Archaeologists have long speculated about the origins of the Philistines, who appear throughout the Hebrew Bible as Israel’s perennial enemies, and are possibly related to the marauding “Sea Peoples” mentioned in ancient Egyptian texts. But the search for the Philistines’ origins has long been hindered by the absence of extant gravesites. Now, the discovery of a 3,000-year-old cemetery near Ashkelon could provide evidence about Philistine genetics, biology, customs, and much else. Kristin Romey writes (with pictures and video):

In the archaeological record, the Philistines first appear in the early 12th century BCE. Their arrival is signaled by artifacts that belong to what Lawrence Stager, [the archaeologist leading the excavation], calls “an extraordinarily different culture” from other local populations at the time. These include pottery with close parallels to the ancient Greek world, the use of an Aegean—instead of a Semitic—script, and the consumption of pork (as well as the occasional dog). Several passages in the Hebrew Bible describe the interlopers as coming from the “Land of Caphtor,” or modern-day Crete. . . .

The excavations revealed a burial practice that is very different from that of the earlier Canaanites or the neighboring Judeans. Instead of laying a body in a chamber [and] then collecting the bones a year later and moving them elsewhere, the individuals interred in the Ashkelon cemetery were buried individually in pits or collectively in tombs and never moved again. A few cremation burials were also identified.

Unlike the Egyptians, the Philistines deposited very few [items alongside the bodies of the deceased]. Some were adorned with a few pieces of jewelry, while others were buried with a small set of ceramics or a tiny juglet that may have once contained perfume.

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.