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Contents: Jerusalem News nos 601-630

Jerusalem News-601
Date: 7 Nissan 5767, 26 March 2007
Contents:
1. Niall Ferguson: Why our enemies -- and friends -- hate us
2. Brit-Am Version of Explorator 9.48
3. England-Israel Soccer Draw
Interesting Reports
4. Despite the result, England fans delighted with Tel Aviv welcome
5. Merkel: Germany least anti-Semitic Country in Europe?

1. Niall Ferguson: Why our enemies -- and friends -- hate us
http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-oe-ferguson26feb26,1,1432880.column?coll=la-news-columns
Provoking dislike throughout the world is part of being an empire.
February 26, 2007

BEING HATED IS NO FUN. And few people hate being hated more than Americans. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've been asked, "Why do they hate us?" ­ and another for each of the different answers I've heard. It's because of our foreign policy. It's because of their extremism. It's because of our arrogance. It's because of their inferiority complex. Americans really hate not knowing why they're hated.

The best explanation is the simplest. Being hated is what happens to dominant empires. George Orwell knew the feeling. As a young man he served as an assistant police superintendent in British-run Burma, an experience he memorably described in his essay, "Shooting an Elephant." Called upon to kill a pachyderm that had run amok, Orwell was suddenly aware "of the watchful yellow faces behind" him: "The sole thought in my mind was that if anything went wrong those two thousand Burmans would see me pursued, caught, trampled on and reduced to a grinning corpse like that Indian up the hill. And if that happened it was quite probable that some of them would laugh."
Eric Blair ­ as Orwell was known then ­ could scarcely have been better prepared for his role as a colonial official. Born in Bengal, the son of a colonial civil servant, he had been educated at Eton, where boys learn not to worry about being hated. Yet even he found the resentment of the natives hard to bear: "In the end the sneering … faces of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance, got badly on my nerves….[It] was perplexing and upsetting."

That's a feeling American soldiers in Baghdad must know pretty well.

But who hates Americans the most? You might assume that it's people in countries that the United States has recently attacked or threatened to attack. Americans themselves are clear about who their principal enemies are. Asked by Gallup to name the "greatest enemy" of the U.S. today, 26% of those recently polled named Iran, 21% named Iraq and 18% named North Korea.

Are those feelings reciprocated? Up to a point. The Gallup Center for Muslim Studies' latest poll found 52% of Iranians view the U.S. unfavorably. But that is down from 63% in 2001. And it's significantly lower than the antipathy felt in Jordan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Two-thirds of Jordanians and Pakistanis have a negative view of the U.S., as do a staggering 79% of Saudis.

These figures suggest a paradox in the Muslim world. It's not the United States' enemies that hate it most. It's people in countries that are supposed to be friendly, if not allies.

The paradox of unfriendly allies is not confined to the Middle East. Last week was not a good week for Americanophiles in Europe. Tony Blair announced British troop withdrawals from Iraq, an unfortunate signal on the eve of the U.S. "surge." In Rome, his counterpart Romano Prodi had to resign because his coalition partners would not agree to keep Italian troops in Afghanistan or to enlarge a U.S. military base in Italy. Anti-Americanism is nothing new in European politics, but there is something new going on here, which extends to traditionally pro-American constituencies.

Back in 1999, 83% of British people surveyed by the U.S. State Department's Office of Research said they had a favorable opinion of the U.S. But by 2006, according to the Pew Global Attitudes Project, only 56% did. British respondents to the Pew surveys now give higher ratings to Germany (75%) and Japan (69%) than to the U.S. ­ a remarkable transformation in attitudes, given the notorious British tendency to look back nostalgically and unforgivingly to World War II. Britons recently polled by Pew regard the U.S. presence in Iraq as a bigger threat to world peace than Iran or North Korea.

Nor is Britain the only disillusioned ally. Only 38% of Germans and 19% of Canadians believe that U.S. foreign policy considers the interests of others. The poignant fact is that when Americans are asked to rate foreign countries, their most favorable views are of none other than Britain, Germany and Canada.

In the 1990s, Madeleine Albright pompously called the United States "the indispensable nation." Today it seems to have become the indefensible nation, even in the eyes of its supposed friends.

Orwell would have understood. Just as it was the educated beneficiaries of British rule in Asia who were the most strident anti-imperialists in Orwell's day, so the British empire's most natural allies ­ France and the United States ­ were anything but Anglophile. For it turns out that power not only corrupts. It also tends to isolate.

There is, after all, a reason why they say it's lonely at the top.

2. Brit-Am Version of Explorator 9.48

================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================

More coverage of the find of that Second Temple era town in
Jerusalem:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/121830

Latest in the Temple Mount saga:

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=12060

... while this 'accusation' sounds vaguely familiar:

http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=18588


================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================
Some Illyrian ships have been found in Bosnia:

http://www.suntimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=419816

... and more Roman artifacts in India:

http://tinyurl.com/2ryxnf (Daily India)

Good article on Greek theatre acoustics:

http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070319/full/070319-16.html
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070324/139/6dnty.html

cf:

http://tinyurl.com/2r5wzg (New Scientist)


================================================================
ASIA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC
================================================================

What archaeology is revealing about class systems in 19th century
Australia:

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/03/22/servant_his.html

New Zealand Archaeology eNews:

http://www.nzarchaeology.org/netsubnews.htm
================================================================
NORTH AMERICA
================================================================

Review of Michael Wallis, *Billy the Kid*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/books/review/Stiles.t.html

================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
An author is claiming to have evidence the Portuguese discovered
Australia:

http://tinyurl.com/2og4mx (AFP via Yahoo)
http://tinyurl.com/38jvhm (CNN)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17722949/


More coverage of the UK's pondering of the slave trade:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/arts/design/20slav.html


================================================================
EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
================================================================
Venice and the Islamic World:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/arts/design/23voge.html

Medea's Gold:

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aaGTZDuKINQc


================================================================
EXPLORATOR is a weekly newsletter representing the fruits of
the labours of 'media research division' of The Atrium. Various
on-line news and magazine sources are scoured for news of the
ancient world (broadly construed: practically anything relating
to archaeology or history prior to about 1700 or so is fair
game) and every Sunday they are delivered to your mailbox free of
charge!
================================================================

================================================================
Past issues of Explorator are available on the web via our
Yahoo site:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Explorator/

The Brit-Am Version of Explorator is a pruned-down (with permission) version
for Brit-Am audiences to bring into focus items the most pertinent
to Brit-Am themes.
Brief Brit-Am comments may on occasion accompany some of the entries.

3. England-Israel Soccer Draw
Interesting Reports

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/841378.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3380894,00.html
http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2042633,00.html
http://www.ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=2851
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879165228&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

4. Despite the result, England fans delighted with Tel Aviv welcome
http://www.ejpress.org/article/15403
By Jeremy

TEL AVIV (EJP)--- The thousands of supporters of the English national football team who packed into the National Stadium in Ramat Gan were clearly disappointed with their teams performance in the 0-0 draw with Israel on Saturday night.

But across the board the fans, the majority of whom were on their first trip to the holy land, said they were surprised and delighted by the welcome Israel had shown them throughout the weekend.

The crucial Euro 2008 qualifying match itself was somewhat of a damp squib in the end, with few scoring chances for either team. Both sets of fans had few opportunities to get excited about their team’s play.

And the subdued atmosphere in the stadium contrasted completely with the raucous but rarely aggressive mood that was felt all over Tel Aviv from Thursday night through to Saturday.

Fans fill the beach front

From the time the threat of a general strike preventing England supporters arriving in the country subsided on Wednesday, thousands arrived in Israel. Many were handed free hats and T-shirts on arrival and headed straight for the Tel Aviv beaches.

By Friday morning Tel Aviv’s beach front promenade was awash with red and white St George flags displaying the names of teams such as Hull City and Rotherham as well as more established names like Chelsea.

There had been fears that the combination of warm weather and numerous pints of beer may turn the atmosphere more negative. But at bars like Mikes Place and Buzz Stop on the beach there was only good natured singing, banter and mixing between the English and the Israelis.

“This is the best ever reception we have ever had and I have traveled to nearly all the England away games over the last four years,” one fan told EJP.

“When we were in Croatia we were greeted by the police with batons which they hit us with.”

A number of events were held in connection with the game on Friday, including a peace tournament in Tel Aviv’s Ganei Yehoshua park featuring mixed Jewish and Arab children’s football teams, a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem by a group of England fans.

5. Merkel: Germany least anti-Semitic Country in Europe?
Merkel vows to work for troops' release
By MATTHEW WAGNER
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879171052&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised to do everything in her power to secure the release of all three Israeli soldiers being held by Hizbullah and Hamas, during a meeting Sunday in Berlin with Israeli Chief Rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar.

Merkel, who is also the president of the European Union, presented the rabbis with a
survey that showed that Germany had the lowest level of anti-Semitism of all European countries.

Merkel said that as president of the European Union, she has set as a goal the combating of anti-Semitism among members of EU member states, said a chief rabbinate spokesman.

Merkel also acquiesced to the request of the two chief rabbis not to recognize the Palestinian coalition government until Hamas frees kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, recognizes Israel and stops terrorist attacks against Israel.

The two chief rabbis also discussed the Iranian nuclear threat with Merkel.

Merkel said that as a daughter of a priest, she was very receptive to religious-based solutions to conflict resolution.

Jerusalem News-602
Date: 8 Nissan 5767, 27 March 2007
Contents:
1. A. Dean Byrd: Homosexuality is acquired and not Inherited
2. New Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Support Israel
3. Germany threatened with Jihad
4. French Forces Back US and UK versus Iran and Afghanistan
5. Brit-Am Prepares Publication-Media Onslaught

1. A. Dean Byrd: Homosexuality is acquired and not Inherited

"Homosexuality Is Not Hardwired," Concludes Head of The Human Genome Project

By A. Dean Byrd, Ph.D, MBA, MPH

Francis S. Collins, one of the world's leading scientists who works at the cutting edge of DNA research, concluded that "there is an inescapable component of heritability to many human behavioral traits." However, he adds, "for virtually none of them, is heredity ever close to predictive."

In reviewing the heritability (i.e., influence of genetic factors) on personality traits, Dr. Collins referenced the research of Bochard and McGue for the estimated percentage of these traits that can be ascribed to heredity.

The heritability estimates for personality traits were varied: General Cognitive Ability (50%), Extroversion (54%), Agreeableness (42%), Conscientiousness (49%), Neuroticism (48%), Openness (57%), Aggression (38%) and Traditionalism (54%).

Such estimates of heritability are based upon unbiased, careful analyses of studies conducted with identical twins. The studies lead to the conclusion that heredity is important in many of these personality traits. It is important however, to note that even in such studies with identical twins, that heritability is not to be confused as inevitability.

As Dr. Collins would agree, environment can influence gene expression, and free will determines the response to whatever predispositions might be present.

Dr. Collins succinctly reviewed the research on homosexuality and offers the following:

"An area of particularly strong public interest is the genetic basis of homosexuality. Evidence from twin studies does in fact support the conclusion that heritable factors play a role in male homosexuality. However, the likelihood that the identical twin of a homosexual male will also be gay is about 20% (compared with 2-4 percent of males in the general population), indicating that sexual orientation is genetically influenced but not hardwired by DNA, and that whatever genes are involved represent predispositions, not predeterminations [emphasis added]."

The heritability estimates for homosexuality is substantially lower than General Cognitive Ability, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness, Aggression and Traditionalism!

Dr. Collins noted that environment--particularly childhood experiences--as well as the role of free will and choice affect us all in profound ways. As researchers discover increasing levels of molecular detail about inherited factors that underlie our personalities, it's critical that such data be used to illuminate the issues, not provide support to ideologues.

Citing such dangers, Dr. Collins referred to the book written by activist Dean Hamer, who declared the discovery of the "God gene" (this same author also is associated with "discovering the gay gene").

Dr. Collins noted that the "evidence" in Hamer's book "grabbed headlines," but was "wildly overstated."

A reviewer in Scientific American suggested that Hamer's book on the "God gene" should have been titled, "A Gene That Accounts for Less than One Percent of the Variance Found in Scores on Psychological Questionnaires Designed to Measure a Factor Called Self-Transcendence, Which Can Signify Everything from Belonging to the Green Party to Believing in ESP, According to One Unpublished, Unreplicated Study."

Unfortunately, much of the research in areas such as homosexuality has been misrepresented; not only in the media, but also by the scientists themselves through a tendency to overestimate the quantitative contribution of their findings.

Regarding the contributions of genetics to areas such as homosexuality, Dr. Collins concluded, "Yes, we have all been dealt a particular set of cards, and the cards will eventually be revealed. But how we play the hand is up to us."

I agree.

Reference:
Collins, Francis S. (2006). The Language of God, A Scientist Presents Evidence For Belief. New York: Free Press.

See the NARTH website:
http://www.narth.com/

2. New Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Support Israel
From: imra@netvision.net.il
Subject: Major New ZOA Poll: Americans Oppose Giving Land to Palestinians by
5-to-1, Believe Palestinian State Would be a Terrorist State by 2-to-1,
Support Israelis over Palestinians by 10-to-1

NEWS RELEASE
Zionist Organization of America
Jacob & Libby Goodman ZOA House, 4 East 34th Street, New York, N.Y. 10016
(212) 481-1500 Fax: (212) 481-1515 email@zoa.org www.zoa.org

March 26, 2007
Contact Morton A. Klein at: (212) 481-1500
Attn: NEWS EDITOR

MAJOR NEW ZOA POLL: AMERICANS OPPOSE GIVING LAND TO PALESTINIANS BY 5-TO-1, BELIEVE PALESTINIAN STATE WOULD BE A TERRORIST STATE BY 2-TO-1, SUPPORT ISRAELIS OVER PALESTINIANS BY 10-TO-1

New York -- A major new national poll has found the following regarding American opinion on the Israel and Middle East issues:

By a margin of 2-to-1 (45%- 22%), Americans believe that a Palestinian Arab state would be a terrorist state rather than a peaceful democracy;

By a margin of 5-to-1 (60% - 11%), Americans believe that Israel should not make more land to the Palestinian Arabs.

By a margin of 10-to-1 (45% - 4.6%) Americans overwhelmingly support
Israelis over the Palestinian Arabs.

By a margin of more than 5-to-1 (65% - 11%), Americans believe that Saudi Arabia is not a reliable and trustworthy ally in the war against radical Islamic terrorism;

By a margin of nearly 2-to-1 (46% - 24%), Americans believe that Egypt is not a reliable and trustworthy ally in the war against radical Islamic terrorism; and

By a margin of nearly 2-to-1 (51% - 26%), Americans believe that the US should impose economic sanctions on Saudi Arabia until it stops its support and funding for terrorists and radical Islamic education that teaches hatred of America and Israel.

The poll of 1000 randomly selected Americans was commissioned by the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), the oldest pro-Israel group in the US, and has a margin of error of 3.1%. It was carried out by McLaughlin & Associates, a major national polling company, on March 25, 2007.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, "This poll makes clear that the American public fully understands Israel's difficult plight in dealing with the Arab war against it. Americans understand that establishing a Palestinian state would simply result in but another terrorist state in the Middle East, which is the last thing America needs in its efforts to bring peace and security to the region. The American public has shown that it is completely against appeasing this Palestinian terror regime by offering any more concessions to it. It has shown that it has a far more realistic view of the Arab war against Israel than governments around the world, including the Bush Administration, which has continued to deal with and even fund Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas, despite the PA's on-going refusal to fulfill its obligations under signed agreements and the 2003 Roadmap peace plan to dismantle the apparatus of terror and end incitement to hatred and murder in the Palestinian public square that feeds
it. This policy remains in place despite the recent formation of a Palestinian Arab national unity government under the leadership of Hamas, which calls in its Charter for the destruction of Israel (Article 15) and the murder of Jews (Article 7). This new Hamas/Fatah government has refused to recognize Israel, forswear terrorism or fulfill previous agreements.

"Members of the House and Senate should become aware that sanctions against Saudi Arabia for its financial support of radical mosques and spreading the extreme Wahhabi Islamic doctrines, including in American mosques, is something that Americans support. The Bush Administration should also be much tougher on the Palestinian Authority and, instead of engaging and rewarding it, hold it accountable for its pro-terror, anti-peace actions.
This too would be heeding the American public, which overwhelmingly supports Israelis over the Palestinian Arabs. Congress should also take action to convert all aid flowing to Egypt from military aid to purely humanitarian aid, as Americans now realize that Egypt is not the partner in fighting terror it pretends to be. This can be clearly seen in Egypt's refusal to end the massive arms smuggling from Egypt into Gaza of weaponry for Palestinian Arab terrorists and the constant anti-Semitic articles, shows and songs that are a staple of Egyptian culture.

"This poll shows conclusively that the typical American overwhelmingly supports Israel, which is why the overwhelming majority of members of Congress, reflecting their constituencies, also support Israel. If they didn't, they would not be representing the views of their constituencies.
This fact refutes the pernicious claim publicized by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt last year that Congressional support for Israel is the result of political pressure by American Jewish pro-Israel individuals and groups and that these pro-Israel policies are against American interests and what most Americans want. This poll should put that anti-Semitic nonsense to rest
.

--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

3. Germany threatened with Jihad
http://www.debka.com/
A new jihad video threatens attacks on Germany unless its troops are pulled out of Afghanistan

March 26, 2007, 12:02 PM (GMT+02:00)

German government agencies warn that the terrorist threat to the country is the greatest in recent years. The new video, signed by the “Voice of the Caliphate,” is compared to the al Qaeda warnings to Spain ahead of the Madrid railway bombings two years ago. It has aroused concern in Berlin about the forthcoming G-8 summit taking place at Heligendamm in June.

4. French Forces Back US and UK versus Iran and Afghanistan
http://www.debka.com/
Thursday, DEBKAfile reported exclusively a rendezvous Wednesday between the French nuclear carrier Charles de Gaulle and its task force with the USS John C. Stennis in the Arabian Sea Wednesday for joint missions in the global war on terror.

The next day, Iran launched a new naval war game in the Persian Gulf. Just before the British sailors were seized, UK commanders in Basra accused Iran of being behind 90% of the violence in S. Iraq and paying out $250 to anyone willing to attack British troops.

Amid rising tensions in the strategic Gulf waters, DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose the American-French rendezvous was timed to coincide with the UN Security Council session Wednesday to debate expanded sanctions against Iran for continuing its banned uranium enrichment program.

The Iranians were bowled over by the appearance of the Charles de Gaulle opposite their southern coast, having assumed that Paris took issue with Washington’s tough stand on their nuclear activities and was seeking improved relations with Tehran.

However, Western military circles explain that the French president Jacques Chirac decided before he leaves office in May to repair the bad impression he left in early February when he urged the world - and Israel in particular - to learn to live with “an Iranian nuclear bomb or two.”

Rafale fighter-bombers on the French carrier’s decks will fly missions over Afghanistan alongside US warplanes.

Its arrival raises to four the number of Western aircraft carriers cruising within striking distance of Iran, including the USS Eisenhower and USS Boxer.

The Charles de Gaulle is accompanied by French Task Force 473, which consists of five warships: the FNS Cassard guided missile destroyer, the FNS Tourville anti-submarine frigate, the FNS Dupleix destroyer adapted for escorting oil tankers and the FNS Marne, a command and supply vessel. Captain of the French task force is Rear Adm. Xavier Magne. Commander of the American flotilla is Rear Adm. Kevin Quinn.

5. Brit-Am Prepares Publication-Media Onslaught
Exclusive information indicates that the organization of Brit-Am is about to publish a series of works that could change the way many of us view reality.
The new publications include a work by Orjan Svensson ("The Hebrew Code of the Runes") showing that the Early settlers of Scandinavia were of Israelite origin.
This work concentrates on Runic Writing proving through scientific analysis and mathematical formulae that ancient inscriptions of Scandinavian people were written by Hebrews.
Another new work to be published by Brit-Am in association with Russell-Davis Publishers is by Paul Bauucom who proves that the lost land of Atlantis was off the coast of northern Europe with its capital in present day Denmark. This book also shows how certain groups in the past regarded as offshoots of the Ancient Greeks were in fact Israelites.

A new book by Yair Davidiy ("Role to Rule") reveals the Biblical Goal of the USA and UK in the world today and their Divinely-ordained duties in this age.
These works (and possibly more) should be available within the coming six weeks or so.


