IDF kills head of Palestinian group that kidnapped & murdered the Bibas Family on Oct. 7

 The leader of a brutal Palestinian jihadist group responsible for the kidnappings and cold-blooded murders of the Bibas family and an Israeli-American couple was killed in an Israeli airstrike, the military said Saturday.

Asaad Abu Sharia, head of the Mujahideen Brigades, was taken out in a joint operation in Gaza City on Saturday by the Israeli Defense Forces and the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, the groups announced in a statement posted on Telegram.

“During the war, the organization he led was involved in instigating terrorist attacks against Israel and fighting against IDF forces operating in the Gaza Strip,” the statement read.

Another high-ranking leader of the jihadist group, Mahmoud Kaheel, was killed in a separate attack, officials confirmed.

“The terrorists of the [Mujahideen] organization took a significant part in the murderous massacre on October 7, and were complicit in the kidnapping and murder,” they added.

During the deadly 2023 attack on Israel, the group aided Hamas by raiding the Nir Oz kibbutz, which was home to Shiri Bibas and her two sons, Ariel and Kfir, American-Israeli couple Gadi Hagai and Judy Lynn Weinstein, and Thai national Nattapong Pinta.

The Bibas’ remains were handed over to Israel in February and Hagai’s and Weinstein’s bodies were recovered just this week by the IDF and Shin Bet.

The remains of Pinta, 36, who had arrived to work on the kibbutz a year and a half prior to the attack, were recovered from Mujahideen Saturday in the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, also as part of the special joint operation, Defense Minister Israel Katz said.

Pinta, like the other Nir Oz victims, is believed to have been killed in the early days of the war.

In total, 47 people were killed on the kibbutz during the onslaught and 76 were abducted — only four of whom are presumed alive.

The bodies of seven captives from Nir Oz remain in the Strip, according to reports.

Pinta, who had been working on avocado and pomegranate farms before being take captive, had been sending his earnings to his wife and young son back in Thailand in the hopes of helping her open a coffee shop, the Times of Israel reported.

The father was one of 46 Thais who were killed while working in Israel.

Fifty-five hostages remain in capticity in Gaza, but only 20 are believed to be alive.

The IDF and the Shin Bet vowed Saturday to “to locate and thwart all terrorists … who took part in the murderous massacre on October 7 and in holding Israeli hostages captive.”

In recent weeks, Israel has expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip and announced Saturday that it had uncovered an underground tunnel route, including a command and control center run by Hamas under a European Hospital compound.

And with a concerns growing in the region over a humanitarian crisis, the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was forced to suspend operations on Saturday due to “direct threats against GHF operations” by Hamas, according to reports.

“Hamas is the reason hundreds of thousands of hungry Gazans were not fed today,” the GHF said in a statement. 

Don’t underestimate Donald Trump — he and his goals will survive without Elon Musk

 

Among other things last week, President Trump played host to Germany’s chancellor in the Oval Office, issued a travel ban against 12 countries whose citizens routinely violate their visas, had a “very positive” conversation about tariffs with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and twisted arms to push his “one big beautiful bill” across the congressional finish line.

Meanwhile, a stream of good economic news sent stock markets higher, with a jobs report beating expectations while inflation fell and wages rose.

Oh, and Trump also had a brutal falling out with Elon Musk.

No need to guess which of the above dominated the news.

France, UK walk back Palestinian state recognition at UN conference

 

Plans for the United Kingdom and France to recognize a Palestinian state at an upcoming United Nations conference in New York, scheduled for June 17-20, have been abandoned, diplomatic sources indicated, according to a report in The Guardian on Saturday.

This decision marks a significant shift from France’s previous strong lobbying efforts for such recognition among European allies.

French President Emmanuel Macron had publicly framed recognition of “Palestine” as “a moral duty and political requirement,” even suggesting it could be linked to Saudi Arabia’s recognition of Israel.

However, according to The Guardian, French officials have reportedly informed their Israeli counterparts that the upcoming conference will not be the moment for such a move.

