Antisemitism Exposed

The undisputed answer to Israel’s legitimacy: The Dead Sea Scrolls

Ancient biblical history can speak louder than modern politics, says peace advocate

By Loay Alshareef Fox News

Published August 19, 2026 7:04am EDT

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Museum of the Bible offers rare look at Dead Sea Scrolls

Museum of the Bible chief curator Dr. Robert Duke gives 'Fox News Sunday' a special glimpse at the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.

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The Dead Sea Scrolls have fascinated me for years, not only because of what they tell us about Judaism and the biblical world, but because of what they tell us about one of the most disputed questions in the Middle East today: the historical connection of the Jewish people to the land of Israel.

I have spent years advocating for peace and reconciliation between Muslims and Jews. And I have never understood why acknowledging the ancient Jewish connection to this land should be considered threatening to Muslims.

In fact, I believe the Dead Sea Scrolls are one of Israel’s greatest defenses of its legitimacy. Far more powerful than the Iron Dome or F-35.

The Scrolls demolish one argument that has become increasingly common in parts of the Arab and Western worlds: the claim that Jewish attachment to the land is a recent political invention created by Europeans in the nineteenth or twentieth century.

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The scrolls have attracted a great amount of interest from both scholars and the public since their discovery. (Getty Images)

The Dead Sea Scrolls make that argument very difficult to sustain.

Their modern story began in 1947, when Bedouin shepherds discovered ancient manuscripts in caves near Qumran, close to the Dead Sea. Over the following years, additional caves were discovered containing thousands of fragments representing hundreds of manuscripts dating from the final centuries before the Common Era and the first century A.D.

They were written by Jews living in this region more than 2,000 years ago.

When people discuss the Dead Sea Scrolls, they often imagine that the collection consists primarily of copies of the Hebrew Bible. Biblical manuscripts are certainly among its greatest treasures. The Great Isaiah Scroll, for example, is one of the most remarkable surviving biblical manuscripts in the world.

But a large majority of the material discovered at Qumran was not simply biblical text.

The collection also contains rules governing religious communities, prayers, legal discussions, biblical interpretations, hymns, wisdom literature and writings concerned with the end of days. Some texts tell us how members of particular Jewish........

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