Jerusalem News-603
Date: 9 Nissan 5767, 28 March 2007
Contents:
1. Guysen Israel News
(a) Nazis in Germany
(b) 2 Million Iraqi Refugees
(c) Iran keeps captives
(d) Palestinians Want to Emigrate
2. IDF Major Ro'i Klein Nominated for Medal of Valor
3. Swedish Hero Honored but Sweden Disgraces His Memory
4. 74% of Israelis won't eat chametz during Passover, 94% will attend seder
5. Jews Want Arabs to Leave



rose


1. Guysen Israel News
From: Guysen Israel News <webmaster@guysen.com>
Subject: Mailinfo - Guysen Israel News - Tuesday 27 March 2007
Extracts
(a) Nazis in Germany
22:25 Criminal acts committed by neo-nazis and extreme right wing militants in Germany reached their highest level since the reunification of Germany in 1990. (Guysen.Israël.News)

(b) 2 Million Iraqi Refugees
20:30 The UN is planning to build refugee camps for Iraqis fleeing their country. Nearly 2 million Iraqis have left their country ravaged by violence, taking refugee mainly in Syria and Jordan. (Guysen.Israël.News)

(c) Iran keeps captives
14:09 Iran does not want to exchange prisoners with the British. The Iranian vice foreign minister said on his country's television that his country does not want to exchange the fifteen British marines that it is holding for the five Iranians arrested in the north of Iraq. He did not say what Iran's intention is regarding the British prisoners. (Guysen.Israël.News)
13:37 The Iranian authorities have confirmed that the fifteen British marines held since Friday are "in good health" and are being held in Iran. The Iranian government transmitted this information to the British ambassador in Teheran. (Guysen.Israël.News)

(d) Palestinians Want to Emigrate
09:45 One third of Palestinians would be wiling to emigrate abroad if they had the possibility to do so. A poll carried out by the A-Najah university in Shechem (Nablus), revealed that half of those interviewed considered that Hamas joining the national unity government constitutes a rejection by the terrorist organization of its electoral platform. More than two thirds of Palestinians consider that Hamas had failed and less than a quarter would vote for the terrorist organization again if elections took place now. (Guysen.Israël.News)


2. IDF Major Ro'i Klein Nominated for Medal of Valor
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/121956

by Hana Levi Julian and Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) IDF Major Ro'i Klein, of blessed memory, has been nominated to receive the State of Israel’s highest honor, the Medal of Valor for heroism in the heat of battle.

Maj. Klein, who volunteered to lead his Golani Brigade Battalion 51 into battle, was killed in the line of duty on July 26, 2006, during last summer’s Second Lebanon War.

While fighting for control of the hostile village of Bint Jbil in southern Lebanon, Klein and his men were ambushed by Hizbullah terrorists. Maj. Klein led a group of soldiers and tried to attack the terrorists from behind, but they were stopped by a wall. Klein then began treating one of the wounded, at which point a terrorist hurled a grenade at the group. Soldiers who survived the battle - eight did not - reported that Ro'i yelled out "Shma Yisrael" [Hear O Israel, Deuteronomy 6:4] and jumped upon the grenade, absorbing the brunt of the explosion and saving the men around him. A stunned silence overtake the men, and then one of them started shouting, "He jumped on the grenade! He jumped on the grenade!" Though mortally wounded, Klein tried to continue to communicate by radio to his superiors.
One of the survivors, Elad Ozeri, later said that shortly afterwards, when it was thought that he was dead, Capt. Itamar Katz, who took over the command, approached him. At that point, Klein - in his last act on earth - raised his arm and gave his coded radio device to Katz. "Maj. Klein always emphasized to us the importance of finding the coded devices of soldiers who were hurt," Ozeri said, "so that they would not fall into the hands of the enemy."

Klein actually saved his men twice in the same battle, Ozeri said: "At the beginning of the encounter, he saw a grenade that had been thrown, and was able to yell and warn the men in time."

The husband and father of two small boys, Ro'i Klein was an acknowledged Torah scholar, superb commander and an accomplished musician in civilian life. He was buried in Eli, the Samaria community in which he lived, on what would have been his 31st birthday.

The Medal of Valor has been awarded only some 40 times in the history of the State - none in the past 40 years - and is the sole medal that is bestowed by the Minister of Defense. The last recipient was Brigadier-General (res.) Avigdor Kahalani, who commanded Armored Battalion 77 during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

3. Swedish Hero Honored but Sweden Disgraces His Memory
SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE
64 avenue Marceau - 75008 Paris - Tel. +33147237637 - Fax: +33147208401
http://www.wiesenthal-europe.com


Wallenberg Weeps on a Paris Street Corner: A Wiesenthal Centre Comment.

By Dr Shimon Samuels, Director for International Relations.


Paris, 26 March 2007

Almost sixty-two years after his disappearance, the City of Paris, this Saturday, named a street in honour of this "Righteous Gentile" who, as a Swedish diplomat in wartime Budapest, rescued over 35,000 Hungarian Jews from Nazi deportation to the death camps.

Due to the ceremony being held on a Sabbath morning, the official Jewish institutions and the Embassy of Israel were unrepresented.

The invitation listed Sweden's Ambassador to France among the speakers.
Ironically, on the same day, the Swedish Foreign Minister announced his forthcoming meeting with the Hamas terrorist led "government of Palestine".

This visit may be viewed as a slap to the memory of Wallenberg for, by implication, it endorses the Hamas Charter which calls for the extermination of the Jewish people, including the descendants of those saved by a truly just son of Sweden.

Rue Raul Wallenberg runs along a short stretch of dingy tenements leading into the ring road expressway at the very edge of Paris. Without GPS, several taxi drivers were unable to even find its cross streets.

The plaque on the site is most intriguing:
"Rue Raul Wallenberg. A Swedish Diplomat born in 1912, disappeared in 1945 into the Soviet Union. A Just Among the Nations."

The words "Jew" and "Holocaust" are marked by their absence. Perhaps the oversight considered the sensitivities of putative Islamist radicals in the neighbourhood.

As Wallenberg weeps on a Paris street corner, one wonders what was the point of this sad exercise.

4. 74% of Israelis won't eat chametz during Passover, 94% will attend seder
Kobi Nahshoni - YNET Published: 03.27.07, 11:38 / Israel News
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3381754,00.html

Seventy-four percent of the Israeli public will not eat chametz (leavened food) during Passover and 94 percent plan to celebrate the holiday with a traditional meal and by reading the Hagadda, a Ynet poll reveals.

The survey was conducted by the Mutagim institute and included 500 respondents.

5. Jews Want Arabs to Leave
From: imra@netvision.net.il

=========

Poll: 50% of Israeli Jews support state-backed Arab migration
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent Last update - 18:18 27/03/2007
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/842641.html

A Poll sponsored by the Center for the Campaign Against Racism found that half the Jewish population of Israel believe the state should encourage Arab migration.

The poll, conducted by the Geocartography Institute and presented Tuesday at a press conference, found a sharp increase in the number of Israeli Jews who support Arab migration in comparison to a similar poll conducted last year.

The poll was carried out in December 2006, and included 500 participants.
The margin of error is 4.4 percent.

In addition, the poll addresses the Jewish reaction to hearing the Arabic language spoken on the streets of Israel. According to the data, some 50 percent of the participants said they become fearful when they hear the Arabic language spoken around them. 43 percent said they feel uncomfortable, and 30 percent feel hatred. In contrast, last year only 17.5 percent said they feel hatred when faced with spoken Arabic.

The poll participants were also asked about work relations with Arabs. 50 percent said they would refuse to work at a job in which their direct supervisor would be Arab. This number represents a 47 percent increase since the 2005 poll on the same topic.


--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

Jerusalem News-604
Date: 13 Nissan 5767, 1 April 2007
Contents:
1. Amiram Barkat: U.K. gov't worried by growing anti-Jewish sentiment on campuses
2. Teddy Kollek was British informer
3. Jerusalem News Magazine Article: Pembrokeshire
4. Archaeology: Has The Palace of David Been Found?
5. Odds and Ends
a. Visitors to Jerusalem
b. Black Humor :
Equal Opportunity Would be the Least they could do
c. Global Warming and the Petroleum Industry

1. UK gov't worried by growing anti-Jewish sentiment on campuses
by Amiram Barkat
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/843856.html

The British government has stated its opposition to an academic boycott on Israel and is concerned about the "rising tide of anti-Semitic discourse and anti-Semitism on university campuses" according to the British government's response to the report of the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into anti-Semitism.

The government's response, released yesterday and presented by Race and Faith Minister Phil Woolas, stated: "We are specifically concerned about significant indications that, unlike other forms of racism, anti-Semitism is being accepted within parts of society instead of being condemned."

The report, submitted in response to the recommendations of the all-party committee headed by Labor Member of Parliament John Mann and published in September 2006, contains 35 recommendations on how to deal with rising anti-Semitism.

In specifically noting the problem of anti-Semitism on campus, the report stated: "We conclude that calls to boycott contact with academics working in Israel are an assault on academic freedom and intellectual exchange."

The report continued: "We are aware that current rhetoric about Israel and Zionism (from the far-right, the far-left and Islamic extremists alike) employs anti-Semitic motifs consistent with ancient forms of hatred toward Jews."

The Board of Deputies of British Jews welcomed the government response. Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the organization, said "with this robust response, neither anti-Jewish discourse nor more overt forms of anti-Semitism can be brushed aside."


2. Teddy Kollek was British informer
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3382779,00.html

3. Pembrokeshire in Wales
Jerusalem News Magazine Article:
http://www.britam.org/jerusalem/Pembroke.html
Pembrokeshire is in southwest Wales.
The article gives a little of its history along with illustrations.


Pembroke Castle
Pembroke Castle

4. Archaeology: Has The Palace of David Been Found?
First Temple (?Period?) wall found in City of David
Mar. 29, 2007 23:05 | Updated Mar. 30, 2007 16:06
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/results.html?st=basic&QryTxt=City+of+David
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS

A wall from the First Temple was recently uncovered in Jerusalem's City of David, strengthening the claim that it is the site of the palace of King David, an Israeli archeologist said Thursday.

The new find, made by Dr. Eilat Mazar, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center's Institute for the Archeology of the Jewish People, comes less than two years after she said she had discovered the palace's location at the site just outside the walls of the Old City.

The monumental 10th century BCE building found by Mazar in 2005 following a six month dig has ignited debate among archaeologists about whether it is indeed the palace built for the victorious David by King Hiram of Tyre as recounted in Samuel II:5.

A 20-meter-long section of the 7-meter-thick wall has now been uncovered. It indicates that the City of David once served as a major government center, Mazar said.

Mazar estimates less than a quarter of the entire wall has been uncovered so far, and says that it is the largest site from King David's time ever to have been discovered.

The dig is sponsored by the capital's Shalem Center, with academic backing from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

5. Odds and Ends

a. Visitors to Jerusalem
Over a million visitors are expected in Jerusalem over Pesach.

b. Equal Opportunity Would be the Least they could do
Black Humor : Scandinavian and EU Governments gave millions of dollars to Arab organizations that want to remove all the Jews from the Middle East.
They also gave large sums to Quisling-type organizations that work to undermine Jewish and Israelite Identity in Israel.
Brit-Am would like to see Arabs removed from the Middle East.
Brit-Am believes in strengthening Jewish and Israelite Identity.
We think in the interests of Equal Opportunity the Governments of Scandinavia etc should also give money to us.
They apparently do not see things that way.
Maybe we are not active enough in our "specialities" to warrant support?
Fair enough.
We are certain however that with a little good will and effort other suitable candidates may be located.

c. Global Warming and the Petroleum Industry
Global Warming is a fact. Human activity would appear to be at least partly to blame.
The petroleum industry has an interest to prevent ecological protective "green" policies.
The petroleum industry also backs Arabs and anti-Israel anti-Semitic activists.
Any land controlled by Arabs becomes a desert but the process can be reversed.

Jerusalem News-605
Date: 14 Nissan 5767, 1 April 2007
Contents:
1. Wishful Thinking: Israel's Need for Oil
and the coming conquest of Egypt and Syria
2. Israel: Induced Climate Change for the Better
3. Japanese Nationalist Revision
Francis Fukuyama: "The Trouble with Japanese Nationalism"
4. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 9.49
5. Recent Jewish and American Discoveries

1. Wishful Thinking: Israel's Need for Oil
and the coming conquest of Egypt and Syria
Article written by an enemy of Israel and is outdated.
nevertheless the maps are interesting and he breings up some points worth considering.
http://www.giwersworld.org/911/oil/israel-oil.phtml


2. Israel: Induced Climate Change for the Better
http://ams.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&issn=1520-0450&volume=037&issue=11&page=1470
Land Surface–Induced Regional Climate Change in Southern Israel

Koen De Riddera and Hubert Gallée, b
Institut d’Astronomie et de Géophysique G. Lemaître, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

ABSTRACT

Since the mid-1960s, the southern part of Israel has experienced major land use changes following the start of the irrigation scheme and the subsequent intensification of agricultural practice. Several studies, mainly based on the analysis of climatic time series, have shown that this has been followed by a significant change of the local climate, especially during the summer and early fall. They indicate a reduced diurnal amplitude of surface air temperature and wind speed, and a threefold increase of the October (early wet season) convective precipitation. In this paper, these phenomena are investigated by simulating the influence of the land surface on local meteorological variables with a two-dimensional version of a mesoscale atmospheric model containing a detailed land surface scheme. Particular attention is given to the correct estimation of land surface parameters from soil and vegetation maps and remote sensing data. The simulations confirm the observed reduction of the diurnal amplitude of temperature and wind speed when replacing a semiarid surface by a partly irrigated one. Furthermore, it is shown that the potential for moist convection increases with the surface moisture availability and is rather insensitive to the surface roughness.
January 23, 1998

3. Japanese Nationalist Revision

"The Trouble with Japanese Nationalism"

by

Francis Fukuyama

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fukuyama2
Extracts

Walking past the Mitsubishi Zero, tanks, and machine guns on display in the museum, one finds a history of the Pacific War that restores “the Truth of Modern Japanese History.” It follows the nationalist narrative: Japan, a victim of the European colonial powers, sought only to protect the rest of Asia from them. Japan’s colonial occupation of Korea, for example, is described as a “partnership”; one looks in vain for any account of the victims of Japanese militarism in Nanjing or Manila.

One might be able to defend the museum as one viewpoint among many in a pluralist democracy. But there is no other museum in Japan that gives an alternative view of Japan’s twentieth-century history. Successive Japanese governments have hidden behind the Yushukan museum’s operation by a private religious organization to deny responsibility for the views expressed there.

That is an unconvincing stance. In fact, unlike Germany, Japan has never come to terms with its own responsibility for the Pacific War. Although socialist Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama officially apologized to China in 1995 for the war, Japan has never had a genuine internal debate over its degree of responsibility, and has never made a determined effort to propagate an alternative account to that of Yushukan.

My exposure to the Japanese right came in the early 1990’s, when I was on a couple of panels in Japan with Watanabe Soichi,...
In the course of a couple of encounters, I heard him explain in front of large public audiences how the people of Manchuria had tears in their eyes when the occupying Kwantung Army left China, so grateful were they to Japan. According to Watanabe, the Pacific War boiled down to race, as the US was determined to keep a non-white people down. Watanabe is thus the equivalent of a Holocaust denier, but, unlike his German counterparts, he easily draws large and sympathetic audiences. (I am regularly sent books by Japanese writers that “explain” how the Nanjing Massacre was a big fraud.)

4. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 9.49
From: david meadows <rogueclassicist@gmail.com>
================================================================
explorator 9.49 April 1, 2007
================================================================

================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================

Something lost in translation here, I think ... remains of
'Raidan Temple' have been found in Yemen:
http://www.sabanews.net/view.php?scope=f9129&dr=&ir=&id=128691

The latest how-the-pyramids-were-built theory (although I think
we've heard this one before, no?):
http://uktv.co.uk/index.cfm/uktv/History.news/aid/585544
http://tinyurl.com/2dmwvw (Independent)
http://tinyurl.com/2dgzqp (Reuters via Yahoo)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17873984/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070331/ap_on_sc/france_pyramid_theory_8

Remains of a First Temple wall in the City of David:
http://tinyurl.com/228u7j (JPost)
... while we get new accusations in the Temple Mount saga:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=3926&sectionid=3510101


More coverage of that Second Temple village in Jerusalem find:
http://tinyurl.com/2wds3m (AFP via Yahoo)
http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070331-062931-5245r


================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================

A section of the Eridanos river bed is on display:
http://tinyurl.com/2me3rx (ANA)


The perfume-from-Cyprus story continues to get coverage:
http://www.physorg.com/news94190703.html
http://tinyurl.com/2y646h (USA Today)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070326/ap_on_sc/ancient_perfume_2
http://tinyurl.com/2w9ddv (NG)
http://www.centredaily.com/220/story/54780.html
(the anachronistic headline is obviously a pun attempt)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17802536/


More details on that Heinrich Schliemann film:
http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/3591/


================================================================
EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
================================================================

Evidence for early 'science' in Medieval York:
http://tinyurl.com/2za3nc (Press)


... and the Stonehenge visitor centre saga:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wiltshire/6507963.stm


================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
On the DNA front ... I can't remember if we've had this bit of
Thomas Jefferson DNA results before:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070328111115.htm

... and the genetic origins of this Viking woman are interesting:
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1709020.ece

Microsoft joins the efforts to save Romansch:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aMIDIGeScPZg

Interesting item on how quickly dogs may have been domesticated:
http://tinyurl.com/2jgea7

5. Recent Jewish and American Discoveries
Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2007 13:29:28 +0100
From: Pulidog <philos@jerseyserve.com>
Subject: Unreported good news

Surely there was one very important and positive item of significant news that was released last month, between 12th and - 29th March, something that will be a "blessing" to all. A news worthy item that was completely ignored by just about every major news service in the West - especially by the BBC and those who worship at Mammon's alter of global warming. The news item in question was the fact that an Israeli firm had unveiled and demonstrated a new system for the SAFE disposal of radioactive waste!

Israeli technology for the disposal of low- and medium-level radioactive waste unveiled to delegations from Russia, Japan, Korea and the United States. Authorized by the relevant Israeli government authorities the facility is located in the waste-burying site in Ibillin, near Karmiel.
Yet, not a word of this BLESSING upon the oil and gas dependant nations of the world, apart from that listed below, was reported in the major press!

By the end of the month (29th March), Greenpeace and Zohni Wahdi, the Palestinian Health Minister were already condemning and slamming Israel for endangering and polluting the whole Eastern Mediterranean - par for the course no doubt while one waits for the Arab World to come up with a cure for cancer.

A Second item of Blessing was the announcement (found at least on Fox News) of a high performance electric sports car - zero to sixty in four (4) seconds , one that was developed and demonstrated by an individual designer in the USA (Joseph) - So in spite of everything, G-d still blesses the world through His people - kindly allowing the rain to fall upon both sides of the fence.

* Karin Kloosterman "Israeli Discovery Converts Dangerous Radioactive Waste
into Clean Energy". New York Jewish Times, March 27, 2007
* Ezra HaLevi "Israel Develops System to Neutralize Nuclear Waste". Arutz
Sheva, March 18, 2007
* Shelly Paz "Israeli firm to unveil radioactive waste disposal system". The
Jerusalem Post, March 12, 2007
* Press Release: "Process details". EER PGM, retrieved on March 31, 2007,
date of publishing unknown

Jerusalem News-606
Date: 22 Nissan 5767, 10 April 2007
Contents:
1. 77% of Israeli Jews believe in God
2. Book Review: The English in North Africa
3. Conspiracy Theories and the "New World Order"
Origin of the terminology in a mistranslation
4. Kissinger hid Yom Kippar War outbreak from Nixon
5. Effects of Climate Change in the USA already being felt
6. Some British schools drop Holocaust education for fear of Muslims
7. Arabs Like Unleavened Bread at Passover Season
8. Most Europeans support strike on Iran
9. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 9.50

1. 77% of Israeli Jews believe in God
From: imra@netvision.net.il

Brit-Am Note: The poll below is interesting but misleading.
The representative sample of 1000 appears too small and
may have concentrated on the wrong areas.
Most of the figures should probably be upgraded by 5-10% in favor of the religious opinions.

Subject: Dahaf Poll:77% of Israeli Jews beleive in God


Dahaf Poll:77% of Israeli Jews beleive in God
Dr. Aaron Lerner 2 April 2007

The following are the results of a poll of a representative sample of around
1,000 Israeli Jews carried out by Dahaf for Yediot Ahronot and published on
2 April, 2007

Do you beleive in God?
Yes 77% Some greater power 8% No 12%

What do you consider yourself to be:
Secular 50% Traditional 30% Religious 12% Ultra orthodox 8%

Say Kiddush on Shabbat
Always 61% Sometimes 36% No 3%

Light candles
Always 61% Frequently 9% Sometimes 14% No 16%

Is there a religious value to serving in the IDF?
A lot 40% Somewhat 14% Little 8% None 36%

Drive on Shabbat
Never 27% In life threatening situations only 5% When need to 5% Unlimited
63%


--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il


2. Book Review: The English in North Africa
From: Richard Gorrie <rgorrie@UOGUELPH.CA>

H-NET BOOK REVIEW
Published by H-Albion@h-net.msu.edu (April 2007)

Nabil Matar. _Britain and Barbary, 1589-1689_. Gainesville:
University of Florida Press, 2005. xiii + 241 pp. Appendices, notes,
bibliography, index. $59.95 (cloth), ISBN 0-8130-2871-X; $24.95
(paper), ISBN 0-8130-3076-5.

Reviewed for H-Albion by Bob McJimsey, Department of History,
Colorado College

Encounters of the Wrong Kind

This well-researched and fluently written book will repay the reader
on a number of topics. In the form of straight history, the book
recounts the military, diplomatic, and commercial dealings between
England and the North African states comprising Libya, Tunisia,
Algeria, and Morocco. As a study of literature, it analyzes plays,
pamphlets, and geographical writings depicting the Moor as a
representative of the non-English other. In the process, the author
illuminates various ways in which relations with Barbary impinged on
English politics and self-understandings.