Instead, the focus will now pivot to outlining steps towards recognition, contingent on a series of prerequisites from the Palestinian Arabs. These include a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the release of Israeli hostages, comprehensive reform of the Palestinian Authority, economic reconstruction, and the cessation of Hamas rule in Gaza.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot stated on Friday that recognizing a Palestinian state at the conference would have been a "symbolic" decision. He emphasized France's "particular responsibility" as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, suggesting that such a step would be inappropriate without the support of key allies.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has long urged countries to recognize “Palestine” as a means of bypassing direct talks with Israel.

While several countries have recognized “Palestine” in recent years, those moves were symbolic ones that have little, if any, actual diplomatic effect.

More recently, Spain, Ireland and Norway formally recognized a Palestinian state in May of 2024.

In June of that year, Slovenia officially recognized a Palestinian state, after its parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of the move.

Malta's Prime Minister Robert Abela announced in late May that his country is set to officially recognize the "State of Palestine" during the month of June.

Smotrich Warns Israeli Banks Against Judea and Samaria Sanctions

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich warned the Bank of Israel on Wednesday that he was considering promoting legislation that would allow Israeli citizens to sue financial institutions if they comply with foreign sanctions imposed on residents of Judea and Samaria.

In a letter to Daniel Hahiashvili, who supervises financial institutions on behalf of the Bank of Israel, Smotrich said he would “immediately promote legislation that will impose high compensation payments on the banks for clients harmed as a result of the banks’ compliance” if Israeli institutions choose to cooperate with international measures.

The finance minister said he penned the missive against the backdrop of widespread reports that the European Union is considering imposing personal sanctions on Israeli Jews living in Judea and Samaria under Brussels’ wide-reaching global human rights sanctions regime.

Such sanctions would represent a “severe blow to the sovereignty and independence of the State of Israel and a blatant and improper interference in its internal affairs by foreign states,” according to Smotrich, who noted that “citizens acting in Judea and Samaria are doing so under the authority, and with the mandate, of the state.”

Israeli banks have largely cooperated with the restrictions imposed on the residents of Judea and Samaria since the Biden administration became the first to announce a sanctions regime in February 2024.

Smotrich in his letter accused the country’s banks of adopting a “zero-risk policy that reflects a narrow-minded approach and a complete disregard for the price of complying with sanctions.”

The minister added, “A situation in which banks cooperate with the sanctions almost automatically and without even voicing protest is unacceptable. This, of course, does not replace or absolve the state’s obligation to act on the matter, and to the best of my knowledge, the relevant authorities are doing so through the appropriate channels.”

He noted that financial institutions have “significant capacity to act against the sanctions and reduce their own risk without shifting the burden onto the sanctioned client,” including by filing lawsuits in foreign courts and at the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg City.

“Their massive profits in recent years allow them to conduct such legal proceedings without difficulty,” Smotrich emphasized in the letter.

In a joint statement issued on May 19, the United Kingdom, France and Canada warned that they would “not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions,” if Jerusalem continued to expand communities in Judea and Samaria.

“We oppose any attempt to expand settlements in the West Bank. Israel must halt settlements which are illegal and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state and the security of both Israelis and Palestinians,” the leaders of the three countries declared. (Europe, like many countries around the world, refers to Judea and Samaria as the “West Bank.”)

The European Union has currently designated nine Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria under its global human rights sanctions regime: Neria Ben Pazi, Meir Ettinger, Bentzi Gopstein, Yinon Levi, Issachar Manne, Baruch Marzel, Moshe Sharvit, Elisha Yered and Zvi Bar Yosef.

Orthodox/Right Scores Landslide Victory Over Reform/Left in U.S. Zionist Congress Delegate Vote

 

A record-breaking 230,257 votes were cast in the election for U.S. delegates to the 39th World Zionist Congress, according to preliminary results released by the American Zionist Movement (AZM), the umbrella organization overseeing the vote in the United States.

