Millions of red locusts have swarmed into the Holy Land conjuring up Biblical images as they ate palm trees bare, feasted on crops and even settled on the shores of the Dead Sea.
The locust plague has swept in from North Africa where the insects devoured fields and even crossed over the pyramids. It was the worst locust plague to hit the Holy Land since 1959 and the Israeli air force said it spotted another swarm, 10 kilometres long, approaching from the Sinai Peninsula.
The Old Testament's Book of Leviticus, Chapter 11, lists locusts by name as a permitted food item, although not all locusts are kosher. Many rabbis ban eating the insects, saying the knowledge to identify which species are kosher has been lost over the centuries.
Some rabbis, however, saw the locusts as a biblical warning. "We must wake up and show more love for our fellow man. People should give more charity. Then God will defend his people from all evil," said the country's chief rabbi, Shlomo Amar. Locusts were the eighth of 10 plagues visited upon the Egyptians by God until Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelites go.
Michele Green, ENI
