Several years ago, part of an ancient winepress was uncovered in the ruins of the village of Korazim (known in the New Testament as Chorazim), but only recently have archaeologists been able to investigate further without damaging it. They found a mosaic floor that, like the winepress, dates to the talmudic period (200-500 CE), as the Jerusalem Post reports:

The winepress was found within the village, while most other winepresses are discovered outside of villages. . . . The winepress is about 52.5 square feet in area. . . . The farmers invested in decorating the winepress floor with a mosaic of patterns of squares and diamond shapes.

Korazim [also] houses impressive remains of a Jewish village from the time of the Talmud, including a magnificent synagogue. Korazim is mentioned in the New Testament and the Babylonian Talmud as a place where high-quality grain was produced, such as the wheat brought to the Temple.

The synagogue at Korazim is in the Galilean style, made from basalt stone. The inside of the synagogue features seashell decorations, a copy of the art of the Holy Ark [once found in the Temple], and a basalt throne, known as the Seat of Moses, with a dedication written on it to the donor of the chair.

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.