The preliminary tally shows a clear lead for the Orthodox/Right bloc with 134,724 votes, compared to 95,500 votes for the Reform/Left bloc, although the single biggest vote winner was “Vote Reform”:

ORTHODOX / RIGHT-WING SLATES (16 slates)

Am Yisrael Chai         31,765
Eretz HaKodesh          29,159
Orthodox Israel Coalition (OIC)        26,975
ZOA Coalition 8,511
Israel365 Action          2,339
SHAS  2,658
Dorshei Torah V’Tzion           1,946
Herut North America  1,109
Americans 4 Israel      385
Kol Israel         5,314
Aish Ha’am     6,649
Achdut Israel   1,592
Beyachad        3,238
American Forum for Israel     1,539
Israeli American Council (IAC)         5,344
VISION          6,201

REFORM / LEFT-WING SLATES (6 slates)

VOTE REFORM        47,887
MERCAZ USA          27,893
HATIKVAH    11,537
The Jewish Future       1,794
ANU   1,509
AID Coalition  4,880

Preliminary results released on Thursday confirm that participation in the 2025 election for U.S. delegates to the World Zionist Congress surged by over 86% compared to the last election in 2020. A total of 230,257 valid votes were cast—224,237 online and 6,020 via mailed paper ballots—up from 123,575 votes in the previous cycle.

The election, held from March 10 to May 4, 2025, concluded with the tabulation of all ballots and final decisions by the Area Election Committee (AEC), which oversees the process. The 152 delegates elected from the United States—representing roughly one-third of the 525-member Congress—will join international delegates in determining the allocation of more than $1 billion annually in support of Israel and global Jewish initiatives.

A Message That Charedim Will Never Understand

 This is, of course, a US soldier, but this is happening in Israel all the time! 

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Chereidie Explains Differences Between The Peleg Extremists and Satmar in Yiddish!

 

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Zera Shimshon Parshat Nasso

 

ICC Crying as US Sanctions its Judges

 

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday blasted the decision by the Trump administration to sanction four of its judges.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions in a statement, saying they target Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin and Beti Hohler of Slovenia.

Two of the sanctioned judges authorized the arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant which the court issued last November. The others authorized an ICC investigation into abuses by US personnel in Afghanistan.

The ICC said in response that it “deplores” the US sanctions, calling them “a clear attempt to undermine the independence of an international judicial institution which operates under the mandate from 125 States Parties from all corners of the globe.”

The ICC said in its statemen that it “stands fully behind its personnel, and will continue its work undeterred, in strict accordance with the Rome Statute and the principles of fairness and due process, with a view to bringing justice to victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression.”

“Targeting those working for accountability does nothing to help civilians trapped in conflict. It only emboldens those who believe they can act with impunity,” the court said. “These sanctions are not only directed at designated individuals, they also target all those who support the Court, including nationals and corporate entities of States Parties.”

“They are aimed against innocent victims in all Situations before the Court, as well as the rule of law, peace, security and the prevention of the gravest crimes that shock the conscience of humanity,” it added.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, meanwhile, welcomed the US sanctions, writing on X, “Thank you Secretary Rubio. You are right. The ICC’s dangerous abuse of power and illegitimate infringement of sovereignty and national security of democracies fighting terrorism like the US and Israel must stop.”

Thursday’s sanctions are in line with an executive order imposing sanctions on the ICC which President Trump signed in February.

A week later, the US announced it had added Karim Khan, the ICC Chief Prosecutor, to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, actively sanctioning him.

Under the sanctions, all of Khan's assets in the US were frozen.

Tens Of Thousands Attend Right-Wing Protest Outside Supreme Court Supporting Netanyahu

 

Tens of thousands of right-wing supporters attended a rally protesting against the overreach of the Supreme Court and Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara on Thursday.

The protest was held outside the Supreme Court building in Jerusalem.

Participants carried signs stating, among others, “A Jewish state wins over the Deep State” and “No to the rule of the Supreme Court!” and “The people are sovereign.”

At one point, the crowd chanted again and again, “Gali will not decide!” referring to the Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara.

Among the speakers at the rally were Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, Education Minister Yoav Kisch, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, the chairman of the Knesset’s Constitution Committee, Simcha Rothman, Tzvika Mor, the father of Eitan, who is being held hostage in Gaza, and several bereaved parents whose children fell in Gaza.

Smotrich said in his speech, “We will not allow anyone to take our democracy from us and strip us of authority. There are those who think they can take the reins from the citizens of Israel. There are those who believe that they are the supreme parliament, above the will of the people – that they will decide who will head the Shin Bet, who will be the Civil Service Commissioner, and even who will be the Prime Minister.”