Throughout the period, the corsairs raided shipping and took captives
from their base in the Mediterranean into the North Atlantic, often
sweeping onto the coasts of Ireland and Cornwall. In response,
English governments responded with efforts at convoy protection,
attacks on the corsairs' home ports, and treaties calling for
protection of trade, exchange of captives, and alliances against
Spanish and French enemies. This latter course was possible because
the Barbary states maintained grievances against their expulsion from
Iberia and, correspondingly, were vehemently anti-Catholic and more
willing to deal with Protestant England. All of these efforts
suffered from the English state's chronic lack of resources. Although
successive governments were supportive of attempts to protect trade,
they often off-loaded that burden onto the trading companies. Even by
the end of the period, when the English navy was gaining supremacy
over the corsairs, the English outpost at Tangier had to be evacuated
in 1684 due to a lack of means to maintain it.

The literature of the period usually distinguished between Barbary's
land and people. In language that recalled the writings of Richard
Hakluyt and Sir Walter Raleigh, appeals to establish permanent
English outposts in North Africa depicted the area as a veritable
Land of Cockayne, flowing with riches ready for the taking. By
contrast, depictions of the Moor, including Othello and Caliban,
created images of dark, devious, and dangerous personas. Sporadic
attempts were made to describe the tenants of Islam, but for the most
part writers engaged in a form a racial profiling based on
appearances and translating these into behavioral expectations. Only
by the end of the century, when the immediate dangers of corsair
raiding had subsided, did writers draw the Moor as a figure of comedy.

Contacts with the Moors, who could be seen as traders and seamen
tramping the streets of English seaports, highlighted a sense of an
English identity. Protestantism was one defining characteristic,
particularly when used as an appeal to settle Barbary lands as a
messianic mission. For the most part, however, Englishness meant
holding onto a birthright which a person carried forever and which
defined them in any foreign circumstance. This notion carried with it
a sense of superiority toward other peoples and cultures, thus
contributing to the English garrison at Tangier remaining oblivious
to the world outside its walls. And it benefited captive English
women, who were allowed to maintain privileges according to their
social status at home. On the home front this emphasis on a
birthright also adds significant weight to the use of the term by
radicals of the New Model Army at the Putney Debates of 1647.

In the same way, the government's lackluster efforts to protect trade
and redeem captives brought forth protests, petitions, and overall
criticism. The Petition of Right included complaints about corsair
raidings and Charles I's ineffectual use of Ship Money to protect the
coasts made that practice even more unpopular. More important,
however, was a petitioning movement from wives of captives. The
plight of over a thousand women left destitute without their husbands
sparked a women's movement of sizeable and persistent expressions.
Although their petitions were couched in terms that accepted the
standard notions of male patriarchy, they represented a form of
female activism hitherto unknown on the English political scene. In
this way the author makes a singularly important contribution to our
understanding of ways in which women came into the public square.

The taking, ransoming, and exchanging of captives was an ongoing
feature of the period. Not only were the numbers significant, the
process of raising a ransom could become snarled in governmental
fumblings. Normally local parishes raised money, often transferring
it to the government to carry out the final transactions. At this
point confusions could take place, resulting in the failure to supply
the needed funds. The resort to ransoming also highlights the state's
inability to cope with the problem of captives by other means. At the
same time the English took their own share of Barbary captives, often
exceeding the numbers taken on the other side. As a result, in
addition to the slave trade, the trafficking in human flesh within
western Europe was both constant and sizeable.

These insights make this book a valuable guide to unexpected avenues
of inquiry. This reviewer's only criticism concerns the author's
argument that the English attitude toward Barbary included a desire
of imperial domination. Given the English state's lack of resources
and its continual wobbling between an emphasis on trade and military
action, the commitment to an imperial policy seems premature. This is
certainly not the period in which a confident and well organized
English navy could support the outcries that accompanied The War of
Jenkins' Ear. That much said, this book remains a valuable
contribution to an understanding of seventeenth-century England.


3. Conspiracy Theories and the "New World Order"
Origin of the terminology in a mistranslation
http://www.answers.com/topic/novus-ordo-seclorum


4. Kissinger hid Yom Kippar War outbreak from Nixon
From: imra@netvision.net.il
Subject: Kissinger hid Yom Kippar War outbreak from Nixon

[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: Previous reports indicate that Kissinger also held
up the supply of weapons to Israel - without Nixon knowing - out of a desire
for Israel to "bleed enough" that it would be willing to give up the
Sinai.]


Kissinger hid war outbreak from Nixon
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 3, 2007
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879235224&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger initially kept the outbreak of
the Yom Kippur War a secret from then-president Richard M. Nixon, historian
Robert Dallek reveals in a new study of the Nixon and Kissinger's foreign
policy and personal relationship dueto be published in April.

Dallek, the author of An Unfinished Life, a biography of John F. Kennedy,
delved through previously untapped records of Nixon and Kissinger's
partnership, including some 20,000 pages of transcripts of Kissinger's phone
conversations, to compile his study Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power.

According to Dallek, reports that Israel had been attacked reached
Washington at approximately 6 am that same day, but Kissinger waited three
and a half hours before informing Nixon in order to keep the president from
interfering.

Partners in Power (HarperCollins) examines five years of American foreign
policy under Kissinger (who served as national security advisor before
becoming secretary of state) and Nixon, and proffers a behind-the-scenes
look at how they tackled not only the Middle East, but Vietnam, Cambodia,
and China.

In addition to analyzing their political decisions, Dallek analyzes the two
men's characters and their often complex working relationship.

5. Effects of Climate Change in the USA already being felt
No Longer Waiting for Rain, an Arid West Takes Action
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/04/us/04drought.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

6. Some British schools drop Holocaust education for fear of Muslims
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/1866

Source: The Jerusalem Post
April 04, 2007

A new survey has found that some British grade schools are dropping the Holocaust from their history lessons for fear of an often violent Muslim minority that denies the Jews were mass murdered by the Nazis.

The study revealed that many teachers in Britain are afraid to confront rampant anti-Semitism and Holocaust-denial among Muslim students.

Some schools are even avoiding lessons on the Crusades, of which England was a major participant, because the historically accepted accounts that of period are challenged by the leaders of local mosques.

London has recently become increasingly concerned by escalating anti-Semitism in Britain, and some are daring to point an accusing finger at the burgeoning Islamic community there.


7. Arabs Like Unleavened Bread at Passover Season
Matza's secret fans - Arabs

By Yoav Stern Haaretz 6 April 2007
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/846011.html

The first swallow of spring is usually found in the heaps of Matza boxes
that fill supermarket aisles all over Israel. It certainly applies to
supermarkets in the Jewish towns and cities, and apparently is also true in
Arab communities.

Gadaban Supermarket, located at the entrance to Umm al-Fahm, generally
stocks up on Matza for Passover. Moreover, the supermarket has to replenish
its stock before the end of the holiday, due to keen demand by locals.
Apparently, the Arab public regularly consumes large quantities of Matza.

Iyad Sharbaji, the manager of Gadaban, told Haaretz yesterday that his Matza
is consumed entirely by local Arabs. "The Jews passing by here already have
enough Matza. The customers are all from the local Arab community," he said.

His competitor down the road, The Market, opened this year. The demand for
Matza therefore caught the store by surprise. "People told us ahead of time
that they wanted Matza, so we bought five crates. Now we have only two
left," he said.

It turns out the avid consumption of Matza is not a new trend in Arab towns
and villages, whose inhabitants view the traditional Jewish food as a
welcome and refreshing change in the menu. "It's not a religious issue, and
certainly not a political one," Sharbaji explains.

A journalist associated with the Islamic Movement in Israel told Haaretz
that he also bought Matza. "The kids can't get enough of it," he gleefully
reported. "They eat it like crackers. But it also represents a sense of
folklore for us. Maybe we like it more than Jews do because no one's forcing
us to eat nothing but Matza all day long," he said in explanation.

Another happy customer from Baka al-Garbiyeh said his children and wife were
"packing the Matza away," adding that they preferred to eat their Matza with
a spread of jam or chocolate.

In fact, it seems Matza is particularly popular with Arab children, and most
consumers report their sons and daughters especially relish the seasonal
offering.

Since the demand for Matza in the Arab public is naturally unconnected to
Passover, the residents of towns like Baka al-Garbiyeh begin consuming it
well before the holiday.

Meanwhile, bakeries in Arab towns have reported a substantial increase in
sales during Passover, as Jewish customers stock up on bread and pita, which
are hard to find in Jewish towns over the holiday.


8. Most Europeans support strike on Iran

Source: The Jerusalem Post
April 08, 2007

The somewhat surprising results of a recent public opinion poll reveal that a majority of Europeans support Washington's position that Iran must be stopped from obtaining nuclear arms, even if military intervention is required.

Commissioned by a London think-tank, the survey was conducted among 17,000 people from the 27 European Union members states.

In 18 out of the 27 EU members states, a firm majority responded in the affirmative to the statement: "We must stop countries like Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, even if that means taking military action."

Overall, 52 percent of Europeans said they would back a military strike on Iran.

Suggesting that they would like the US to go ahead and do the dirty work, however, a majority of respondents also said they don't want to see their nations' defense budgets increase.

The poll also showed that most Europeans are not unaware of the grave danger posed to their nations by a growing and increasingly radicalized Muslim minority on the continent.

Seventy-one percent in Britain, 66 percent in Germany, and 64 percent in France said they recognize that "Islamic fundamentalism" is directly threatening their societies.

9. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 9.50
From: david meadows <rogueclassicist@gmail.com>

================================================================
explorator 9.50 April 8, 2007
================================================================

================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================
Pumice from the eruption of Santorini has been found in a Sinai
site (and yes, the headline writers continue to have difficulties
with the difference between lava and anything else that comes
out of a volcano):
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070403/ap_on_sc/egypt_ancient_eruption_5
http://tinyurl.com/2tjerp (Examiner)
http://au.news.yahoo.com/070403/2/12z6r.html
http://au.news.yahoo.com/070403/23/12zdg.html
http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=43880
http://www.physorg.com/news94796998.html
http://tinyurl.com/32xsyz (NG)
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070404/139/6e52f.html
http://tinyurl.com/26ldkm (Kathimerini)
http://tinyurl.com/35ch78 (WPost)
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Egypt-Ancient-Eruption.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17920435/


An overviewish thing (not sure, actually, how to describe this
one) on the Valley of the Kings:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/839/heritage.htm

More coverage of the latest how-the-great-pyramid-was-built
theory:
http://tinyurl.com/2tbxgq (HT)

================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================
Bringing together a bunch of recent stories on the origins of
the Etruscans:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/03/arts/snetrus.php
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/science/03etruscan.html

================================================================
EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
================================================================
The latest from Stonehenge (not sure there's anything 'new' here):
http://www.pr-inside.com/stonehenge-secrets-of-the-builders-r82154.htm

Six 2000 b.p. burials from County Clare:
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/0402/breaking50.htm

Interesting item on what are being dubbed 'stonehenge amulets':
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/04/06/stonehengesymbol_arc.html


================================================================
NORTH AMERICA
================================================================

Remains from the Texas Revolution:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4689986.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ksat/20070406/lo_ksat/11539082
http://www.kvia.com/global/story.asp?s=6331106
http://tinyurl.com/2fy4uw

Searching for the graves of some Continental soldiers who died
from smallpox:
http://www.connpost.com/localnews/ci_5604959

Review of William Freehling, *The Road to Disunion* (vol II):
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/books/review/Foner.t.html

================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
On the DNA front, the Hatfields and McCoys may have had some
genetic reason for their feud:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9450054
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070405/ap_on_he_me/hatfield_mccoy_secret

DNA and genealogy:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/02/us/02dna.html

Belgians are returning to the Middle Ages:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/03/news/belgium.php

Testing of some bones which were supposedly taken from the
pyre of Joan of Arc have turned out to be even more interesting:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/world/europe/05bones.html
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-France-Joan-of-Arc.html
http://tinyurl.com/27dv4r
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6527105.stm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17950078/


Good overviewish thing about the Dead Sea Scrolls:
http://www.thestar.com/Life/article/199687

What makes a Stradivarius so special:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/07/opinion/07marchese.html

Review of the *Oxford Campanion to Black British History*:
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/reviews/article2424420.ece

Review of Lynn Hunt, *Inventing Human Rights*:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/books/review/Wood2.t.html

Review of Daniel Smith, *Muses, Madmen, and Prophets*:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/books/review/Kramer.t.html


================================================================
TOURISTY THINGS
================================================================
Fez:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/travel/08Fez.html

New Haven:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/travel/escapes/06trip.html

================================================================
EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
================================================================
Portraits of Colonial Jews:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/arts/design/06voge.html
(second item)

Colonial Williamsburg:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/arts/06will.html

Awakenings:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/arts/design/06zen.html

Artifacts from the Fur Trade:
http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2007/04/03/features/features003.txt


That Umbrian village wants its Etruscan chariot back from the
Met:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/arts/design/05char.html
http://tinyurl.com/3bk4gu (great headline, which I'll be er, using)


================================================================
PERFORMANCES AND THEATRE-RELATED
================================================================
Oliver Twist:
http://theater2.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/theater/reviews/06twis.html
================================================================
ON THE WEB
================================================================
Proceedings of the Old Bailey:

http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/
================================================================
OBITUARIES
================================================================
Elizabeth Reilley (horticulture scholar):

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/07/obituaries/07reilley.html


Jerusalem News-
607
Date: 22 Nissan 5767, 10 April 2007
Contents:
1. Japan revises role in WWII Okinawa
2. Red meat linked to breast cancer
3. DNA: Do All Small Dogs Share the Same Ancestor?
4. Dennis Miller: "the worst the Jews will do to you, if left alone, is debate you to death."
5. China with Diminishing Water Resources and Agrarian Land turns to Brazil
6. Russia, China, and Saudia Versus Environmental Reforms
7. Archaeology: German Bible-Believers Search for City of Sedom



rose



1. Japan revises role in WWII Okinawa
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?
f=/c/a/2007/04/01/MNG7COVNT31.DTL&hw=World+War&sn=017&sc=228
San Francisco Chronicle
Textbooks will no longer say army ordered civilians to commit suicide as conflict ended

Norimitsu Onishi, New York Times

(04-01) 04:00 PDT Tokyo -- In another sign that Japan is pressing ahead in revising its history of World War II, new high school textbooks will no longer acknowledge that the Imperial Army was responsible for a major atrocity in Okinawa, the government announced late Friday.

The Ministry of Education ordered publishers to delete passages stating that the Imperial Army ordered civilians to commit mass suicide during the Battle of Okinawa, as the island was about to fall to American troops in the final months of the war.

The decision was announced as part of the ministry's annual screening of all public school textbooks. The ministry also ordered changes to other delicate issues to dovetail with government assertions, even though the screening is supposed to be free of political interference.

"I believe the screening system has been followed appropriately," said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has long campaigned to soften the treatment in textbooks of Japan's wartime conduct.

The decision on the Battle of Okinawa came as a surprise because the ministry had never objected to the description in the past. It followed recent denials by Abe that the military had coerced women into sexual slavery during the war, despite acknowledgements by previous governments that the comfort women were kidnapped and forced into military brothels.

The results of the annual textbook screening are closely watched in China, South Korea and other Asian countries. So the fresh denial of the military's responsibility in the Battle of Okinawa and in sexual slavery -- long accepted as historical facts -- is likely to deepen suspicions in Asia that Tokyo is trying to whitewash its militarist past.

Shortly after assuming office last fall, Abe transformed the Defense Agency into a full ministry. He has said that his most important goal is to revise the American-imposed pacifist constitution, which forbids Japan from having a full-fledged military with offensive capabilities.

Some 200,000 Americans and Japanese died during the Battle of Okinawa, one of the most brutal clashes during the war. It was the only battle on Japanese soil involving civilians, but Okinawa was not just any part of Japan.

Japan officially annexed Okinawa -- a kingdom that, to this day, has retained some of its own culture -- in the late 19th century. During World War II, when many Okinawans still spoke a different dialect, Japanese troops treated the locals brutally. In its history of the war, the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum presents Okinawa as being caught in the fighting between America and Japan -- a starkly different view from Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine war museum, which presents Japan as a liberator of Asia from Western powers.

During the 1945 battle, during which one-quarter of the civilian population was killed, the Japanese army showed indifference to Okinawa's defense and safety. Japanese soldiers used civilians as shields against the Americans, and convinced locals that victorious U.S. soldiers would go on a rampage of killing and raping. With the impending victory of U.S. troops, civilians committed mass suicide, urged on by fanatical Japanese soldiers.

"There were some people who were forced to commit suicide by the Japanese army," one old textbook explained. But in the revision ordered by the ministry, it now reads, "There were some people who were driven to mass suicide."

Other changes are similar -- the change to a passive verb, the disappearance of a subject -- and combine to erase the responsibility of the Japanese military. In explaining its policy change, the ministry said that it "is not clear that the Japanese army coerced or ordered the mass suicides."

As with Abe's denial regarding sexual slavery, the ministry's new position appears to discount overwhelming evidence of coercion, particularly the testimony of victims and survivors themselves.

"There are many Okinawans who have testified that the Japanese army directed them to commit suicide," Ryukyu Shimpo, one of the two major Okinawan newspapers, said in an angry editorial. "There are also people who have testified that they were handed grenades by Japanese soldiers" to blow themselves up.

The editorial described the change as a politically influenced decision that "went along with the government view."

Abe, after co-founding the Group of Young Parliamentarians Concerned About Japan's Future and History Education in 1997, led a campaign to reject what nationalists call a masochistic view of history that has robbed postwar Japanese of pride.

Yasuhiro Nakasone, a former prime minister who is a staunch ally of Abe's, recently denied what he wrote in 1978. In a memoir about his Imperial Navy experiences in Indonesia, titled "Commander of Three Thousand Men at Age Twenty-Three," he wrote that some of his men "started attacking local women or became addicted to gambling.

"For them, I went to great pains, and had a comfort station built," Nakasone wrote, using the euphemism for a military brothel. But in a meeting with foreign journalists a week ago, Nakasone, now 88, issued a flat denial. He said he had actually set up a "recreation center," where his men played Japanese board games like go and shogi.

2. Red meat linked to breast cancer
http://www.theage.com.au/news/diet/red-meat-linked-to-breast-cancer/2007/04/04/1175366294320.html

3.DNA: Do All Small Dogs Share the Same Ancestor?
http://www.huliq.com/17645/ancient-genetic-material-keeps-pups-pint-sized

4. Dennis Miller: "the worst the Jews will do to you, if left alone, is debate you to death."
Maine's Michael 4/05/2007 9:06:33 pm PDT
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=25034_The_Protocols_of_the_Daily_Kos#comments
<<Why is 'Palestinianism' acceptable, and Zionism not?

<<The former is racist and genocidal, the latter a striving for a tangible Jewish national identity.

<<The 'Palestinians' and Islamic fundamentalists will slice your head off as soon as look at you.
As Dennis Miller says, the worst the Jews will do to you, if left alone, is debate you to death.

5. China with Diminishing Water Resources and Agrarian Land turns to Brazil
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/business/worldbusiness/06soy.html?th&emc=th

<<In China, vanishing cropland and diminishing water supplies are hampering the country’s ability to feed itself, and the increasing use of farmland in the United States to produce biofuels is pushing China to seek more of its staples from South America, where land is still cheap and plentiful.

6. Russia, China, and Saudia Versus Environmental Reforms
Scientists Detail Climate Changes
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/07/science/earth/07climate.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&th&emc=th
<<Under pressure from nations including Russia, China and Saudi Arabia, the authors said, sections on coral damage and tropical storms were softened in the summary. They also got the authors to drop parts of an illustration showing how different emissions policies might limit damage. Officials from those countries argued that data in the report did not support the level of certainty expressed in the final draft.

7. Archaeology: German Bible-Believers Search for City of Sedom
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=43230&archive=true

Jerusalem News-608
Date: 24 Nissan 5767, 12 April 2007
Contents:
1. Electromagnetic radiation produces Biologic effects, kills bees
2. DNA: Neolithic Near Eastern Origin of domesticated cattle,
possibly from "Syria".
3. Iran and Al Qaeda Active in Iraq

1. Electromagnetic radiation produces Biologic effects, kills bees
Shalom Yair,
for a while there are reports about mysterious disappearances of bees in the US and also Canada.
Here a link to a online article about that issue:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070223-bees.html

Moreover there are reports about this phenomenon here in Germany and Switzerland. Please find attached in this regard translated extracts of a Swiss article.

God bless you and your work
Sonja Durski


Extracts Only of an article from "Swiss Community of Interest of People Concerned with Electromagnetic Pollution":

Quelle: http://gigaherz.ch/pages/posts/mobilfunk-und-bienen-ein-unerklaerliches-phaenomen1142.php
Translated Excerpts:

„No idea what happens. The bees simply flapped away”, a beekeeper expressed in a report of “10 vor 10” on Swiss Radio SF1.

