard of him. It seemed a new kingdom with a new and powerful king was being uncovered. . . .
A breakthrough came [when archaeologists digging] in Aleppo, Syria . . . found a relief and dedicatory inscription to “Taita, king and hero of Patastini” and another to “Taita, conqueror of Carchemish.” Taita had restored this ancient temple and had a dedicatory inscription made of his great achievements.

Based on this discovery, the reinterpretation of one Luwian hieroglyphic sign, and the amassing of archaeological evidence, John David Hawkins, a Luwian expert, [concluded] that everybody had been reading these inscriptions wrong, and that the w sound should in fact be read as a p, making Walistin into Palistin [and] Patasatini [into] Palasatini [i.e., “Philistine].

Rather than the “Sea Peoples-invasion” theory, [the archaeologist Timothy Harrison, who has been conducting excavations at Tel Tayinat] suspects that, over time, Philistines migrated in small numbers to the area, and assimilated with the locals. Their arrival was a complex scenario, he says, not some Hollywood movie-type blitz.

Two extraordinary events demonstrate something important about Israel’s most fervent adversaries. One was a speech given at something called The People’s Forum (funded generously by Goldman Sachs), which stated, “When the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism and imperialism.”

The suggestion that this tiny state is the linchpin of a global, centuries-old phenomenon like capitalism goes well beyond anything resembling rational criticism. Even if Israel were guilty of genocide, apartheid, and oppression—which of course it is not—it would not follow that its destruction would help end capitalism or imperialism.

The other was an anti-Israel protest that took place in front of New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, deemed “complicit” in Israel’s evils. At organizers’ urging, participants shouted their slogans at kids in the cancer ward, who were watching from the windows. Given Hamas’s indifference toward the lives of Gazan children, such callousness toward non-Palestinian children from Hamas’s Western allies shouldn’t be surprising. The protest—like the abovementioned speech—deliberately conveyed the message that Israel is the ultimate evil and its destruction the ultimate good, cancer patients be damned.

The fact that Israel’s adversaries are almost comically perverse does not mean that they can be dismissed. If its allies fail to understand the obsessive and irrational hatred that it faces, they cannot effectively help it defend itself.