“And I ask you: are you willing to let someone decide for you? Will you agree that someone who is not an elected official will determine who will lead your security system? Who will head the critical services of the country? And who will head the government? This is simply infeasible. The prime minister and the government are not only allowed to decide – they are obligated to decide. Because they are the public’s messengers. And what they decide – that’s what you decided in the last elections. I look at you, at the tens of thousands, at this wonderful nation, and I say to you: you are sovereign. The will of the people will not be dictated to us from above. Our choice will not be imposed on us. You will decide!”

Over 85,000 Frum Jews Voted in WZO Elections!

 In an unprecedented show of unity and strategic participation, Orthodox Jewish communities across America mobilized in record numbers for the 39th World Zionist Congress elections, ensuring that a significant portion of the over $1 billion in annual funding will be directed toward Torah institutions rather than organizations promoting secular or anti-Torah agendas.

The election, which saw 230,257 total votes cast between March 10 and May 4, 2025, witnessed extraordinary participation from Torah-observant communities who recognized the critical importance of having a voice in how these substantial funds are allocated, even while maintaining principled positions regarding the secular Zionist enterprise.

This Will Not End Well! The Public feud between Elon Musk and Trump!

In a dramatic escalation of their public feud, Elon Musk alleged on Thursday that former President Donald Trump is named in the sealed Jeffrey Epstein files. 

Posting on social media platform X, Musk declared,

 “Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” 

Exchanges between the two, sparked by Musk’s criticism of Trump’s “big, beautiful” spending bill, which Musk labeled a “disgusting abomination.” In response, Trump expressed disappointment in Musk and suggested terminating federal contracts with Musk’s companies, including Tesla and SpaceX. 

 

Daughter of famed Noahide archaeologist found dead in her home; son suspected killer

Sarah Richardson and her Father Vendyl Jones 

Sarah Richardson, the daughter of the enigmatic Noahide archaeologist Vendyl Jones, was found dead in her West Bank home last week.

Police suspect that the 73-year-old Jewish convert was killed by her son, Joel — who suffered from mental illness — in her Maale Levona settlement home on May 27.

Richardson moved to Israel as a child on the eve of the 1967 Six-Day War with her father, a Christian preacher turned archaeologist who spent the latter part of his life trying to track down lost ritual objects of the First and Second Temples.

“When we came to the apartment, we saw the son digging a hole in the garden with a shovel,” a police officer told Channel 12. “He kept us from going inside, and that immediately raised suspicions that he was trying to bury his mother and hide evidence.”

Police initially detained the 37-year-old son and transferred his mother’s body to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute for examination. Forensics experts were unable to determine the cause of her death, leading to his release under restrictive conditions.

Joel was later arrested again after his father called the cops, reporting that he had threatened him with a knife.

During a subsequent conversation with police, Joel confessed to murdering his mother and even reenacted how he killed her at the scene of the crime. The son also told investigators that he “received messages from God” commanding him to kill either his father or their dog, according to Channel 12.

Anat Kirshenberg, the suspect’s lawyer, maintained that police extracted a false confession from him, taking advantage of his psychological distress.

A hearing for Joel was held on Sunday in the Rishon LeZion Magistrate’s Court. He was found fit to stand trial after undergoing two psychiatric evaluations and had his detention extended by six days as police continue their investigation.

Sarah Richardson was one of three women murdered within a single week amid a particularly deadly year for gender-based violence.

In 2008 — two years before Jones passed away from cancer at age 80 — Richardson gave an interview to “Eretz Binyamin,” a publication owned by the Binyamin Regional Council in the West Bank, in which she recounted her family’s move to Israel.

Born in Texas, Jones built his career as a Baptist minister in a small North Carolina town that lived in the shadow of the local Ku Klux Klan chapter.

The preacher angered the white supremacist group with his sermons lauding Jews as the “chosen people” and his repeated attempts to bring black worshipers into the congregation, Richardson told the paper.

“The Ku Klux Klan would come to our house at night and break the windows and car windshields. Sometimes, they would also shoot at the house,” she recalled. Eventually, its leading members were prosecuted and imprisoned, putting an end to the KKK’s hold over the town.

While still in the US, Jones became increasingly fascinated with Jewish tradition. He began to learn Hebrew and study the Torah,  eventually becoming a Noahide — a gentile who takes on the seven Noahide Laws, which are a set of obligations all human beings must adhere to, per Jewish tradition.