For decades it has been known, if one wants to know, that Electromagnetic radiation produces Biologic effects. And since in 1998 Digital Cellular mobile radio with high-frequency pulsed radiation was established, the “unexplainable phenomena” increased highly.
Homers don’t find their way back home, swallows remove from their nests and familiar surrounding, because they don’t find insects during the foraging at flight etc. etc.

According to sales promotion of Mobile telephone system Spring will bring again many new “Mobile-Phone-Assortments”. If and how much bee colonies in this springtime or in five or ten years will pollinate the blossoms of our fruit trees, - interests only a few. And if, only those, who suffers financial penalties. There are vegetables and fruits in the supermarket…

Gigaherz therefore will carry out a large bee-experiment by itself.
We have found an appropriate bee keeper with a large number of bee colonies, who is prepared to situate several of them in long ranging “radiation clubs” of mobile phone base stations. We are to search for and figure and measure adequate selection of such stations. In time of vegetation bees search for their nutrition in a distance up to 300m to the beeyard. If nutrition runs short, the bees fly up to 3km. All bee keepers agree, namely that during the presently observed dying of the bees no dead bees are found in the bee yard and outside and the numbers of the bees is diminishing amazingly unlike other bee diseases. Ergo the bees no longer find the way back home, due to the collapse of their navigation system. One has to imaging, what 3 km are for such a tiny insect.
Supposedly there is no great connection to DECT, but to a greater extent to GSM and UMTS, because bees fly a greater distance than the range of a DECT-telephone. Gigaherz still takes information from bee-experts. We have the very good ability to measure and figure the base stations ourselfs.

The Mobile-Phone-Industry has already reacted extreme viperishly and already attempts to pelt the experts of Gigaherz in advance with all kinds of mud. Thence it called “to conduct an objective dialogue”.
Hans-U. Jakob

2. DNA: Neolithic Near Eastern Origin of domesticated cattle,
possibly from "Syria".

http://dienekes.blogspot.com/
<<This, in combination with our new finding of a T haplotype in a very Early Neolithic site in Syria, lends persuasive support to a scenario whereby gracile Near Eastern domestic populations, carrying predominantly T haplotypes, replaced P haplotype-carrying robust autochthonous aurochs populations in Europe, from the Early Neolithic onward. During the period of coexistence, it appears that domestic cattle were kept separate from wild aurochs and introgression was extremely rare.>>


3. Iran and Al Qaeda Active in Iraq
http://www.debka.com/

The US again blames Iran for manufacturing and smuggling deadly roadside EFP bombs into Iraq

April 11, 2007, 4:08 PM (GMT+02:00)

US military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, told reporters Wednesday, April 11: “We know from detainee debriefs that training has gone on in Iran as recently as this past month for people to learn how to assemble and employ them.”


Al Qaeda develops device for blocking new American IED roadside bomb jammers - from DEBKA-Net-Weekly 293, March 16

April 10, 2007, 9:08 PM (GMT+02:00)

US military vehicle blown up by IED in Iraq

In the first 9 days of April, 44 US servicemen lost their lives in Iraq, many of them from the deadly roadside bombs known as improvised explosive devices – IEDs. The Pentagon has fitted new systems on US vehicles to disarm those devices, but Al Qaeda had come up with a mysterious device for blocking them.

This was first revealed by DEBKA-Net-Weekly.

Jerusalem News-609
Date: 25 Nissan 5767, 13 April 2007
Contents:
1. Global Warming and the Oil Industry
2. Additives in Cigarettes Still Being Used
3. Arutz Sheva Thursday
(2. PERES: INVEST IN THE SEA, NOT JUDEA/SAMARIA
(5. [Afghans-Lost Ten Tribes?] 'I LOVE ISRAEL - MY FOREFATHERS WERE PROBABLY JEWS'
(6. BANK OF ISRAEL RELEASES ANNUAL REPORT AS DOLLAR FREE-FALLS


1. Global Warming and the Oil Industry
A Google search on Global Warming and petroleum Interests
results in quite a few articles many showing that the oil people are paying scientists
to deny what may well be a horrible truth.
e.g.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/124642_warming02.html
Whatever the case common sense should tell us that:
The less pollution the better.
Alternatives to "fossil fuels" should be sought for.
Necessity is the mother of invention: Make oil companies clean up after themselves and car manufacturers more community conscious and ways to make such an approach economically feasible will be searched for and found.

2. Additives in Cigarettes Still Being Used
http://www.ash.org.uk/html/regulation/html/additives.html
Additives are used to make cigarettes that provide high levels of 'free' nicotine which increases the addictive 'kick' of the nicotine. Ammonium compounds can fulfill this role by raising the alkalinity of smoke
Additives are used to enhance the taste of tobacco smoke, to make the product more desirable to consumers. Although seemingly innocuous the addition of flavourings making the cigarette 'attractive' and 'palatable' is in itself cause for concern.
Sweeteners and chocolate may help to make cigarettes more palatable to children and first time users; eugenol and menthol numb the throat so the smoker cannot feel the smoke's aggravating effects.
Additives such as cocoa may be used to dilate the airways allowing the smoke an easier and deeper passage into the lungs exposing the body to more nicotine and higher levels of tar.
Some additives are toxic or addictive in their own right or in combination. When additives are burned, new products of combustion are formed and these may be toxic or pharmacologically active.
Additives are used to mask the smell and visibility of side-stream smoke, making it harder for people to protect themselves and undermining claims that smoking is anti-social without at the same time reducing the health risks of passive smoking.

Cigarettes: What's Killing Our Country
http://www.essaydepot.com/essayme/569/index.php

Shedding Light on Cigarette Additives
August 10, 2000

http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2000/shedding-light-on-cigarette.html
Jeffrey Wigand, the tobacco industry whistle-blower, told participants at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Chicago, Ill., that cigarette makers carefully engineer their product, Reuters reported Aug. 8.

During a session on cigarette science, Wigand told the group that 600 chemical additives are used in creating popular brands of cigarettes. Among the additives are lemon, cocoa, buttermilk, licorice and various sugars that are soaked into the paper holding the tobacco leaf.

"Why would you want something sweet? Who likes sweets the most? Kids," said Wigand, whose life story formed the basis for the hit movie "The Insider."

He also pointed out that the additives, while recognized as safe in foods and cosmetics, were never approved to be burned and inhaled.

Scientists who formerly worked for the tobacco industry added that science has been used as a marketing tool by cigarette makers. For instance, firms realized they could increase the amount of nicotine absorbed by smokers while advertising lower nicotine levels in their product.

"You're not dealing just with nicotine. You're dealing with a drug cocktail," said William Farone, a whistle-blower who worked during the early 1980s for Philip Morris.

3. Arutz Sheva Thursday
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
Apr. 12 '07, 24 Nisan 5767

HEADLINES:
(2. PERES: INVEST IN THE SEA, NOT JUDEA/SAMARIA
by Hillel Fendel

At a conference entitled "The Sea as an Economic Resource," Shimon Peres says Israel should stop investing in Jude and Samaria and build artificial islands in the Mediterranean instead.

The conference, which opened yesterday (Wednesday) in the seaside town of Mikhmoret, north of Netanya, deals with "opportunities and threats presented by the sea." Topics on the agenda include pollution of the sea and coasts, the economic potential of the sea for Israel, and more. The conference is sponsored by the Ruppin Academic Center.

In his remarks, Vice Premier Shimon Peres said, "The State of Israel has a narrow waistline [less than ten miles between Netanya and Tul Karem, for instance - ed.]... Israel has invested some 60 billion shekels in the territories [Judea, Samaria and Gaza]. Instead of this, we must invest in the sea, and stretch our western border in that direction by building artificial islands."

It was Peres who, as Minister of Defense in the mid-1970's, approved the establishment of the first Jewish communities, Kedumim and Elkanah, in Samaria. He has since become very anti-settlement.

Some view with irony his remarks about investing in the sea, especially in light of his well-known position in favor of a New Middle East and well-known Arab threats to throw the Jews into the sea.
Peres' support for artificial islands, though not a lone voice, is also controversial. Plans to build an international airport a quarter-mile offshore from north Tel Aviv are currently being discussed by an inter-ministerial committee. Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai and Transportation Minister Sha'ul Mofaz recently agreed to proceed with plans on between one and five such islands along the central Israel coast between Bat Yam and Netanya as a way of alleviating central Israel's land shortage problem.

However, environmental groups such as the Israel Union for Environmental Defense (IUED) say that the idea gravely threatens the future of Israel's tranquil Mediterranean waters and sandy beaches. "Before the airport-island scheme gains irreversible momentum," IUED urges "full exploration of terrestrial alternatives, including direct development costs, environmental impacts, and feasibility of rail transport links to population centers."

Other participants at the Mikhmoret conference include water industry experts, environmentalists, and more. Conference Chairman Buki Oren, a former Chairman of Israel's official Mekorot Water Company, said, "There is enough water in the world to supply all its needs; the challenge is to know how to use it wisely and develop appropriate technologies." He said that Israel must take the lead in raising international awareness regarding the use and preservation of water resources.

Environmentalist businessman Morris Kahn had criticism both for companies that pollute and for the Environment Ministry's lackluster efforts to enforce ecological regulations. "Personal responsibility must be imposed on companies and their directors that pollute the environment and the sea," Kahn said.

(5. [Afghans-Lost Ten Tribes] 'I LOVE ISRAEL - MY FOREFATHERS WERE PROBABLY JEWS'
by Alexander Maistrovoy

40 years ago, as Israel celebrated its 1967 triumph, an extraordinary event occurred in the Jewish community of India. The President of India, Dr. Zakir Hussain, made a highly surprising visit to the Ohel David Synagogue of Pune, Maharashtra, which was celebrating its centenary. The significance of the event and the title of the guest were unprecedented. Why did he visit?


Dr. Navras Jaat Aafreedi has his own explanation: Dr. Hussain, one of the most famous sons of India, honored with the India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, was a member of a Pashtun (Pakhtun; Pathan) tribe known as the Afridi. And the Afridi tribe is identified with Ephraim, one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.


Dr. Aafreedi is an Indian citizen, a representative of the Afridi tribe too, and an historian. He isn't 30 yet, but he has a Ph.D. on Medieval and Modern Indian History, and his research paper was entitled: "Indian Jewry and the Self-Professed 'Lost Tribes of Israel' in India." His book of the same title is the third serious major work ever by a Gentile on this subject. Now he is doing his Post-Doctoral Research at Tel Aviv University.
"Right then I decided that I would explore my probable Israelite roots."


"Small minorities and marginal groups in all parts of the world have always interested me", he told this reporter. "But I was always more interested in Jews than any other group because of their impressive accomplishments and achievements, in spite of their numerical insignificance, and also because Muslims in my home town Lucknow tended to blame Jews for everything evil in the world. My interest in the Jews further deepened when my late uncle once said to me that our roots were Israelite. I was then 12 years old. Right then I decided that I would explore my probable Israelite roots when I get to the doctoral level.


"There were no Jews in my home town Lucknow. I only met Jews for the first time when I started researching for my Ph.D. But the more I read about Jews, the more my admiration grew for them. The Jewish saga is a tale of unprecedented heroism and self-sacrifice; Jews were humiliated and mistreated like no other people in history. That despite this, the Jews rose and returned to their ancient homeland (Israel) after two thousand years speaks volumes about the character of these tenacious people. I admire Jews as much for their resilience and courage as for their wisdom and scholarship."


After getting his Ph.D. from Lucknow University in 2005, Navras won scholarships from the Center for Judaic Studies in Shandong University, China and from the Israeli government. The terms of the Chinese scholarship were more lucrative, but Navras chose Tel-Aviv. "It's only for my love for Israel," he explains.


Navras began his research of the connection between Afridi Pashtuns from Malihabad in Lucknow district (of the state of Uttar Pradesh) and the Ephraim tribe. Pashtuns settled there in the mid-18th century and they are about 1,200 today. It is a drop in the ocean compared to about 45 million Pashtuns around the world. Pashtun tribes mainly live in the highlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and they are divided into 60 tribes and 400 clans.


The Afridi tribe is one of the largest (about three million) and very martial. They controlled the famous Khyber and the Kohat passes, collected tribute from caravans and became famous for their fearlessness and selflessness in battles with everyone who tried to
Dr. Aafreedi refers to great Jewish rabbis who mention Afghanistan and Pakistan as the home of "Lost Tribes."
conquer Afghanistan - from Mughal troops in the 16th and 17th centuries to the British in the 19th and Russians in the 20th centuries.


For hundreds of years, Afridis have called themselves Bani Israel (Pushto for the Hebrew B'nei Yisrael, meaning "Children of Israel") and believe that they originated from the Ephraim tribe. Lately, the hatred of Jews in the Islamic world made the young generation of Pashtuns give up their beliefs, but Navras quotes a number of Jewish immigrants from Afghanistan who testify to the prevalence of many Jewish rituals and customs among the Afridi Pashtun, such as the lighting of candles on Shabbat, growing long side-locks, wearing shawls resembling the tallit (ritual prayer shawl), circumcision on the eighth day after birth, and Levirate marriage.


Dr. Aafreedi refers to great Jewish rabbis, such as Saadia Ga'on and Moses Ibn Ezra, who mention Afghanistan and the Pathan territories in Pakistan as the home of Jews descended from the lost tribes. He also notes that a number of medieval Arabic and Farsi texts refer to the same phenomenon. In the 19th century some British travelers and officers, like Sir Alexander Brunes and J.P. Ferrier, wrote about the Israelite origin of Afghan tribes.


Many Pashtuns don't conceal their descent. For example, Emir Abdul Rahman, the grandfather of the former Afghan Shah Amanullah, stated expressly in his History of the Afghans that the Afghan tribes were of Israelite origin.


Lately, other and more impressive arguments have been produced by Joshua Benjamin in his book Mystery of the Lost Tribes, the second president of Israel, Yitzchak Ben-Zvi (The Exiled and the Redeemed [1957]), Social Anthropologist from Hebrew University Dr. Shalva Weil (Beyond the Sambatyon: The Myth of the Ten Lost Tribes), Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail (The Tribes of Israel), ex-Director of Archeology Fida Hasnain from Kashmir and others. According to some Jewish and European explorers from the Middle Ages until the present day, the Afridi tribe originates from Ephraim, the Yusufzai tribe from Joseph, the Rabbani from Reuben, the Levani from Levi, the Ashuri from Asher, etc.


Together with Prof. Tudor Parfitt (SOAS, London University) and Dr. Yulia Egorova (Cardiff University), Navras collected DNA samples of 50 paternally unrelated Afridi males of Malihabad and they are now being analyzed at University College, London.

Would the time for repatriation of the bellicose and unruly Afridi tribe to Israel ever come? "Not today, and not tomorrow, but it is possible. During his recent trip to London, Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail met two Afridi Pathan families who had fled their country during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. They spoke about their desire to embrace Judaism, the faith of their supposed ancestors,” Dr. Aafreedi says.

Brit-Am Note: Concerning the Afghans and the Lost Ten Tribes , we disagree with the above article.
For the Brit-Am Position on the above claims and those similar to them see below


See below.

(6. BANK OF ISRAEL RELEASES ANNUAL REPORT AS DOLLAR FREE-FALLS
by Ezra HaLevi

Amidst the continued steep decline of the dollar, Bank of Israel Governor Prof. Stanley Fischer held a press conference Wednesday announcing the release of Bank of Israel’s 2006 Annual Report.

"Economic performance in 2006," the report stated, "exceeded levels by developed countries in some cases." The report acknowledged that most of the benefit from the economic growth took place in hi-tech.

Israel achieved 5.1% growth in 2006, much more than either the US (3.3%) or Europe (3.1%). Israeli GDP per capita rose by 3.3%, beating the 2.3% recorded in both Europe and the US. Israel’s GDP of $19,900, however, remains far below the $43,000 of the US and $34,000 of Europe.


Brit-Am Note: For the Brit-Am Position on the above claims and those similar to them see:

The Japanese are not Hebrews!
http://www.britam.org/Questions/QuesJapan.html

Burma Blues
http://britam.org/Burma.html

Afghanistan and Israel
http://www.britam.org/Questions/QuesAfghanistan.html

Other Claimants to being the Lost Ten Tribes
http://www.britam.org/Questions/QuesOtherClaims.html

Jerusalem News-610
Date: 27 Nissan 5767, 15 April 2007
Contents:
1. Inventor of Radar
2. Thomas Gray: Hebrews in Korea?
3. Norwegian Collaboration in WW11
4. Norway-Hamas link angers Israel
5. Children of the Maidservants Seduced by Anti-Israelite Forces?

1. Inventor of Radar
From: paperboy@nevis.scotsman.com
Subject: Scotsman.com Update Friday 13 April 2007

FACT OF THE DAY

Scientist Robert Watson-Watt was born in Angus on this day in 1892. Watson-Watt is credited with developing the first workable radar system, turning it into a key advantage to Allied forces in the Second World War. He was knighted in 1942 and ten years later received a $50,000 gift from the British government for his efforts. See more stories like his in heritage.scotsman.com

2. Thomas Gray: Hebrews in Korea?
From: "Thomas D. Gray" <tgray@supernet.com.bo>

Dear Yair,

Due to having tutored many Korean students here in Bolivia, I have had the opportunity of learning the Korean phonetic alphabet called Han Gul (u sound as in "push"). As I also have learned the Hebrew alphabet, I was struck with several similarities. Han Gul's M is a square, the K/G is like the final form of Kaph, the T is exactly a Beth spun 180 degrees (no dot), the N is like a hand written Hebrew Nun, but turned 90 degrees clockwise. The L/R is a kind of backwards English S, as if one had put a Resh on top of a backwards Lamedh. The vowels in Han Gul consist of lines placed either horizontally under the consonant symbol or vertically to the right. Small tick lines going either up or down from the horizontal line or right or left from the vertical line make the varied vowel sounds. Korean has 10 vowel sounds.

This alphabet was invented around 1400 by "King Se-Jong and his scholars" as a way to simplify writing from the hard-to-learn Chinese symbology. Interestingly, it was during this period (1200-1500) that there was a flood of new inventions in Korea, such as moveable type printing, a water clock, armored "turtle boats), a rain gauge and increased scientific study. I wonder who those scholars were.

Thomas Gray.

3. Norwegian Collaboration in WW11
Resistance, acceptance and collaboration
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Norway_by_Nazi_Germany

It has been estimated that as many as 10% of Norwegians were supportive of the Nazi occupation, though this estimate is uncertain and the support varied throughout the occupation. It is clear that the vast majority of Norwegians were opposed to the occupation, and many resisted it in various ways...

Of the Norwegians that supported the NS, relatively few were active collaborators. Most notorious among these was Henry Oliver Rinnan, who infiltrated Norwegian members of the resistance, tortured and murdered them. About 5000 Norwegians volunteered for combat duty on the Nazi side and were often sent to the Eastern front. Some Norwegian police forces also assisted in arresting Jews prior to their deporting to Nazi concentration camps in November 1942.

During the five-year occupation, several thousand Norwegian women had children fathered by German soldiers in the Lebensborn program. The mothers were ostracized and humiliated following the war, both by Norwegian officialdom and the civil population, and were referred to using pejorative terms like tyskerunger (children of Germans) or worse yet naziyngel (Nazi offspring). The debate on the past treatment of these krigsbarn (War children), started with a television series in 1981, but only recently have the offspring of these unions begun to identify themselves.

4. Norway-Hamas link angers Israel
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6470669.stm
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/1894

5. Children of the Maidservants Seduced by Anti-Israelite Forces?
Will Joseph and Judah draw closer together while the other Tribes remain entrapped by the Adversary?

Jerusalem News-611
Date: 28 Nissan 5767, 16 April 2007
Contents:
1. Report: World-wide Anti-Semitic attacks up 50%
2. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 9.51
3. MOSHE DANN: Why I went up to the Temple Mount
4.Haredi community in Negev will balance demographics, researcher says
5. UK journalists boycott Israel over ‘IDF aggression in Gaza’
6. British 'silently boycott' Israeli academics
7. The Holocaust: ‘We Were All There’


1. Report: World-wide Anti-Semitic attacks up 50%
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 15, 2007
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1176152798169&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The year 2006 witnessed a significant escalation in physical, verbal, and visual anti-Semitism throughout the world, with as many as 590 cases of violence and vandalism reported against Jews, a study published by Tel Aviv University ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day revealed Sunday.

The report, which was conducted by the Institute for Researching Contemporary anti-Semitism and Racism, found that twice as many anti-Semitic attacks occurred in 2006 than in the previous year.

Perpetrators of the attacks were, in most cases, identified as Muslim immigrants, or young members of the radical right and their supporters, the study reported.

Schools were popular targets of anti-Semitism in 2006, with twice as many community schools reportedly attacked then in 2005. The number of synagogues which registered attacks rose by one-third.

The report listed Britain, Australia, France, and Canada as the countries with the greatest rise in anti-Semitic attacks. Leading the list was Britain, which registered a 20-year record of 100 incidents - 60% more then in 1986. Of those incidents, 37% were considered violent.

