Palestine

Israel is under continual attack and terroristic threat. But some Israeli West Bank settlers are engaging in violence of their own, against a Christian Palestinian village called Taybeh, the last wholly Christian town in the West Bank and, historically, the place to which Jesus withdrew (Ephraim) before his Passion according to the Gospel of Saint John. Three village priests — one Greek Orthodox, one Catholic, and one Melchite Greek Catholic — have issued a public letter begging for help: On Monday, July 7, 2025, settlers deliberately set fire near the town’s cemetery and the historic Church of Saint George (Al-Khadr), dating back to the 5th century — one of the oldest religious landmarks in Palestine. Were it not for the Read More ›

Nature is supposedly the most respected science journal in the world. But its reputation is sinking because it has become so overtly political, as with its decision last summer to endorse Kamala Harris for president. Now, in the mushiest softball Q&A one can imagine, the journal is boosting an anti-Israel protester and promoting her views on Israel’s war with Hamas. What’s the science hook? Well, there isn’t one beyond the protester’s being a doctoral student at MIT. From “Why this PhD candidate joined campus protests against the Israel–Hamas war”: Jessica Metzger, a PhD student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, researches non-equilibrium statistical physics — the study of how matter, especially living matter, behaves. Metzger traces her love of scientific exploration to Read More ›