Jones also “fell in love” with studying the ancient Jewish temples and came to view the recovery of its ritual objects in the Land of Israel as key to bringing about messianic redemption, his daughter said.

“We packed up and sailed to Israel by ship. The journey took two weeks,” Richardson recalled in the interview. “From a distance, we saw Haifa; and to us, it looked like a city of gold.”

Jones conducted eight separate digs at Qumran, a West Bank site near the Dead Sea where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. He believed that the archaeological site is also the location of several Temple artifacts, including the Ark of the Covenant.

Jones travelled back and forth between Texas and Israel until his death in 2010.

Richardson took up her father’s profession before his passing. She aided him in his archaeological digs, but broke from her father’s Noahidism. She converted to Judaism and moved to Maale Levona, a small West Bank settlement south of Ariel, where she resided until her sudden murder.

“I love the land, I love Judaism and I love working with my father. And even though today we come from two ends — he from Noahidism and me from Judaism — we complement each other, like one flame burning in honor of the Temple,” Richardson said.

 

“There’s Nothing Waiting for the Chareidim in the Opposition

 In a candid interview with Arutz Sheva in Hebrew, veteran chareidi political analyst Yisroel Cohen unpacked the growing tensions between the chareidi parties and the Netanyahu-led government, explaining why, despite knowing they have little to gain from the opposition, chareidi MKs may still choose to walk out.

“There’s nothing for them outside,” Cohen stated unequivocally. “In realpolitik terms, the chareidim have nothing to look forward to on the other side. The days when Gantz said, ‘Bring me a blank paper and write whatever you want and I’ll sign it,’ are over — and that’s because of October 7 and the close alignment between the chareidi parties and the right-wing bloc. The messaging coming from Gantz, Lapid, and Yair Golan makes it clear: there’s nothing waiting for the chareidim in a different coalition.”

Still, Cohen acknowledges that the threat of leaving the coalition is not empty rhetoric. “There’s a deeply held chareidi belief that they cannot be part of a government that brands lomdei Torah as criminals or draft dodgers,” he said. While expressing his own sorrow over the widening cracks within the religious bloc — a bloc he says still agrees on 80 percent of the issues and shares the same beliefs — Cohen lamented that, since the horrors of October 7, the relationship between the chareidim and the religious Zionist camp has become increasingly strained, especially around the issue of the draft.

He recalled how, in past decades, the political left would talk about donning a shtreimel if it meant achieving peace. Today, however, Cohen observed, the left has shifted sharply in a progressive and anti-religious direction. Against that backdrop, he invoked the words of Maran Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach zt”l, who spoke of the enduring alliance between the chareidi world and the traditional and peripheral communities of Israel.

Yet even as the chareidim feel they have remained loyal to Netanyahu through repeated elections, they now question whether that loyalty was a mistake. “The Likud, Religious Zionism, and Ben Gvir’s party all got what they wanted. The chareidim? They were pushed aside by Netanyahu — again and again.”

Pressed on whether going to the opposition wouldn’t itself harm Torah study — given that Gantz, Lapid, Golan, and Liberman are unlikely to be better partners for chareidi interests — Cohen responded by quoting the Gerrer Rebbe, who said, “We’re not in charge of Heaven’s calculations. Hashem has His own ways to protect the chareidi public, even if it’s in the opposition.” Beyond that, Cohen added, there’s a fundamental red line: “We cannot accept being part of a government that defines Torah learners as criminals.”

Looking ahead, Cohen said there’s also a strategic recalibration taking place. “Some in the chareidi leadership believe that their alliance with the political right has eroded their deterrent power. Maybe, by stepping out — if not now, then in the long term — they can reestablish themselves as a decisive swing vote.”

Asked whether chareidi leaders are concerned about how they’ll be perceived by the broader Israeli public if they bring down a government during wartime, Cohen acknowledged that some rabbanim do worry about that perception and would prefer to avoid such a move — especially during a war. “But,” he added, “they see limud haTorah as non-negotiable. It’s their core demand. And they didn’t get it, even after handing Netanyahu the 61 seats he needed to form a government.”