Australia also experienced a significant increase in anti-Semitism, registering 47% more attacks then its yearly average. France also faired poorly, ending the year with 24% more attacks then usual, and 45% more violent attacks then the year before.

In contrast, the United States registered a 12% drop in anti-Semitic attacks in 2006.

2. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 9.51
From: david meadows <rogueclassicist@gmail.com>
================================================================
explorator 9.51 April 15, 2007
================================================================

================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================

Brief item on some Parthian finds in Iran:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=5907&sectionid=351020105

On the who-wrote-the-Dead-Sea-Scrolls controversy (nothing really new here, but a summary of the current prevailing views):
http://tinyurl.com/3doumg (Forward)
cf.:
http://news-info.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/9217.html

Latest salvo in the Temple Mount saga:
http://tinyurl.com/2ephag (HR)

================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================

More on the portrayal of various aspects of the ancient world in 300:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9587471

A site associated with Boudicca + a power excavator is a formula for bad things:
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/4454

An Antonine Wall workers' camp?:
http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=566802007

The Lincoln Aqueduct may have been used after all:
http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh_gfx_en/ART46087.html

Greek artifacts from Peshawar:
http://www.sparta.markoulakispublications.org.uk/index.php?id=100

I think we've mentioned this Illyrian ships find before:
http://tinyurl.com/3b8wbb (Science Daily)

Time Team has been poking around a Roman fort in Binchester:
http://tinyurl.com/3atekx (NE)

Roger Travis has an interesting approach to the Aeneid:
http://www.advance.uconn.edu/2007/070416/07041607.htm

More Rome and India coverage:
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070409/asp/nation/story_7623483.asp

Criticism of Herodotus as a source for 300:
http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_21315.shtml


================================================================
EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
================================================================
A 3000 b.p. ring from Buntingford has been declared treasure:
http://tinyurl.com/35z3vg (Mercury)

A Seventh Century Saxon pendant:
http://tinyurl.com/33ace2 (icLoughborough)

The UK's forgotten battlefields:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2437312.ece

Looking for Rob Roy's house:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/6548271.stm

================================================================
NORTH AMERICA
================================================================
On the mounds of Missouri:
http://digmo.org/stories/2007/04/14/ancient-history/

Trying to track down the 'Swamp Fox':
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/nation/17074823.htm

NC formally apologized for slavery:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Slavery-Apology.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/us/12brfs-slavery.html

================================================================
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
================================================================

DNA testing on sacrificial victims from Teotihuacan suggest they
were brought from quite a distance:
http://tinyurl.com/2okzjp (LAT)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18063260/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070411/sc_nm/mexico_pyramid_dc_2
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N11245760.htm

================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
A sidebar to a piece categorized elsewhere provides a handy
list of famous archaeologists and what find they are associated
with:
http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/564342.html

On the effects various eye diseases may have had on some well
known artists:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070410182854.htm

Interesting item on the 'keepers' of Gregorian Chant:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/world/europe/10chant.html


History's 100 most influential people (from a Japanese perspective):
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=1471


We always get theories of how pyramid stones or stonehenge stones
were moved and raised ... this guy has the most plausible method
I've seen yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRRDzFROMx0


On the variety of languages in the Caucasus:
http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070411-061929-6117r


A Dickens theme park:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070412/od_nm/arts_dickens_dc

On assorted 'digital libraries':
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/arts/09conn.html

Review of Hugh Brogan, *Alexis de Tocqueville*:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0410/p15s01-bogn.html


================================================================
TOURISTY THINGS
================================================================
Roman Africa:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200106/kaplan (rather old)

3. Why I went up to the Temple Mount
MOSHE DANN, THE JERUSALEM POST
April 11, 2007

Jewish historical memory is focused on several fundamental experiences, among them: hurban - the destructions of the First and Second Temples, and korban - ritual temple sacrifice, both of which are grounded in the Land of Israel.

I thought of this when I was recently told of a tour of the Temple Mount on a Sunday morning. I hesitated. The last time I'd been at the site was just after the Six-Day War. I had joined a group of volunteers who came to Israel from all over the world in response to what the Arabs and the media predicted would be another Holocaust.
Israel's victory turned the situation into a huge party.

Not observant then, I joined thousands of people who thronged into Jerusalem's Old City for the first time in almost 20 years, walking through dust and rubble to witness the devastation and visit the site that is the center of Jewish consciousness: the Temple Mount.

Entering the golden Dome of the Rock, a Muslim shrine built at the end of the 7th century CE and prohibited to Jews by both Muslim and Christian conquering armies for 2,000 years, I saw a piece of the mountaintop (the "Foundation Stone") where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob encountered God, and where the First and Second Temples stood. It was like a vindication of Jewish suffering, perseverance and strength. Ravaged throughout history, Jews once again - some say miraculously - controlled the Temple Mount. And somehow, I was part of it.

After conquering the site, however, as a gesture of good will, minister of defense Moshe Dayan returned partial sovereignty to the wakf, the Muslim trust. Most Orthodox rabbis (and all haredi rabbis) prohibit their followers from treading anywhere on the Mount, especially near where the Temple's holy of holies once stood (a spot restricted even in Temple times to the High Priest on Yom Kippur). That area is presumed to be where the Dome of the Rock is today.

I VERY much wanted to join the tour of the Temple Mount, so I asked my Orthodox rabbi for his approval. That was not forthcoming, but knowing me, he cautioned that I not walk near the Dome of the Rock; I was to follow the path around the perimeter.

"Mikve" [ritual bath] and no leather shoes," he added.

I was still hesitant, feeling the weight of rabbinic injunction.

At the end of morning prayers, I read the Psalm of David for Sunday: "Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord, and who may stand in the place of His sanctity?"

Was I worthy of such an experience? Was I violating Halacha?

Not to go, however, would also be to make a statement. The wakf was illegally and systematically excavating on the Temple Mount, and destroying all Jewish remnants. Archeologists from around the world reported desecrations of the site. The wakf had excavated the area beneath al Aksa mosque at the Mount's southern end (called erroneously, "Solomon's Stables") and dumped what they had dug up as garbage. The Israeli government, despite Jewish protests from around the world, refused to intervene.

IN CONTRAST, a few months ago, minor excavations and reconstruction by Israeli authorities of an area adjacent to the Western Wall (outside the Temple Mount area) led to Arab riots, calls for terrorist attacks and condemnations from around the Muslim world.

What's "ours," and what's "theirs"? And where did I belong in all of this? Pessah is one of the three holidays during which Jews in ancient days were required to come to the Temple with offerings. Unable to bring a Pessah sacrifice, should I instead re-enact this ancient tradition of ascending the Temple Mount?

Still unsure of what I should do, I prepared myself and arrived at the walkway leading to the Mughrabi Gate - the only entrance allowed by the wakf to non-Muslim civilians. And, according to their rules, we had to be out in two hours, by 10 a.m.

Passing workers digging and filling pails, I joined a few dozen people, mostly non-Jewish tourists, as we were checked for weapons and prayer books. The wakf does not allow non-Muslims
to pray on the Temple Mount.

As I stepped through the gate and onto the broad plaza, I suddenly felt lighter, as if another atmosphere surrounded me. Arab guards located throughout the area with walkie-talkies watched as I walked past the mosque to the eastern side of the compound.

Standing alone in stocking feet, two tall lanky Orthodox young men with long payot dressed in white greeted me.

They told me they were from a yeshiva, and gave its name.

"Where's that?" I asked.

"Yad Binyamin. In Gush Katif."

Shaking inside, I remembered the yeshiva in Neve Dekalim, the synagogues and thriving community that were destroyed a year and a half ago. A thousand five hundred families, some 9,000 people thrown out of their homes, many remaining unemployed and without permanent housing or adequate compensation. Twenty-one thriving communities bulldozed. A stain on the Israeli nation; an ongoing trauma. Jewish refugees. Exile and destruction.

Walking along the pathway on the eastern side of the plaza, we were accompanied by two wakf guards. I pointed to garbage strewn around; a guard shrugged.

Piles of rubbish and building materials were scattered all around.

On the northwestern side of the compound I stopped to chat with another guard. He told me he has a degree in history from Hebron University.

"There's no Jewish history here," he informed me.

"Nothing Jewish."

"The Temple?" I asked innocently.

"Maybe another hill. Not here," he said curtly and pointed to his watch and the exit.

It's 10 am.

The writer, a former assistant professor of history, is a journalist living in Jerusalem.

4. Haredi community in Negev will balance demographics, researcher says
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3388258,00.html
Government approves proposal to build large haredi community in Negev; demographics researcher calls it 'beginning of positive trend'

Anat Bereshkovsky
Published: 04.15.07, 21:53 / Israel News

The government appears to be encouraging Jewish settlement in the Negev area: Sunday, the cabinet approved Housing and Construction Minister Meir Sheetrit's proposal to build a haredi community in the area.


Regional council leader Shmulik Rifman expressed support for the project - estimated to create a demand for some 80,000 housing units in two decades - saying it would improve the demographic balance in the area.


Demographics researcher Yoram Ettinger concurred. "This is the beginning of a positive trend...of the haredi community contributing to the demographic balance," he said.


"It is hoped that this is the beginning of a 'proper geographic policy'," he added.


Ettinger believes that the demographic issue in the Negev is the most dangerous to Israel, as opposed to the problem in the West Bank.
He listed as his reasons: "Failure to enforce the law among Bedouins, polygamy, importing women, and illegal welfare payments including fictional divorces to increase welfare rates."


According to Ettinger's statistics, although the reduction of child welfare payments lowered the birth rate among Bedouins, the community still has the highest birth rate in Israel – more than seven children per woman.


Regarding the West Bank demographic issue, Ettinger claims it's overrated, saying "proponents of giving up the West Bank for demographic reasons either have no idea what they're talking about or are misleading the public deliberately."


Ettinger added that "a responsible government needs to encourage Jewish immigration to Israel." Recent governments have not behaved responsibly, he claimed.


5. UK journalists boycott Israel over ‘IDF aggression in Gaza’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3387995,00.html

National Union of Journalists of Britain and Ireland decides to boycott Israeli products in protest of Second Lebanon War and ‘Israeli aggression in Gaza’; calls on UK government to impose sanctions on Israel


6. British 'silently boycott' Israeli academics

Israeli researchers, professors boycotted by British press, higher education institutions in protest of ‘occupation of Palestinian territories’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3326912,00.html
Moran Zelikovich
Published: 11.12.06, 04:33 / Israel News

The International Advisory Board for Academic Freedom warns against a “silent boycott” in Britain against Israeli institutes of higher education.


The council said that Israeli researchers wishing to publish articles in Britain were asked to remove the name of which ever Israeli academic institute they belonged to as a condition for publishing their articles.

7. The Holocaust: ‘We Were All There’
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122122

Jerusalem News-612
Date: 30 Nissan 5767, 18 April 2007
Contents:
1. Israel Leads in Afforestation
2. Guided missile destroyer USS Chafee embarks from Pearl Harbor for Gulf
3. Israel-US Private Company Joint Venture design space-operated all purpose radar systems
4. Palestinian factions encourage further abductions of Israeli soldiers in
order to ensure a prisoners' exchange
5. Holocaust Survivor Sacrifices Himself to Save Students
6. "American Indian Patriots": David Yeagley blog
7. Archaeology: Zertal versus Finkelstein in the territory of Manasseh


1. Israel Leads in Afforestation
Researchers using forests to stop desert from spreading
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1176152801104&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
By LAURA RHEINHEIMER

David Ben-Gurion had a vision to make the desert bloom. What Israel's first prime minister didn't know was that the desert, due in part to human activity and in part to a changing climate, would slowly spread.

In Israel, deserts are expected to spread north. If nothing is done, areas near the Mediterranean might be categorized as desert in the future, according to Dr. Nir Atzmon of the Volcani Center in Beit Dagan, chairman of the scientific committee for "Forests to Combat Desertification."

However, Atzmon and other leading researchers on Israel's deserts are hopeful that by establishing a belt of forests along the northern edge of the Negev, they can reverse desertification.

"We believe we are doing quite a good job in this aspect," Atzmon said Sunday, adding that data from a monitoring station in the Yatir forest, Israel's largest, show it consumes as much carbon dioxide as a natural European forest, a critical function for preventing desert expansion.

The 30-square-kilometer forest, established on the southern slopes of Mount Hebron in 1964 by the Jewish National Fund, continues to grow. Around 70 percent of Israel's forests are man-made.

Yatir has also produced an improvement in local vegetation, and more animals now live in the forest, Atzmon said. "The idea is to try to stop the desert spreading north by active forestation - creating artificial forests," he said.

Israel is a world leader in afforestation, said Atzmon, as well as in resource conservation activities.

Representatives from arid regions around the world will share ideas and innovations at a four-day conference starting on Monday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Jerusalem and learn from Israel's work in the Negev in water harvesting and desert
agriculture.

Israel is the only nation that has more forest cover than 100 years ago, according to the Jewish National Fund, which is sponsoring the conference. Israel is also where the revolutionary drip irrigation system was developed, which uses water efficiently by dripping water straight onto the roots of the plants.

2. Guided missile destroyer USS Chafee embarks from Pearl Harbor for Gulf
http://www.debka.com/
April 12, 2007, 11:00 AM (GMT+02:00)

The Chafee will join up with the USS Nimitz carrier strike group and operate with the Stennis aircraft carrier group in the vicinity of Iranian shores

3. Israel-US Private Company Joint Venture design space-operated all purpose radar systems
http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/news/article.php?id=1144


4. Palestinian factions encourage further abductions of Israeli soldiers in order to ensure a prisoners' exchange
Date: 16 / 04 / 2007 Time: 15:05
www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=21232

5. Holocaust Survivor Sacrifices Himself to Save Students
From: Joan Griffith
Subject: Virginia Slaughter

I think you may have seen or heard of this already, but it is such a horror to me that this wonderful man should escape death in the Holocaust only to find it in the USA.


http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1176152816138&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Israeli professor killed in US attack
By HAVIV RETTIG, JPOST.COM STAFF AND AP

As Jews worldwide honored on Monday the memory of those who were murdered in the Holocaust, a 76-year-old survivor sacrificed his life to save his students in Monday's shooting at Virginia Tech College that left 33 dead and over two dozen wounded.

Professor Liviu Librescu, 76, threw himself in front of the shooter when the man attempted to enter his classroom. The Israeli mechanics and engineering lecturer was shot to death, "but all the students lived - because of him," Virginia Tech student Asael Arad - also an Israeli - told Army Radio.

6. "American Indian Patriots": David Yeagley blog
http://www.badeagle.com/cgi-bin/ib3/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=SF&f=15

<<Bad Eagle.com is the first website for American Indian Patriots, and the only voice of conservative American Indian thought. Dr. David A. Yeagley, direct descendent of the Comanche warrior Bad Eagle (1839-1906), is the first conservative American Indian in the American media. Through Bad Eagle.com all conservative Indians are invited to join their voices in honor of Indian warriors in the cause of American Patriotism.

Brit-Am Comment: We do not know if the views and opinions etc on this URL are correct or not but from the little we saw it makes interesting reading.

7. Archaeology: Zertal versus Finkelstein in the territory of Manasseh
http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/issues/2006/may/archaeology.php?page=2
Guess which one received a prize of one million dollars?
see also:

Archaeology and the Book of Joshua: The Conquest
http://www.ucgstp.org/lit/gn/gn011/archaeol.html

Jerusalem News-613
Date: 30 Nissan 5767, 18 April 2007
Contents:
1.Killer's identity incites racist slurs
2.Hamas tells Arabs: Genocide of Jews still on
3.Belgian Heroine Honored
4.A Korean Muslim Terrorist?
5.Japanese and Irish Agents for Israel?
Egypt Arrests Atomic Agency Engineer as a Spy for Israel
6.Half of All Israeli Terror Victims Died in Six Years of Oslo War
7.Three Important New Books Coming Out Within Coming Month

1. Killer's identity incites racist slurs
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/killers-identity-incites-racist-slurs/2007/04/18/1176696890020.html
The Age (Australia): Reko Rennie
April 18, 2007 - 1:11PM

Anti-Asian sentiments and racist slurs are being posted online at websites such as YouTube, in the wake of America's worst peacetime massacre.

When the shooter's identity came to light as being 23-year-old South Korean student Cho Seung-Hui, the racist slurs began.

One YouTube member, firechicky1128, left a message on the site suggesting 'revenge'.

"I think the parents of the victims should be allowed to go to Korea, find his siblings, young family members and do them in because that would be fair for what he did!", the message reads.

Other members have also posted racist comments.

The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) in San Francisco has warned the media to not use race as an identifier unless it's relevant to the story.

The Deputy Executive Director of the AAJA, Janice Lee, told theage.com.au media organisations have interpreted the warning as AAJA calling for censorship of race in covering this story.

"This is not true. The purpose of our advisories was to remind journalists to not use race as an identifier unless it's relevant to the story or in context with other descriptors," Ms Lee said.

"The questions for news organisations to ask themselves is: Did his culture have something to do with him committing this massacre? Is race only one of a few details we're using to describe the gunman, or one of many details as part of a profile of the person?" Ms Lee said.

theage.com.au

2. Hamas tells Arabs: Genocide of Jews still on
http://www.wnd.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55176
<http://www.wnd.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55176>
Friday, April 13, 2007
TROUBLE IN THE HOLY LAND
Ruling Palestinian group has different message in English to
court favor


While Hamas courts favor internationally, an Arabic sermon on
Palestinian TV showed the ruling party continues to call for the
genocide of Jews.

Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan, quoting the hadith – the
oral tradition of Muhammad – declared to the Palestinian
audience: "The Hour [of Resurrection] will not take place until
the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them, and the
rock and the tree will say: "Oh, Muslim, servant of Allah, there
is a Jew behind me, kill him!"

Radwan concluded with a prayer for Allah to "take" Israel and the
U.S., reported the Israel-based media monitor Palestinian Media

"We must remind our Arab and Muslim nation, its leaders and
people, its scholars and students, remind them that Palestine and
the Al Aqsa mosque will not be liberated through summits nor by
international resolutions, but it will be liberated through the
rifle," he said.
"It will not be liberated through negotiations, but through the
rifle, since this occupation knows no language but the language
of force," Radwan continued.
He concluded: "O Allah, strengthen Islam and Muslims, and bring
victory to your jihad-fighting worshipers, in Palestine and
everywhere. … Allah take the oppressor Jews and Americans
and their supporters!"
As WND reported
<http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53861> , Hamas in
January said it was willing to accept a temporary Palestinian
state in exchange for a 10-year truce with Israel, but top Hamas
officials and spokesmen for the terror group told WND the truce
was meant to show some flexibility to the international
community.
They said Hamas' goal of destroying Israel had not changed, and
that the terror group has a 10-year plan to build a large army
and defeat the Jewish state.
"We are with liberating any inch of Palestine, but we will not
close the door for the next generation, because the weak don't
always stay weak, and the strong won't stay strong," Haniyeh said
today in a televised address, explaining his 10-year truce
proposal.

Hamas, responsible for scores of suicide bombings, shooting
attacks and rocket firings, is classified by the State Department
as a terrorist organization.
The group's official charter calls for the murder of Jews and
quotes widely from the anti-Semitic creed, the Protocols of the
Elders of Zion. Since winning Palestinian legislative elections
in January 2006, Hamas has refused to recognize Israel or
denounce terrorism.


3. Belgian Heroine Honored
Belgian to receive honorary citizenship
by ETGAR LEFKOVITS
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1176152819385&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

A Belgian woman who has been recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations for saving 300 Jewish children during the Holocaust will receive honorary Israeli citizenship on Wednesday.

Andree Guelen-Herscovici, 86, had received Yad Vashem's highest honor back in 1989 for her role in saving hundreds of Jewish children during World War II.

All of the nearly 22,000 people who have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem are eligible for honorary Israeli citizenship, but only a few hundred have actually received it, Yad Vashem spokeswoman Estee Yaari said Tuesday.

During World War II, Guelen-Herscovici was a member of a Belgian underground movement, the Committee for the Defense of the Jews, and taught at a private school where about a dozen Jewish children were hidden.

In June 1943, the Gestapo raided the school and arrested the headmaster and the Jewish children they found there.

Guelen-Herscovici, who was told to get out and not come back, knew that other Jewish children who were hidden with families were about to come to the school that was now occupied by Gestapo agents waiting to catch the Jewish children.

She waited for the children outside, and from a distance signaled them to return home.

From that moment, she became deeply involved in finding hiding places for Jewish children, and moved them to Christian families and monasteries.

She kept a secret listing in five notebooks which were hidden away in a rented Brussels apartment of the original names and assumed identity of the hundreds of children who needed a hiding place, many of whom never saw their parents again.

"I still weep when I think of the times when I had to snatch children from their parents, especially children aged 2-3, without being able to tell the parents where I was taking the children," she recalled.

The children were told that due to the shortages of food in the city and the threat of air raids, they were being taken to the countryside to enjoy fresh air, food and a good life.

Risking her own life, she accompanied about 300 children to their new hiding places.

After the war, Guelen-Herscovici worked to ensure that the children were returned to their families - if they were still alive - or to their relatives.

She continued to maintain contact with many of the children that she saved, and married a Holocaust survivor, Charles Herscovici.

