As the Hebrew Bible frequently mentions, the worship of Baal and other pagan deities was the norm in the land of Canaan before the Israelite conquest, and continued to appeal to Israelites themselves for centuries thereafter. Archaeologists discovered a temple dedicated to the worship of these gods in Lachish, about 24 miles southwest of Jerusalem—built in the times before Kings Saul and David. After a five-year excavation, they have published a comprehensive report on their findings. Amanda Borschel-Dan writes:

During the middle and late Bronze Ages, the people of Lachish controlled large parts of the Judean lowlands, and the city was among the foremost Canaanite cities in the Land of Israel. Mentioned in the Bible, Lachish was built around 1800 BCE and later destroyed by the Egyptians around 1550 BCE. The city rose and fell twice more [before its final destruction] in 1150 BCE. The 12th-century-BCE Canaanite temple, while not a massive compound, is a once-in-a-lifetime find for archaeologists.

In a departure from the typical Canaanite temple structure, the compound also includes side rooms. [It] was divided into a front area that was marked by two columns and two towers, which led into a large hall. From there, an inner sanctum was delineated by four supporting columns “and several unhewn ‘standing stones’ that may have served as representations of temple gods,” stated the [archaeologists’] press release.

In addition to the standing stones . . . [many] other ritual items were discovered, such as “bronze cauldrons, jewelry inspired by the ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor, daggers and axe-heads adorned with bird images, scarabs, and a gold-plated bottle inscribed with the name Ramses II, one of Egypt’s most powerful pharaohs.”

Perhaps the most fascinating finds are a pair of “smiting gods,” which were discovered inside the temple’s inner sanctum, comparable to the Jerusalem Temple’s “Holy of Holies.” . . . Smiting gods are found in the Levant in temples from the [period]. The [archaeologists] write that the figurines are commonly identified with two Canaanite gods, Baal and Resheph, who are both known as war gods.

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.