As for the financial and political achievements the chareidi parties have secured until now, Cohen admitted there were many. “But the sanctions imposed in the draft issue scared them — deeply. If Yuli Edelstein had been more flexible, there might have been room for a different kind of conversation, built on shared values.”

“We’re now closer than ever to the collapse of the government,” Cohen warned, “but there’s still a week. If Netanyahu rolls up his sleeves and dives headfirst into the issue, a resolution is possible. Most of the chareidi leadership isn’t looking to dismantle the coalition just for the sake of it. They just want a law that they can live with. They know the ‘dream bill’ from two years ago is no longer realistic — they understand that October 7 changed the landscape. But they’re still waiting for something.”

And what of the rumors that United Torah Judaism leader Moshe Gafni might be quietly negotiating with Gantz or Lapid? Cohen doubts it. “Given how committed the opposition leaders are to the draft issue, it’s hard to believe. Still,” he allowed, “some may feel that it can’t get worse than this — and perhaps, under a different government, the attorney general and the Supreme Court would provide more room to maneuver.”

Dog Celebrates Win in Volley Ball

 

The dog even realizes when they win the point and celebrates! I love it 😍🥰

- Mr.E

Read on Substack

Mother in Modiin Murders Her 13-Year-Old and Kills Herself Erev Yom Tov

 

הותר לפרסום: איתי שמאי הוא הנער שנרצח לפי החשד בידי אימו בערב החג

איתי שמאי הוא הילד בן ה-13 שעל פי החשד נרצח בידי אימו בערב חג השבועות במודיעין - כך הותר היום (רביעי) לפרסום. הלווייתו צפויה להתקיים היום בשעה 16:00 בבית העלמין בגבעת שאול.

בבית הספר העל-יסודי הקהילתי משלב יחד מודיעין, שבו למד הנער, ספדו לו 

"איתי היה נער רגיש, אכפתי ואהוב על חבריו ועל צוות בית הספר. חיוכו השקט,

נדיבותו וליבו הפתוח נגעו בכל מי שהכיר אותו" 

בבית הספר ציינו כי "בלכתו הפתאומית מעימנו הניח חלל עמוק בלב כולנו. אנו מחבקים את כל מי שאהב אותו בשעה קשה זו".

Judy Weinstein-Hagi’s last call to a Magen David Adom

 Listen to Judy Weinstein-Hagi’s last call to a Magen David Adom emergency operator after her husband was murdered in front of her eyes on October 7th 2023.

 May their memory be blessed.
 

Dead Sea Scrolls much older than previously thought

Many of the Dead Sea Scrolls are much older than academics previously thought, with some dating back to the time of their ancient authorship, a new study claims.

Scientists from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands utilized artificial intelligence to examine the handwriting of the ancient fragments and claim they derived more accurate dates for some writings, including the Book of Daniel, according to a paper published in Plos One.

The aptly named AI program “Enoch” was fed a plethora of already dated ancient texts from modern-day Israel and the West Bank that also had radiocarbon dates — then used machine learning to study the handwriting progressions of 135 Dead Sea Scroll fragments.

The study claimed that the fragment of the Book of Daniel 8-11, which was thought to be dated to 160s BC, could be as old as 230 BC, which overlaps with the period in which the biblical book was authored.

“With the Enoch tool we have opened a new door into the ancient world, like a time machine, that allows us to study the hands that wrote the Bible,” the study’s authors wrote in a statement, Eureka Alert reported. 

“Especially now that we have established, for the first time, that two biblical scroll fragments come from the time of their presumed authors,” the statement continued.

Researchers also claim that fragments written in Herodian Aramaic and Hasmonaean Hebrew — considered to have emerged in the First and Second centuries BC — are actually older than initially thought and provide a new lens for the presumed proliferation of writing during that era.

These new dating claims result in “a new chronology of the scrolls and the re-dating of ancient Jewish key texts that contribute to current debates on Jewish and Christian origins,” the study stated.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were first discovered in 1943 by two Bedouin shepherds who found them secreted in caves in the Qumran section of Israel near the Dead Sea and are the oldest known fragments of Jewish manuscripts written in Hebrew, Greek, Arabic and Aramaic dating back to the Third and Second century BC.

Scholars attribute the trove of religious manuscripts to the Essens, who were Jewish sectarians at the turn of the first millennium.