A ceremony bestowing the Belgian Righteous Gentile with honorary Israeli citizenship will be held Wednesday at Yad Vashem in the presence of scores of the children she saved, the Belgian Ambassador to Israel Danielle del Marmol and Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev.

"I deserve nothing for what I did. I am not a hero," Guelen-Herscovici said. "I was one of the simple soldiers."

4. A Korean Muslim Terrorist?
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=594502007
It also apparently revealed he had written the words "Ismail Ax" on the inside of one of his arms in red ink before the shooting. The reference may be to the Islamic account of the biblical sacrifice of Abraham, where God commands the patriarch to sacrifice his own son. Abraham begins to comply, but God intervenes at the last moment to save the boy. In the Jewish and Christian traditions, the son is Isaac, father of the Jewish people; in Islam, it is his brother, Ismail (Ishmael in Hebrew). Abraham uses a knife in most versions of the story, but some accounts have him wielding an axe. A more obscure reference may be to a passage in the Koran referring to Abraham's destruction of pagan idols; in some accounts, he uses an axe to do so.

5. Japanese and Irish Agents for Israel?
Egypt Arrests Atomic Agency Engineer as a Spy for Israel
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122143

by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
Extract:
(IsraelNN.com) Egyptian authorities have arrested an engineer at the Egyptian Atomic Energy Agency on charges of spying for Israel. Mohammed Sayed Sabar Ali, 35, has been accused of passing sensitive information to two foreigners, one of whom is Japanese and the other, Irish. Egyptian security services allege that the foreigners are agents for the Israeli intelligence agency, the Mossad, and that they paid Ali for the data he provided. Both of the non-Egyptians accused of acting on Israel's behalf have been charged in absentia.

6. Half of All Israeli Terror Victims Died in Six Years of Oslo War
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122171
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu and Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
[Extracts]
(IsraelNN.com) Arab terrorists have killed 864 Israelis and wounded more than 14,000 others since they launched the Oslo War, also known as the Second Intifada, in October 2000. The number of terrorism fatalities represents half of the 1,635 citizens who died in terrorist attacks since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The statistics were reported Thursday by the National Insurance Institute (Bituach Leumi) in a press release ahead of Memorial Day, which falls on Monday

The Almagor terror victims' organization also recently released figures showing that no fewer than 177 innocent citizens, mostly Israeli Jews, were murdered in recent years in attacks perpetrated by terrorists freed from Israeli jails. In 30 separate attacks by rescidivist terrorists, scores of Israelis were also seriously wounded.

The Palestinian Authority decision to launch the Oslo War in 2000 followed PA leader Yasser Arafat's refusal of an offer from then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak for a new Arab state. Barak was ready to surrender more than 90 percent of lands in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, including much of Jerusalem in exchange for commitments from Arafat. In December 2000, Imad Falouji, the PA Communications Minister at the time, said that the sustained terrorist campiagn "was already planned ever since [Yasser Arafat's] return from the last talks at Camp David, at which he stood up to President Clinton and firmly rejected the American terms."

A visit by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site, just a few days after the first attack by PA militiamen on their IDF counterparts in a joint patrol, was later used by Arafat as propaganda for inciting further attacks. The PA later dubbed their terror war the "Al-Aksa Intifada," in a reference to one of the mosques on the Temple Mount.

The Oslo Peace Accords, which gave the Oslo War its name, were negotiated in Oslo, Norway, and signed in September 1993. The set of agreements set out to solve the Israeli-Arab conflict by providing the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) with guns and land in exchange for assurances of peace. At the signing ceremony in Washington, US President Bill Clinton called the Oslo Accords a "brave gamble." Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin admitted in an October 1994 speech in Casablanca that the Oslo initiative was a "calculated risk for peace."

Since last Independence Day, 66 Israeli civilians have died in terrorist attacks, including those who perished during the Second Lebanon War waged by Hizbullah.

7. Three Important New Books Coming Out Within Coming Month
The Israel-based Publishing Company
"Russell-Davis"
on behalf of Brit-Am will be publishing within the coming month 3 important new books
(with the possibility of a fourth one to follow shortly after):

Scandinavian Secret.
The Hebrew Code of the Runes

by Orjan Svennsson
This book examines Runic Inscriptions mainly in Scandinavia. It proves that these inscriptions were written in Hebrew and Aramaic dialects or combinations of the two. The author gives a summary of the researches of others in this field and then continues to explain his own original findings. The content of these writings shows that their authors were Hebrews who had reached the North at an early date. The conclusions are consistent with archaeological and historical sources both in Israel and in Europe. Runic engravings include encrypted mathematical codes that the author explains and analyses.
Price $25


Bronze Age Atlantis.
The International Nautical Empire of the Sea Peoples

by Walter Baucum
Locates Atlantis of the coast of Scandinavia. Discusses the Sea peoples, Phoenicians, and the trade in tin with Cornwall and Spain; Identifies the Achaean and Mycenean Greeks with the Tribe of Dan; traces Israelite Tribes to the British Isles and Northern Europe; Includes interesting discussions of Biblical and Ancient History in general drawing on a variety of sources including quotes from Greek Historians and the works of other researchers in this field; Examines evidence of an Israelite, Egyptian, African, Arab, and Chinese presence in the Americas before Colombus.
Work makes for good, informative, reading.
Price $25

Role to Rule.
The Task of Joseph

by Yair Davidiy
This book, "Role to Rule. The Task of Joseph" by Yair Davidiy proves that many people in Western Nations descend from Israelites who in ancient times were exiled and lost their identity. The so-called "Anglo-Saxon" nations are dominated by the Israelite Tribes of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh. They have a rule of their own to fulfill in this world. To a degree they have already accomplished part of their task but much remains.
This work examines the Task of Joseph as to how it has been carried out until now and as to is required according to the Bible and related sources.
Joseph has a responsibility to save the world from itself.
Biblical Studies in the light of Rabbinical Tradition are employed along with up-to-date expert geo-political analysis and historical anecdote.
This is a valuable work prepared in a new reader-friendly format so that both the content and its presentation should thrill and enlighten.
Price $25

Jerusalem News-614
Date: 14 Iyar 5767, 26 April 2007
Contents:
1. Britain, Holocaust Learning, Blaming Brit-Am for British Offences, Chain Letters, and Putting Things in Perspective
2. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 9.52
3. Poll: Most new immigrants from former USSR happy in Israel
4. Poll: Israeli Concerns
5. Arutz Sheva Monday
(1. Hillel Fendel: Today is Memorial Day, 5767 (2007)

1. Britain, Holocaust Learning, Blaming Brit-Am for British Offences, Chain Letters, and Putting Things in Perspective

On the one hand there is an unfortunate increase of anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish "respectable" and "disrespectable" activity in Britain as indicated by some of our previous posts, e.g.
Jerusalem News-611
http://britam.org/jerusalem/JerusalemNewsPage.html#611
Date: 28 Nissan 5767, 16 April 2007
#5. UK journalists boycott Israel over ‘IDF aggression in Gaza’
#6. British 'silently boycott' Israeli academics

This is also reflected in the following:
Jerusalem News-606
http://www.britam.org/jerusalem/jerusalem601to630.html#tag6
Date: 22 Nissan 5767, 10 April 2007
#6. Some British schools drop Holocaust education for fear of Muslims

At the same time things should be presented in perspective.
Concerning the perceived Brit-Am sympathy for Britain, we received insulting letters from someone who poses as a Jew but is actually an anti-Semite.
He has several web-sites.
This is one of them:

<<The "Lost Tribes" of Israel.- They Are NOT British - >>
http://www.geocities.com/britam_exposed/
In this web-site he attributes to us ideas not all of which we hold.
In a Google search for Brit-Am this website will come up second which is a result that needs to be paid for.
Concerning his attacks on what really are Brit-Am beliefs we have replied in our article,

<<Completeness of the Exile>>
http://www.britam.org/CompleteExile.html

see also:
"Brit-Am Now"-777
http://britam.org/now/777Now.html
#3. Brit-Am Enemy Suspect

The support this nut-case evidently receives is symptomatic of an anti-Brit-Am trend which appears to be growing.

Apart from the diatribes of this inhabitant of Europe there exists an anti-Chain letter that is are being sent around protesting against Britain and saying that in Britain they have stopped teaching about the Holocaust due to Arab pressure.

This is not true. Only some schools have done so which is unfortunate but should be viewed in perspective.

In the USA curriculums are changed (frequently at the cost of Jewish or Israelite subjects) to suit Afro-American, Hispanic, and Arab students.
In the State of Israel where there are a lot of Arab or Gentile students etc Jewish and Israeli themes are often dropped or lowered in profile.
In Palestine Schools (and sometimes in Arab Israeli schools) the Holocaust is denied and extermination of the Jews depicted as a desirable eventuality.
In the Palestinian schools this hatred is a central part of the curriculum.

Leftwing and Center Israeli Politicians and Israeli Government Ministers also sometimes make anti-Semitic statements and no one particularly seems to care one way or other.

2. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 9.52
Explorator lists the latest archaeological finds.
Brit-Am culls (with permission) the list in order to sharpen the focus on findings most pertinent to our field of interest.
One is not expected to go to every URL mentioned but even just reading it through gives an idea of the latest developments and chances are that some of the articles may be found worth checking out.

From: david meadows <rogueclassicist@gmail.com>
================================================================
explorator 9.52 April 22, 2007
================================================================

================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================
Questioning a 'ritual suicide' in Mesopotamian tomb (which one?):

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20070416_Death_and_the_maidens.html
http://tinyurl.com/23dsff (Oh ... its from Ur)
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/nation/17119210.htm

================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================

A Thracian chariot was unearthed in Bulgaria:
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=79622

Some Roman pots from Cornwall are now on display:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/6571707.stm
http://tinyurl.com/2aocza (TIC)


Research suggests a major tsunami wiped out the Minoas:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6568053.stm
http://tinyurl.com/ytt3ex

================================================================
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
================================================================

Evidence for Pre-Incan/Peruvian metallurgy:

http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=20051
http://www.physorg.com/news96222703.html
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/53907.html
http://tinyurl.com/2966ot (LiveScience via Yahoo)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18201003/
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2007/420/1


================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================

Studying impressionists' failing vision:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/health/17eye.html

An Irish town wants to change its name (to something that sounds
like a scene from a Monty Python movie):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6559343.stm

Uranus' rings were possibly seen much earlier than previously
thought:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6569849.stm


================================================================
TOURISTY THINGS
================================================================
Cyprus:
http://www.bendweekly.com/Living/5081.html

Silk Road:
http://tinyurl.com/2z45sj

================================================================
EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
================================================================

Afghan Gold:
http://tinyurl.com/yvsotr (IHT)

Praxiteles/Empire of the Gupta (two separate exhibitions):
http://tinyurl.com/2eabep (Telegraph)

Empire of the Gupta:
http://tinyurl.com/ys8sud (El Pais ... Spanish)

Rembrandt's Titus:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/20/arts/design/20voge.html


A Creationist museum:
http://tinyurl.com/24ww3b

3. Poll: Most new immigrants from former USSR happy in Israel
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 07:15:44 -0400 (EDT)
From: imra@netvision.net.il
Subject: Poll shows most new immigrants from former USSR happy in Israel
and identify with State

Poll shows most new immigrants from former USSR happy in Israel and
identify with State
Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 23 April 2007

Telephone poll of a representative sample of veteran Israelis and a
representative sample of immigrants from the former Soviet Union carried out
by Geocartography for the Immigrant Absorption Ministry.

Percent celebrating Independence Day mostly with picnics and going to
performances at public squares:
Veteran: 84% Immigrants 88%

Immigrants:

Holiday most identify with: Independence Day 20% Passover 35% Jewish New
Years 25%

Feel at home: Yes 80% No 7%

Already feel like veteran Israelis and don't see selves as immigrants: half

Have Israeli friends: 33%

Speak Hebrew and Russian to same extent 56% Speak mostly or only Russian 44%

82% Believe must know Hebrew to feel Israeli

95% Important their children learn Russian

Names give children: Hebrew 35% Hebrew & foreign 29% Foreign 35%

Half live in majority immigrant neighborhoods, 20% in neighborhoods with
mostly veteran Israelis

Certain remaining in Israel 82% Certain/almost certain leaving 5%

72% If had to decide again would move to Israel

Feel more Israeli or Jewish than emigrant from former USSR 70%

Identify with former USSR 15% Feel for both 5%

Identify as: Jews 70% Christians 2% Atheists/other 28%

Do you follow mostly the Israeli news or mostly world news?
Immigrants: Israeli news 68% World news 23%
Veteran Israelis: Israeli news 81% World news 8%

Percent who would be happy if their sons served in a combat unit:
Immigrants 53% Veteran Israelis 58%

Percent satisfied with economic situation in Israel:
Immigrants 56% Veteran Israelis 75%

[From press release from the Immigrant Absorption Ministry]

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il

4. Poll: Israeli Concerns
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 08:06:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: imra@netvision.net.il
Subject: Poll finds only 16% consider security Israel's biggest problem
Sender: imra-owner@imra.org.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Reply-to: imra@netvision.net.il

Poll finds only 16% consider security Israel's biggest problem
Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 23 April 2007

Telephone poll of a representative sample of adult Israelis (including
Israeli Arabs) carried out
by Teleseker for the Academic College Of Emek Yezreel.

Are you satisfied with the national leadership?
No 60% Only a little 29%
Did you think about leaving the country ever in the last year? Yes 26%
(almost half of age 19-29 said yes)

What is the biggest problem of the country?
Education 27% Politics 23% Security 16% Society 13.5% Economics 9.5%

My place is Israel because:
44% Ties (roots, family, friends) to nation
25% Zionism/patriotism
21% There is no other place - it is my State
(Hatzofe 23 April 2007)

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il


5. Arutz Sheva Monday
From: Arutz Sheva <news@israelnationalnews.com>
5 Iyar 5767 / , Apr. 23 '07
(1.Today is Memorial Day, 5767 (2007)
by Hillel Fendel

[Extracts]

Commemoration of Yom HaZikaron, Israel's Memorial Day for its fallen soldiers and terrorism victims, began at 8:00 Sunday evening with a country-wide siren and minute of silence.

The opening ceremony took place at the Western Wall, with the participation of Chief Rabbis Amar and Metzger.

A second siren will be sounded Monday morning, at 11 AM, once again bringing all activity to a standstill and marking the beginning of memorial ceremonies at the 43 military cemeteries around the country. A Knesset Member or government official will speak at each ceremony.

A special ceremony will also be held in memory of Jews murdered by terrorists and anti-Semites around the world. Some 200 such Jews will be remembered at Monday's ceremony at Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem. The event is being organized by the Jewish Agency, the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish National Fund, and the UJC of North America. A monument with the names of the victims will be unveiled.

The names of all Israel's fallen soldiers and terrorist victims will be broadcast on Israel's public television channel Sunday evening and Monday, one after the other, for 4-5 seconds each.

The somber day comes to an end Monday with the onset of Israel's 59th Independence Day.

Both Memorial Day and Independence Day are commemorated one day later than usual this year, by order of the Chief Rabbinate, in order to prevent the Sabbath desecration that would have resulted from having Memorial Day begin on Saturday night.

The number of soldiers and security personnel who have fallen since November 29, 1947, when the United Nations accepted the partition thus mandating the creation of a Jewish State, is 20,526. The struggle to re-create a Jewish homeland, beginning in the year 1860, when Jews began to move outside Jerusalem's Old City walls, claimed an additional close to 1,500 victims.

The 1948 War of Independence was Israel's costliest war, with more than 6,000 dead, one percent of the Jewish population at the time, and 15,000 wounded. The war consisted of 39 separate operations, fought from the borders of Lebanon to the Sinai Peninsula and Eilat, and was fought for about a year, until 1949.

Then followed seven years of relative quiet - during which there were "1,339 cases of armed clashes with Egyptian armed forces, 435 cases of incursion from Egyptian-controlled territory, and 172 cases of sabotage perpetrated by Egyptian military units and fedayeen [terrorists] in Israel," in which 101 Israelis were killed, as Israeli Ambassador to the UN Abba Eban explained to the Security Council on October 30, 1956. Eban gave these statistics the day after Israel began the Sinai Campaign - its military response to Egypt's violation of international agreements by sealing off the Israeli port of Eilat, effectively stopping Israel's sea trade with much of Africa and the Far East. A total of 231 Israeli soldiers died in the fighting. In March 1957, after receiving international guarantees that Israel's vital waterways would remain open, Israel withdrew from the Sinai and Gaza - yet the Egyptians still refused to open the Suez Canal to Israeli shipping.

The Six-Day War broke out on June 5, 1967. Along with the stunning victories, over 770 Israelis were killed.

Then began the period of the War of Attrition, which claimed 424 soldiers and more than 100 civilians. A ceasefire was declared on August 8, 1970.

Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on Yom Kippur, 1973. The IDF ultimately emerged victorious, but a total of 2,688 soldiers were killed.

In June 1982, in response to continued terrorist attacks and Katyusha shellings from across the Lebanese border, as well as an assassination attempt upon Israel's late Ambassador to Great Britain Shlomo Argov, Israel attacked the terrorists in Lebanon in what was known as Operation Peace for Galilee. Close to 460 soldiers were killed between June and December 1982, and another 760 in daily ambushes against Israeli forces over the next two and a half years.

Between December 1987, when the first Arab "intifada" broke out, and the signing of the Oslo Accords in late 1993, 90 Israelis were murdered.

Between the Oslo signing and the beginning of what became known as the Oslo War in September, 2000, 251 Israelis were murdered by terrorists.

Another 1,287 have been felled by Palestinian Authority terrorists and gunmen since September 2000.

Jerusalem News-615
Date: 16 Iyar 5767, 28 April 2007
Contents:
1. David Forsmark Reviews:
"America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present" by Michael B. Oren
2. The Struggle Over The Temple Mount
3. Melanie Phillips: 'I found Saddam's WMD bunkers'

1. David Forsmark Reviews :
"America in the Middle East 1776 to the
Present" by Michael B. Oren

[Extracts]

From: shieldofdavid@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [shieldofdavid] Digest Number 376

(9. Power, Faith and Fantasy

Posted by: "Shield of David List Moderator" magen_david_1948@yahoo.com magen_david_1948

Mon Apr 23, 2007 2:40 pm (PST)

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=27979
<http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=27979>

Power, Faith and Fantasy
By David Forsmark
<http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/authors.asp?ID=3554>
FrontPageMagazine.com
<http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=27979> |
April 23, 2007


Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the
Present
By Michael B. Oren
Norton, $35.00, 778pp.

Among the more successful­and illogical­propaganda efforts of the Democrat Party is the widely accepted notion that conservative Christianity is a natural hotbed of anti-Semitism and Political Enemy Number One for American Jews. As someone who grew up in churches that were to the right of Jerry Falwell, I always found this notion to be mysterious at best. The fact is that the more literally an evangelical Christian takes the Bible, the more of a Zionist he is likely to be.
Theology aside, it s only natural-- nearly all of best stories he grows up with in Sunday School feature Jewish heroes fighting for their homeland.

If I had a nickel for every time I heard a preacher refer to the modern state of Israel­or its wartime successes­as a miracle and a result of divine intervention, I d be posting this from a lot bigger house in a lot warmer climate. My experience is corroborated by historian Michael Oren s fascinating new book, Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present, which shows that there is a direct correlation between the political relevance of Evangelical Christians in the United States and strong support by the American government for a State of Israel.

Astonishingly, Oren is the first historian to attempt a single volume history of America s involvement in the Middle East. As his extensive bibliography suggests, a lot has been written on various parts of this history; but Oren says that his research did not turn up one overview of the subject. He fills that gap.

When Americans think about our involvement in the Middle East, they generally assume it to be a fairly modern phenomenon, centered around the State of Israel or the need for gasoline-- both big issues in the Post-WWII era. Politicians on both extremes feed this misperception. Democrats daily proclaim that if we just had more windmills or wind-up rubber band powered cars, we could ignore the region because all we get out of it is oil. The Buchanan Brigades promote the idea that anything we do to promote civilization in the region is probably at the behest of Israel­or at least AIPAC.

Support for Israel is also a key element of the media s new all-purpose pejorative, neoconservative. But unless you think neo should be used to describe a movement that became prominent in the 1820s, that s a misnomer. In fact, support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine predates any paleoconservative isolationist movement in the United States by at least a hundred years.

Critics might argue that wild-eyed Evangelicals of the 19th Century who followed the religious revival known as the Second Awakening wanted to restore Israel to Palestine to hasten the Kingdom of God; but it is only recently that a policy of bringing freedom to the Muslim world and a pro-Jewish policy in the Middle East had any political punch. Wrong again. As Oren illustrates, the Middle East has been important to Americans since before the Founding. Even Pilgrim governor William Bradford and Puritan preacher Cotton Mather expressed hope for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. In fact, he asserts, the reality of Muslim aggression against Mediterranean trade was a major impetus in both the forming of the United States Navy, and a Constitution with a strong enough central government to build it into a major force.

