A few weeks ago—by coincidence, just after UNESCO passed two resolutions denying a Jewish connection to the Temple Mount—the Israel Antiquities Authority reported having obtained a papyrus from the 7th century BCE that mentioned Jerusalem. Shortly thereafter, other experts weighed in suggesting the writing might be a forgery, skillfully executed on genuinely ancient papyrus. Lawrence Schiffman comments on the general problem of forged documents in the history of ancient Israel:

Recently, . . . questions have been raised about the authenticity of fragments [resembling the Dead Sea Scrolls, which began to surface after 2002. Based on this controversy, one of the scholars skeptical about the Jerusalem papyrus has] argued that just as old pieces of leather writing materials had been used for the creation of forged Dead Sea Scrolls fragments, an ancient piece of papyrus had been used to forge this one. . . .

But what led to the suspicion that the post-2002 Dead Sea Scroll fragments were forged? First, for almost all ancient scrolls of which fragments are preserved, there are several fragments representing what was once a complete manuscript. For many of these suspect manuscripts, only one fragment survives. This anomaly attracted attention and raised the question of authenticity.

Second, most of these questionable texts are biblical, representing a much greater proportion of material than in the scrolls as a whole. This is best explained as a result of buyers’ greater interest in biblical material. . . .

We may never know for sure whether the Jerusalem papyrus is genuine. . . . [But] we need no reassurances that despite all the propaganda to the contrary, it is without question that Jews lived in Jerusalem and the land of Israel for over 1,000 years before the Common Era. We have a rich history and tradition, and there is an extensive archaeological record to allow us to deepen our understanding of the past. Let us not make the mistake of arguing for the validity of our entire history based upon a delivery receipt the authenticity of which cannot be proven.

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.