Most history texts, if they even deal with the subject, treat the Barbary corsairs as mainly a piracy issue. But the Founders, Oren writes, were shocked to confront the ideology of jihad. It led them to believe that diplomacy with­and ransom payments to-- the Musselmen would not be a long-term solution. Even George Washington, no fan of needless foreign entanglements, proposed that such banditti for half the sum that is paid them be exterminated from the earth.

Once the Barbary Pirates were dealt with, most history books record that Mediterranean trade opened up for Americans, and leave it at that. But as Oren records, Americans became a dominant commercial presence in the region­and a not insignificant military and cultural presence as well.

The most fascinating section of Power, Faith and Fantasy is Oren s account of the vast collection of Americans-- missionaries, adventurers, pilgrims and military people-- who flocked to the Middle East throughout the 1800s. This is a largely untold story in modern history texts­though many famous Americans made the trip, and wrote enormously popular accounts of their journeys.

Perhaps that s because the most influential Americans in the Middle East of the 19th Century were missionaries, a verbotten subject in modern American education. But in the 1800s, they had the ear of Presidents and Secretaries of State, the attention and support of the public, and the protection of American gunboats.

The Restoration Movement officially began with a sermon in Boston s famed Old South Church by Levi Parsons to kick off what would be a century of missionary efforts in Palestine.

Interestingly, the movement s most famous treatise was The Valley of Vision, or the Dry Bones of Israel Revisited by George Bush­yes, the forebear of two presidents.

Samuel Clemens first book as Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad, was a debunking of American fantasies about the exotic Middle East and a huge bestseller that made his career. Herman Melville took the tour, hoping to relieve his writer s block by getting on the Mideast travel book bandwagon, but was soured by the squalor of a place he d had exotic fantasies about. U.S. Grant and Secretary of State William Seward also made pilgrimages, and one of Abraham Lincoln s last words was to suggest to his wife that they should tour the Middle East after the war was over.

Some of the most fascinating chapters are those dealing with America and Egypt. Egypt became important during the Civil War as competition for Confederate cotton, and took a huge economic hit when it became the American interest to once again promote the crop in the South. Among the more ill-fated expeditions recounted in the book­and there are many­was that of prominent Civil War veterans helping to establish a professional army in Egypt. They began their stay as honored guests, but those who survived were treated as scapegoats for Egyptian shortcomings on the battlefield. Their story encompasses each of Oren s themes: Power, faith and fantasy.

Most missionaries had a goal of establishing a homeland in Palestine for their theological cousins, the Jews, Oren writes. However, they were about as successful at that as they were in converting very many Muslims. Probably the most enduring legacy of those missionaries­many of whom died from disease or terrorists­was the establishing of modern hospitals and schools in the region.

It was missionaries who called world attention to the genocide of Armenians by the Turks and tried to provide relief, making this event a cause celebre in the United States. In a similar manner to modern relations with China, the United States juggled keeping good trade agreements going with the Ottoman Empire with condemnation of the plight of the Armenians.

While Oren explains the revivalist beginnings of the Restoration movement that spawned the missionary expansion in Palestine, he is a little more vague about the theological leanings of the missionaries at the later half of the century and early 20th Century who cooled on the Zionist movement. He does give a clue, however, by mentioning that many of them were Ivy League grads and from mainstream denominations. The fact that this cooling of enthusiasm happened around the time that Progressivism was infecting the prestigious American seminaries is probably a major factor.

Ironically, it was about the same time that secularism was dampening enthusiasm for Zionism in the missionary community that American Jews finally took up the cause in the post-WWI years.
It was largely led by secular and socialist Jewish groups. For decades religious American Jews had shied away from Zionism and even spoken out against it, fearing it would make them look less American.

As Oren himself admits, much of what he covers about the 20th Century is well-known. But he sells himself a little short. It is not merely the fact that Oren puts the events in context by explaining the rarely discussed historical forces that makes Power, Faith and Fantasy valuable. He adds invaluable insight by continuing the discussion of those roots right up to the present day, making the story of America s involvement in the region part of a seamless whole.

Among the highlights:

· Wilsonian Failure-- Oren puts another nail in the coffin for the Woodrow Wilson legacy built by Thomas Fleming and other recent historians. Wilson got involved in the war in Europe in order to further his postwar grand design, but a hundred thousand dead Americans later, he was shut out. In Europe, that helped set the stage for Hitler. However, in the Middle East, it was Wilson s refusal to declare war against the Ottoman Empire that gave America no voice in the region. He advocated neutrality because he thought it would protect missionaries and the Albanian relief efforts; but the Albanian slaughter intensified and missionaries were persecuted and killed. Wilson s slogan was a war to Make the world safe for democracy, but he deferred to colonial powers despite the pleading of many in various Arab lands for the United States to be the authority in their mandate.

· Truman s Juggling Act: Much has been made of President Truman s foot dragging when it came to recognizing the State of Israel. Oren does a terrific job of showing how Truman was effectively countering active Soviet attempts at expansion in the region, and makes a compelling case that Truman got it right­perhaps better than Ronald Reagan would do later, who was good with Soviet client states like Libya, but not against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

· Eisenhower s Blunder: Oren provocatively makes the case that President Eisenhower s support of Egypt s Nasser during the Suez crisis not only stabilized
a pro-Soviet government, it made the 1968 and 1972 wars possible.

Carter s Biased Arbitration: Oren is not kind to Jimmy Carter­or even his Camp David legacy. Oren writes that Sadat was the instigator of the talks, and that the U.S. was merely sought as an arbiter. Carter was blatant in his bias, and €œunreservedly accepted the Egyptian position and assiduously rejected Israel s.

Bush Policy in Context of American Tradition: It is common for current commentary to call George W. Bush s vision for the Middle East and his willingness to commit American forces Wilsonian. However, gaining the context of the previous two centuries of American history and philosophy in the region, one would likely compare Bush more to Theodore Roosevelt s Americanist zeal than to Wilson s timid internationalism.

2. The Struggle Over The Temple Mount
From: shieldofdavid@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [shieldofdavid] Digest Number 376
(13. The Struggle Over The Temple Mount
[Extracts Only]

Posted by: "HB" happyharry613@yahoo.com happyharry613

Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:06 pm (PST)

The Struggle Over The Temple Mount On February 20, 2007, the Jerusalem Post wrote: œAt the root of this war is the intensifying effort by the Palestinians and their supporters, from within and without Israel, to deny any link or rights of the Jewish people to the Temple Mount or to Jerusalem, and thus to undermine not only our right to sovereignty in Jerusalem, but also Israel s right to exist as a Jewish state. 

With television and the media controlling most of our information concerning the Middle East, it is very import for us to review the root reasons for the struggle over Jerusalem.

Why do Muslims want the Temple Mount?
The Temple Mount (in Hebrew: Har ha-baiyit), is the large area directly behind the Western Wall in Jerusalem and the holiest site for the Jews. It is the site of Judaism's first and second Temples, the primary area of worship for the Jewish faith and the location in which Gods "Shekhina," or Presence, used to reside. The area is about the size of 15 football stadiums. King Solomon built the First Temple at the Mount almost 3,000 years ago, but it was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. and 70 years later rebuilt by the Israelites returning from exile. It was later reconstructed by King Herod at the same site. According to a commonly held belief in Judaism, it is to be the site of the third and final Temple to be rebuilt with the coming of the Jewish Messiah.

Today it is also the site of two major Muslim religious shrines, the Dome of the Rock (built c. 690) and Al-Aqsa Mosque (built c. 710).
The Temple Mount is one of the most contested religious sites in the world. Under the Jordanian rule of Eastern Jerusalem between 1948 and 1967, Israelis were forbidden from entering the Old City. The Palestinian Authority contests Israel's sovereignty over the site, which remains a key issue in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The government of Israel has granted management of the site to a Muslim Council (Waqf).

Because of their obsession to forever possess the Temple Mount, Muslims have refused Israel s many offers to give the Palestinians œhalf the kingdom  and even the area where the Temple once was, as long as Israel could retain the Western Wall where thousands of Jews pray continually. But to no avail... Thus the battle continues as Israel struggles to defend herself against the billion-plus Muslims who spend their lives and their nations wealth scheming to destroy Israel and take over the Temple Mount once and for all.

Islamic historians have rewritten history for their part of the world and the Muslims believe it:

a) The Jews never had a temple in Jerusalem - ever.

b) Muslims declare that the site was built as a mosque since Adam and Eve. (The Mosque of Omer was built at the end of the Seventh Century 16 centuries after Solomon s Temple was built.)

Mohammed had his first œrevelation  in 610 A.D. at the age of 40 when he was asleep in a cave. His fellow citizens in Mecca did not receive his revelations and he was forced to flee in 622. He entered Medina where he was met with a more friendly reception, and founded his new nation there. Ten years later, he returned to Mecca with an army and conquered the city, forcing Islam upon its citizens. He died that same year. Mohammed never visited Jerusalem, and never wrote a single word in his Koran about it.

The Muslims did conquer Jerusalem four years after Mohammed s death, but they did not make the city any sort of political center. However, because of a revolt of the people of Iraq, the citizens of Mecca and Medina found themselves under temporary siege and as a result devout Syrian Muslims could not visit those cities.

The Caliph from Syria decided to solve the problem by making Jerusalem a substitute place of pilgrimage. He built the Mosque of Omar in 691. Then in 715, the Caliphs built another mosque on the Temple Mount and called this one œthe furthest or most remote mosque.  By giving the mosque this name, the rulers connected the place to a passage in the Koran which says that Mohammed was flown œfrom the sacred temple to the temple that is most remote,  that is, they claimed, from Mecca to Jerusalem.

They explained (though again not written in the Koran) that œGabriel  had led Mohammed to the pinnacle of the rock (which was all that was left since the Temple had been destroyed some 600 years before). At the Temple Mount Mohammed encountered Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets, whom he led in prayers.

There, the Islamic spiritual leaders revealed, a ladder of golden light materialized. On this glittering shaft, Mohammed ascended through the seven heavens into the presence of Allah, from whom he received instructions for himself and his followers. Allah had succeeded to create for himself a people who were willing to fall down and worship him on the Temple Mount.

Thus Islamic rulers chose Zion as the place where they claim Mohammed ascended to heaven on his white horse.

Because Zion is G-D s Resting Place
God clearly stated that He had chosen Jerusalem for His own house.

For the Lord has chosen Zion;
He has desired it for His habitation.
This is My resting place forever;
Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. (Psalm 132:13-14)

But the sins of Judah and its rulers increased until God turned His back on Jerusalem and His House (II Kings 23:27)

But the story has yet another chapter! Through His prophets G-d reveals that He will return to Jerusalem and His House will be built again.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion.
But I am very angry with the nations who are at ease; for while I was only a little angry, they furthered the disaster.
Therefore, thus says the Lord, I will return to Jerusalem with compassion; My house will be built in it,
declares the Lord of hosts..(Zechariah 1:14-16)

But the outcome is known, as Zechariah gives us the answer: œI will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 
(Zechariah 12:9)

Of all the ancient people who contended with Israel, who remains? The Ammonites, the Moabites, the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Edomites, the Philistines; they're all gone. Banished from the earth forever. "I will bless those who bless you," the Lord said to Abraham, "And curse those who curse you." Can you point to the verse that contains the expiration date for that promise?

And yet Israel still exists. Battered and bruised, paying the penalty for abandoning her G-d, but here just the same. Her land, her language, her heritage all intact. Never abandoned by Him.

[God] has never forsaken those who sought Him and placed their trust in Him. It's as clear a choice as is ever presented to mankind. And as in so many other ways, the Nation Israel stands as an example to us. For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Today, Israel has again abandoned G-d and become the most self- reliant nation on earth, her enemies have surrounded her and threaten on every side. Her people live lives of fear and uncertainty, for no nation is strong enough to defeat enemies so numerous and powerful.
But unseen in the spiritual realm angels surround her, permitting attacks only so serious as to gain her attention and cause her to see the futility of doing it alone, as her G-d with great love in His heart beckons her return.

The connection between the salvation of Israel and the redemption of Jerusalem is obvious and well-known. It is the connection between the universal dimension of G-d's redemption and the redemption of Jerusalem; the way in which "And all ends of the earth will see the salvation of our Lord".
(Psalm 98:6)


3. 'I found Saddam's WMD bunkers'
Melanie Phillips

The Spectator 21 April 2007
www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/29092/i-found-saddams-wmd-bunkers.thtml

From: imra@netvision.net.il

Extracts:
It's a fair bet that you have never heard of a guy called Dave Gaubatz. It's also a fair bet that you think the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has found absolutely nothing, nada, zilch; and that therefore there never were any WMD programmes in Saddam's Iraq to justify the war ostensibly waged to protect the world from Saddam's use of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.

Dave Gaubatz, however, says that you could not be more wrong. Saddam's WMD did exist. He should know, because he found the sites where he is certain they were stored. And the reason you don't know about this is that the American administration failed to act on his information, 'lost' his classified reports and is now doing everything it can to prevent disclosure of the terrible fact that, through its own incompetence, it allowed Saddam's WMD to end up in the hands of the very terrorist states against whom it is so controversially at war.

Having served for 12 years as an agent in the US Air Force's Office of Special Investigations, Mr Gaubatz, a trained Arabic speaker, was hand-picked for postings in 2003, first in Saudi Arabia and then in Nasariyah in Iraq. His mission was to locate suspect WMD sites, discover threats against US forces in the area and find Saddam loyalists, and then send such intelligence to the Iraq Survey Group and other agencies.

Between March and July 2003, he says, he was taken to four sites in southern Iraq - two within Nasariyah, one 20 miles south and one near Basra - which, he was told by numerous Iraqi sources, contained biological and chemical weapons, material for a nuclear programme and UN-proscribed missiles. He was, he says, in no doubt whatever that this was true.
This was, in the first place, because of the massive size of these sites and the extreme lengths to which the Iraqis had gone to conceal them. Three of them were bunkers buried 20 to 30 feet beneath the Euphrates. They had been constructed through building dams which were removed after the huge subterranean vaults had been excavated so that these were concealed beneath the river bed. The bunker walls were made of reinforced concrete five feet thick.

'There was no doubt, with so much effort having gone into hiding these constructions, that something very important was buried there', says Mr Gaubatz. By speaking to a wide range of Iraqis, some of whom risked their lives by talking to him and whose accounts were provided in ignorance of each other, he built up a picture of the nuclear, chemical and biological materials they said were buried underground.

'They explained in detail why WMDs were in these areas and asked the US to remove them,' says Mr Gaubatz. 'Much of this material had been buried in the concrete bunkers and in the sewage pipe system. There were also missile imprints in the area and signs of chemical activity - gas masks, decontamination kits, atropine needles. The Iraqis and my team had no doubt at all that WMDs were hidden there.'

There was yet another significant piece of circumstantial corroboration. The medical records of Mr Gaubatz and his team showed that at these sites they had been exposed to high levels of radiation.

Mr Gaubatz verbally told the Iraq Study Group (ISG) of his findings, and asked them to come with heavy equipment to breach the concrete of the bunkers and uncover their sealed contents. But to his consternation, the ISG told him they didn't have the manpower or equipment to do it and that it would be 'unsafe' to try.

'The problem was that the ISG were concentrating their efforts in looking for WMD in northern Iraq and this was in the south,' says Mr Gaubatz. 'They were just swept up by reports of WMD in so many different locations. But we told them that if they didn't excavate these sites, others would.'

That, he says, is precisely what happened. He subsequently learnt from Iraqi, CIA and British intelligence that the WMD buried in the four sites were excavated by Iraqis and Syrians, with help from the Russians, and moved to Syria. The location in Syria of this material, he says, is also known to these intelligence agencies. The worst-case scenario has now come about.
Saddam's nuclear, biological and chemical material is in the hands of a rogue terrorist state - and one with close links to Iran.

In 2005, the CIA held a belated inquiry into the disappearance of this intelligence. Only then did its agents visit the sites - to report that they had indeed been looted.


Jerusalem News-616
Date: Iyar 5767, April 2007
Contents:
1. Max Rambow: WMDs in Iraq and US Beauraucracy
2. Contrary to Reports: Anti-Semitism in Germany is very strong,
Israel is equated with the Nazis by most Germans.
3. A Mysterious Map, Assyrian Expansion, and Friendly Arabs

1. Max Rambow: WMDs in Iraq and US Beauraucracy
From: Max Rambow <irmrambow@yahoo.com>
re: Jerusalem News-615
#3. Melanie Phillips: 'I found Saddam's WMD bunkers'
http://www.britam.org/jerusalem/jerusalem601to630.html#tag15

I found the article by Melanie Phillips extremely informative if not maddening. I have been very perplexed by the WMD topic because the things I hear seemed inexplicable. Now it's so simple and I thought I was the only one who mistaked his way though life. Well move over Max, you have some very big shot company.

I've had a sense of frustration over what I've read about WMD's in Iraq but this article(s) make it so plain. It's like Katrina, our beauraucracy is killing us. But beyond that the implications for our future are chilling. May G-d help us as a nation and as individuals.
Shalom Yair

Sincerely Max

2. Contrary to Reports: Anti-Semitism in Germany is still very strong,
Israel is equated with the Nazis by most Germans.

http://www.worldpoliticswatch.com/article.aspx?id=721
<<Fully 68 percent agreed that Israel is conducting a "war of extermination" against the Palestinians. (The phrase "war of extermination" will again have clearly invoked Hitler and the Third Reich for the German respondents.) Perhaps most revealingly of all, fully 82 percent of respondents agreed that they "become enraged [wütend werden] when they think of how the Israelis treat the Palestinians." >>

3. A Mysterious Map, Assyrian Expansion, and Friendly Arabs
The Map below was obtained by Googling "Assyrian Empire": Images
The map turns up on the second map and has as a reference
http://www.aliraqi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=45955&page=2
This site calls itself "aliraqi".
It seems to be dedicated mainly to pro-American Iraqi Arabs along with some pro-Western Arabs in general and at least one Jew of probable Arab-speaking background.
The site appears a bit confused to the uninitiated (like myself) but it has some interesting articles and photos.

As for the map, -it does not seem to be there.
At least I did not find it.
The Map has what appears to be Russian Lettering on it.
it is meant to depict I do not know BUT it does show Phoenician Maritime Enterprise including the Circumnavigation of Africa beginning from the Red Sea southward.
It also shows what we would take to indicate Assyrian Imperial Expansion though Assyria itself is not marked.

See also:
"Brit-Am Now"-899
#1. Article on Phoenician Expansion Under Assyria
#5. Phoenician International Maritime Enterprise and Assyrian Expansion








Jerusalem News-
617
Date: 11 Iyar 5767, 29 April 2007
Contents:
1. Can France be Saved?
2. Quotation: Originality
3. Guysen Israel News: Selected Extracts
4. Sinai Bedouins seek entry into Israel after clash with Egyptian police
5. Laugh a Day: Arab Palestinian Site Protests anti-Terrorist
Wall.
6. International Charities Sell Their Souls
7. Anti-Israel ad campaign set for Washington subway

1. Can France be Saved?
http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/news/article.php?id=1206

2. Quotation: Originality
From: dailyquote@thequoteboard.com

Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it.
Laurance Peter.

3. Guysen Israel News: Selected Extracts

From: Guysen News <webmaster@guysen.com>
Subject: Mailinfo Guysen Israel News - Friday 27 April 2007

2007-04-26 , 8 Iyyar 5767e Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni said that the Palestinians had transformed the Gaza Strip into a "nest of terrorists". "The Palestinians are using the anti-terrorist fence as an excuse for their terrorist actions", she said.

22:55 A thousand Bedouins have demonstrated against the attitude of the Egyptian authorities towards them. They asked the Jewish State to accept them as refugees or to allow them to reach a country of refuge. (Guysen.Isra l.News)

21:06 The Israeli company Check Point, that specializes in computer security, has presented a net profit of $46.9 million for the first half of 2007. Check Point is one of the world leaders in its field. (Guysen.Isra l.News)

20:00 "Sturm 34", a German Neo-Nazi group, has been declared to be illegal by the German authorities. The police is investigating possible links between this group and the National Democratic Party, that received nearly 10% of the vote in local elections in 2004. (Guysen.Isra l.News)

17:50 Unemployment has gone down: according to the National Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate for February 2007 was 7.5%, i.e. 1.4% less than in February 2006. (Guysen.Isra l.News)

16:18 The IDF 401 armored brigade has just completed four months of intensive training in the framework of lessons learned in the Second Lebanon War. The commander of the armored corps, brigade general Halutzi, said that these maneuvers had been very productive and that this was an opportunity for the soldiers to familiarize themselves with the sophisticated Merkava IV tanks. (Guysen.Isra l.News)

Thursday, April 26, 2007

4. Sinai Bedouins seek entry into Israel after clash with Egyptian police
http://www.kabobfest.blogspot.com/
You know police brutality has reached a new low in Egypt when hundreds of the country's poorest would rather seek refuge in Israel than face Mubarak's hired guns. The government should be ashamed of itself...

From Reuters, 26 April 2007

Hundreds of Egyptian Sinai Bedouin massed at the border with Israel on Thursday seeking entry to Israel a day after two Bedouin men died in a police chase, security source
s and witnesses said.

The security sources said Egyptian police were monitoring the tribesmen from a distance but had not approached them, as a significant number of them were armed.

The massing at the border came a day after many Bedouin took to the streets and set fire to dozens of tires in anger over the death of two Sinai Bedouin men on Wednesday in a chase with Egyptian police.

Security sources said the two men had exchanged fire with police after driving through a checkpoint in a pick-up truck with no license plates.

Tribal sources said the Bedouin headed to the border fearing a police crackdown and a wave of arrests after Wednesday's deaths and protests. One tribal sheikh who asked not to be named said the Bedouin came from several tribes and had been seeking entry into Israel since dawn.

Security sources described the decision to try to seek entry into Israel as an attempt by the Bedouin to embarrass the Egyptian government.

Bedouin in 1999 managed to illegally cross the border into Israel after disagreements with other tribes and requested political asylum there, but were returned to Egypt.

Egypt blamed a series of bombings in Sinai, the last of which took place in April 2006, on a local Islamist group which they say is made up of Sinai Bedouin with militant views.

Security sweeps have since focused heavily on Sinai's Bedouins. Human rights groups say Egypt detained up to 2,500 people for questioning after the bombings, and that many were subjected to torture. Egypt denies this.

In January, the International Crisis Group said Egypt must tackle political and socio-economic problems in Sinai if it hopes to end militancy there.

5. Laugh a Day: Arab Palestinian Site Protests anti-Terrorist Wall.
http://www.kabobfest.blogspot.com/
We Agree.
The only solution is to evacuate the Palestinians
See Brit-Am articles on the subject:
Movement of Arab Populations (MAP)
http://www.britam.org/Questions/QuesMAP.html

6. International Charities Sell Their Souls
important website which analyzes statements and claims by well-known NGO [non-Governmental Organization]s

From: "ursula duba" <u.duba@comcast.net>

I would like to recommend the following website to anybody who wants to know more about the bias of some of the most prominent NGO's such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam, etc which have access to huge financial resources and practically no oversight. Their statements and claims are frequently quoted in the media, at the UN, at the State Department and to the diplomatic corps - without any effort made to verify those statements and claims.

http://www.ngo-monitor.org/index.php

Following is a short excerpt:

"did you know?

That many NGOs exploit the rhetoric of human rights to justify a variety of boycott campaigns against Israel? That Amnesty International has used its public relations and political organization to press Caterpillar to end sales to Israel? And in Britain for example, "War on Want" is highly active in calls for boycotts and divestment."
-------------------------------------
Among others, the website has important links to the NGO campaigns in the Lebanon War 2006.

ursula duba
u.duba@comcast.net
writer/lecturer

Brit-Am Comment: The above "charitable" organizations are only continuing
the precedent set by the Intrernational Red Cross whose role during
the Holicaust was very problematic, to say the least.

7. Anti-Israel ad campaign set for Washington subway
From: mma <mma2@gmx.net>
Subject: (Fwd) Anti-Israel ad campaign set for Washington subway

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Anti-Israel ad campaign set for Washington subway
By ANDY LEVY-AJZENKOPF
Staff Reporter The Canadian Jewish News April 26, 2007
www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=11651

WASHINGTON, D.C. - area commuters will be inundated with a
controversial poster-ad campaign when they take the city's subway system next month.

Starting May 13 for four weeks, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has ordered 20 of its subway stations to place posters advertising a June 10 rally to end "Israel's illegal military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem."

Initiated by a charity called the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, the 46-by-60-inch posters depict an imposing tank pointing its main firing turret at a child with a schoolbag walking along a dirt road.

"Imagine if this were your child's path to school. Palestinians don't have to imagine," the poster states, before continuing to call for an end to U.S. aid for "Israel's brutal military occupation. paid for by U.S. taxpayers like you."

CBS Outdoor, the New York-based firm that places in-station advertising for WMATA, at first refused to consider the poster, but eventually relented to pressure from WMATA and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

According to an April 4 report in the Washington Jewish Week online,
the U.S. Campaign contacted the ACLU, which then advised WMATA to order CBS Outdoor to place the posters, citing freedom of speech rights.

Joanne Ferreira, a WMATA spokesperson, said, "We didn't have any problem with the ad. It was a First Amendment issue."
In the same report, Oren Segal, a spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League said, "If past events by this organization are any indication, it will make no attempt to present a balanced view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and this ad is a pure reflection of that."

Jodi Senese, CBS Outdoor's executive vice-president in charge of marketing, explained to The CJN last week why she first turned away the poster.

"I initially rejected it on grounds that I thought it was too inflammatory to children," she said over the phone from her Manhattan office.

Senese recalled that she told U.S. Campaign staff that if they wanted to raise awareness for their campaign, she was fine with it based on First Amendment rights, "but not like this," she said.

The U.S. Campaign claims 250 member organizations in the United States. Its website features a prominent logo with the slogan, "Apartheid: Wrong for South Africans. Wrong for Palestinians."

Senese, who is Jewish, indicated that though she was uneasy with the ad, her personal feelings were not a part of her initial decision to dismiss the ad.

"I'm very proud [of being a Jew]," Senese said. "I thought the image was inflammatory, but I also believe in our First Amendment rights. As Jews [in America], we thrive on that right as well."

Senese indicated at the time of the interview, that to her knowledge no other group had yet come forward with a counter-campaign for CBS Outdoor to run.

Arthur Spitzer, who is Jewish and the legal director for the ACLU in the National Capital Area, told the Washington Jewish Week it wasn't "a case about Judaism or Israel. but about establishing someone's right to freedom of speech, which I agree with regardless of whether I agree with their particular political position."

Jewish organizations in the D.C. area downplayed the seriousness of the upcoming campaign.

Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, president of Washington-based pro-Israel think-tank, the Israel Project, said her organization didn't consider the ad campaign worth wasting resources to counter in the media and expected the ads to have a "minimum impact." She said when the Israel Project and other prominent Jewish organizations in the area first learned about the ad, they worried about its "ominous" potential.

They discussed the matter at length and then conducted several focus group studies on the ad with dozens of "highly educated people" before concluding the ad wasn't worth combating actively.

In fact, Laszlo Mizrahi claimed that of the dozens who analyzed the ad in the focus groups, upon first glance most thought the tank was an American one surrounded by Iraqi children. And even when they read the poster's words, participants had little sympathy for the cause, she said.

"It's a poorly run... poorly executed campaign and the American people are onto [the U.S. Campaign's] game," Laszlo Mizrahi said. "There are real, legitimate threats to the U.S.-Israel relationship - this is just not one of them.

"If these guys want to build support for their cause, they need to have something to sell that doesn't encourage children to blow themselves up."

Jerusalem News-618
Date: 13 Iyar 5767, 1 May 2007
Contents:
1. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 10.1
2. DNA: Peter de Knijff. Hidden African Ancestors: Hidden secrets of your ancestors
3. DNA. "Junk DNA Plays a Purpose"
(a) Junk DNA may be regulator
(b) DNA "Evolution"and "Junk" DNA:
(c) Differences in "Junk" DNA linked to Diabetes




rose


1. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 10.1
From: david meadows <rogueclassicist@gmail.com>

================================================================
explorator 10.1 April 29, 2007
================================================================

================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================

The Ramat Rahel Archaeological Project:

http://www.tau.ac.il/~rmtrachl/joint%20project.htm

================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================

In the steps of Aeneas:

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2488817.ece

Roman remains in Croatia:

http://www.javno.com/en/croatia/clanak.php?id=38932

Roman paintings in the heart of London:

http://tinyurl.com/2aemyr (Times)
http://uktv.co.uk/index.cfm/uktv/History.news/aid/586985

================================================================
EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
================================================================
'Stone Age' site from Sweden:

http://tinyurl.com/22bvo6 (Science Daily)
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/56473.html
http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=7123

Remains of a 'lost country' in the North Sea:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6584011.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2064221,00.html?gusrc=ticker-1037
04

Very interesting feature on Sutton Hoo's discovery:

http://tinyurl.com/2trlfe (Telegraph)

A Bronze Age settlement near Manchester Airport:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/6592979.stm

================================================================
ASIA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC
================================================================
Africans in New Zealand ca 630 B.C.? (potentially elmer material):

http://www.stuff.co.nz/bayofplenty/4035911a6663.html

================================================================
NORTH AMERICA
================================================================
I don't usually cover items of this sort (that don't directly
involve human remains), but folks might be interested in the
discovery of 'camel' remains in Arizona:

http://www.physorg.com/news96983739.html
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-04-28-camelbones_N.htm?csp=34
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070428/ap_on_sc/prehistoric_camel

Interesting conclusions drawn from a slave burial ground in
Portsmouth:

http://tinyurl.com/37rap4 (SC)

Evidence of the first European to go up the Delaware:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070423130322.htm

Not much protection for mounds in North Carolina:

http://tinyurl.com/ynollz (SMN)

More coverage of those Tequesta finds in downtown Miami:

http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_112134949.html
http://cbs4.com/local/local_story_112210635.html
http://www.local10.com/news/12894109/detail.html?rss=mia&psp=news

Virginia has apologized for using slaves:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/us/26brfs-ANAPOLOGYFOR_BRF.html
================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================

Religious history and modern politics clash in India:

http://www.rediff.com///news/2007/apr/26laine.htm


================================================================
TOURISTY THINGS
================================================================
Rome:

http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,23483,21618742-27977,00.html
================================================================
EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
================================================================

Imperial Portraiture on Roman Coins:

http://www.huliq.com/19618/the-flipside-to-ancient-roman-coins

Gaza at the Crossroads of Civilizations:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6600235.stm

Swedish Cyprus Archaeological Expedition 1927-1931:

http://tinyurl.com/cyagb

The British Museum has returned some Aboriginal remains to
Tasmania:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1909144.htm

2. DNA: Peter de Knijff. Hidden African Ancestors: Hidden secrets of your ancestors
Peter de Knijff
http://www.nature.com/ejhg/journal/v15/n5/full/5201820a.html

3. DNA. "Junk DNA Plays a Purpose"

(a) Junk DNA may be regulator

http://www.physorg.com/news96567418.html

"'Junk' DNA now looks like powerful regulator, researcher finds:

Large swaths of garbled human DNA once dismissed as junk appear to
contain some valuable sections, according to a new study by
researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the
University of California-Santa Cruz. The scientists propose that this
redeemed DNA plays a role in controlling when genes turn on and off. "

(b) DNA "Evolution"; and "Junk" DNA:
<<"Endless Forms Most
Beautiful", by Sean B. Carrol, 2005, that talks about the "junk DNA"
switches that turn on and off genes so that different body types and
forms can be constructed in specific time sequences.>>

(c) Differences in "Junk" DNA linked to Diabetes
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/27/genetic_flaws_may_point_way_on_diabetes/

Jerusalem News-619
Contents:
Date: 18 Iyar 5767, 6 May 2007
1. Israelite Allies Attack Taliban
2. Russian Anti-Semites Active in Israel
3. Scotland and the Abolition of Black Slavery
4. Nice Arabs Want to Leave
5. Iranians Destroy Parthian Archaeological Heritage
6. Hamas says Extermination of Jews is for benefit of humanity
7. BBC Spends a Fortune to Hide its Shame


1. Israelite Allies Attack Taliban
Date: Wed, 02 May 2007 06:16:33 +0000
From: Guysen Israel News
Subject: Mailinfo Guysen Israel News - Wednesday 2 May 2007
13:36 Afghanistan: 75 Talibans have been killed during operations carried out by NATO forces. British, Danish and Afghani soldiers participated in the attack. (Guysen.Isra l.News)


2. Russian Anti-Semites Active in Israel
Date: Wed, 02 May 2007 14:23:39 +0000
From: shieldofdavid@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [shieldofdavid] Digest Number 429 #4

Rising Tide of Anti-Semitism in Israel
Posted by: "HB" happyharry613@yahoo.com happyharry613
Tue May 1, 2007 2:42 pm (PST)

Friday, April 27, 2007
Rising Tide of Anti-Semitism in Israel
The JTA is finally reporting on the rising Anti-Semitic attacks and the Neo-Nazi presence in Israel thanks to the Jewish Agency policy of bringing in anyone and everyone so long as they claimed to have a Jewish relative somewhere and there were certainly no shortage of Russians interested in what they thought was the good life in Israel. Once they got there however they quickly discovered that the economic situation might be better than in Russia, but it was certainly no buffet.

Ari Ackerman, a student from Switzerland, was walking home along the Tel Aviv beach after a late-night swim when he and a friend were jumped by a gang singing Nazi songs and displaying swastika tattoos.

The perpetrators, a group of Russian-speaking teenagers, eventually ran off. Ackerman and his friend, their faces bruised and bloodied, set off to the closest police station only to have their case shrugged off.

In recent years, sporadic acts of anti-Semitism have hit Israel, most of them carried out by disaffected immigrant youths from the former Soviet Union (FSU). Although the youths came to Israel under the Law of Return, they are among those who identify not as Jews but as ethnic Russians. Under Israel's Law of Return, a cornerstone of Israel's identity as a haven for all Jews, anyone with a Jewish parent or grandparent is permitted to immigrate and be granted citizenship.

What is significant though is that the JTA has also printed a fact generally obscured and hidden, which is that the Israeli police on an ongoing basis ignore such crimes and violations. Except for rare occasions when they become public, people who file complaints, who report severe injuries even are simply ignored. A Jewish woman cursing an Arab woman on tape results in an international outcry and shrill headlines in Israeli and Western tabloids. By contrast Russian Jewish senior citizens are routinely assaulted and harassed by Neo-Nazi groups , some of which openly discuss their exploits on websites and livejournal pages. And nothing is done about it.

When pressed various government and agency figures trot out the usual nonsense about marginalized youth and how they just haven't adapted. Adapting to any country isn't easy. And it's a problem for each generation of immigrants. Each generation of immigrants has its drop outs and even its criminal culture... but these are not merely dropouts, they're an increasingly organized collection of hate groups being fostered in Israel with government funding and government tolerance. And that must end.

The Jewish Agency has been severely compromised. The top Jewish Agency official in the Novosibirsk region for example outright defected to work for a Messianic Missionary group. Others have reported that any attempt at detecting fraud and stemming it, met with dismissals. The problem is not minor. The vandalisms of Synagogues and physical assaults are the tip of a much larger iceberg. Israel has taken in refugees from around the world. Both Jewish and Non-Jewish. From Sudanese to Vietnamese. But it cannot absorb a hostile population. That should have been the lesson learned with Israel's Arab population. It would be tragic to have to relearn it again with a Russian one.

Many Non-Jewish Russian immigrants have displayed a great deal of patriotism and love of their new country. Indeed such a presence goes back to the days preceding Israel's independence, when at least one prominent Russian Naval Officer played a major role. Some former Russian military personnel have today formed independent patrol and security units. That is one side. But the other side can be seen in the growing number of attacks, which must be confronted and dealt with by the government, rather than covered up. The cover up and neglect only give the problem more room to breed.

Russia has a tragic and ancient history of Anti-Semitism and violence against Jews. It is one that Russian immigrants carry with them. Millions of Jews have escaped Russia to get away from it, only to find that it is now with them.

Rabbi Zalman Gilichinski maintains a website covering the situation.

3. Scotland and the Abolition of Black Slavery
From: Newton Key
Subject: REV: Gragg on Whyte, _Scotland and the Abolition of Black Slavery_
Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2007 17:59:10 -0400

H-NET BOOK REVIEW
Published by H-Albion@h-net.msu.edu (April 2007)

Iain Whyte. _Scotland and the Abolition of Black Slavery, 1756-1838_.
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006. x + 278 pp. Illustrations, map, notes, bibliography, index. $85.00 (cloth), ISBN 0-7486-2432-5; $30.00 (paper), ISBN 0-7486-2433-3.

Reviewed for H-Albion by Larry Gragg, Department of History and Political Science, University of Missouri-Rolla

The Power of an Ideal

The crusade to abolish the slave trade (1807) and then slavery (1833) in the British Empire is one of the epic stories of reform in the modern era. Much has been written about the critical role of the Society of Friends as well as the remarkable leaders of the movement, notably Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson, and the former slave Olaudah Equiano. William Wilberforce, the most celebrated of the abolitionists, is even featured in a current major motion picture. These notable figures, through speeches and lectures and the dissemination of an extraordinary number of periodicals, broadsides, books, and tracts, mobilized an impressive grassroots movement that, along with their effective lobbying of members, persuaded Parliament to implement their reforms.

The abolitionist story, however, is not without controversy among historians. Over sixty years ago, economic determinist Eric Williams challenged the notion that all this effort represented a humanitarian struggle. He argued that abolition resulted from the declining profits from sugar estates in the West Indies, which made the slave trade and slavery itself ever less viable. Seymour Drescher, among others, has countered with evidence demonstrating the vitality of the slave trade. Additionally, Michael Craton and James Walvin have reaffirmed the importance of a potent humanitarian impulse driven by religious beliefs and Enlightenment thought. Others have argued that the abolition efforts reflected a general reform movement in England, one that embraced parliamentary reform and factory legislation.

Iain Whyte, as Drescher has argued for provincial England, argues that too little attention has been paid to the role of Scotland in this extraordinary reform effort. In his clearly written and well-researched volume, Whyte explains the evolution of the movement in Scotland all the while carefully detailing the substantial stake Scots had in slavery in the West Indies. In the last quarter of the eighteenth century Scots owned over a quarter of the estates on Jamaica as well as property on many other islands throughout the Caribbean. Others were heavily involved in the trade to that region and many more found lucrative employment on the islands as lawyers, bookkeepers, physicians, carpenters, and clerks. There were many voices in Scotland that defended both the slave trade and slavery. The slave interests found support from the many petitions to Parliament from members of powerful organizations like the Glasgow West India Association, and constant editorial support from newspapers like the _Glasgow Courier_, as well as provocative pro-slavery books from Archibald Dalzel, James Adair, Alexander Barclay, and John Stewart. Collectively, these efforts, according to Whyte, delayed abolition.

The obstructionists, ultimately, were no match for the momentum developed by the numerous abolition societies that emerged in Scotland; the passion of so many parish clergymen who found the slave trade and slavery contrary to the spirit of Christianity; and the extraordinary efforts of anti-slavery leaders like William Dickson, James Stephens, Zachary Macauley, Henry Brougham, James Ramsey, and Andrew Thompson, the champion of immediate abolition. Their collective labors led to a wave of petitions from Scotland to Parliament. For example, more than a third of the petitions presented to the House of Commons against the slave trade in 1792 came from Scotland. Among the many petitions to Parliament in 1831 demanding abolition there was one from Edinburgh with 25,000 signatures. Whyte reveals how much the issue crossed class, social, and religious lines. Dissenting congregations, the national church in Scotland, political unions, and middle class urbanites all submitted petitions in 1830-31. Anti-slavery, Whyte reveals, had become the leading moral issue in Scotland with widespread acceptance of the proposition that slavery was a sin.

Whyte has provided an admirable account of the power of an ideal, one that defied economic considerations. He has made an undeniable case that committed anti-slavery advocates in Scotland contributed to the ultimate end to slavery in the West Indies.

4. Nice Arabs Want to Leave
PA Arabs Forbidden by Muslim Leaders to Flee Street Violence
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122288
by Hana Levi Julian

(IsraelNN.com) The Arab “man in the street” living under the Hamas-ruled Palestinian Authority government is starting to realize that voting for the terrorist organization has not brought the shining salvation it promised. Thousands of Muslim worshippers living in PA-controlled territories are trying to flee their increasingly violent surroundings. Their religious leaders are doing what they can to force them to stay. On Sunday, a 55-year-old man was killed in Gaza City by members of a rival clan. Two Arab residents of Gaza were moderately wounded in a shooting attack near Khan Younis. Several gang members were also arrested in Gaza City after attempting to kidnap a child outside of a local school; the members confessed that they planned to hold the child for ransom. Sheikh Hamad Al-Bitawi, a Muslim religious leader and Hamas member, has announced that Arab Muslims are forbidden to emigrate from Israel. Al-Bitawi ruled recently that Muslims must remain in order to counteract the fast growth of the Jewish population. Thousands of Jews arrive in Israel each month, Al-Bitawi said. It “makes the heart weep,” he told PA residents. Despite Muslim leaders’ protests, however, thousands of Arabs are abandoning their homes and flooding out of Israel every month, particularly from Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. At a news conference in Ramallah last November, PA Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Suboh told reporters that 10,000 Arabs had received permits from Western diplomats to enter their countries since July 2006. He said that most are university graduates or potential immigrants able to invest financially in their new country and called for a halt to the Arab brain drain. Suboh added that some 45,000 more had requested permission to emigrate since the deterioration in the economic situation and constant violence between the Fatah and Hamas terrorist groups. Firefights between factions have continued to pour blood into the streets, particularly in Gaza. And the frequent “ceasefires” between Hamas and Fatah and the recent cobbling together of a “unity government” have done little to stem the violence.

5. Iranians Destroy Parthian Archaeological Heritage
Posted by: "CAIS Archaeological News" news@cais-soas.com

Thu May 3, 2007 6:30 am (PST)
http://www.cais-soas.com/News/2007/May2007/02-05.htm

2200 Years of Parthian History Erased to Built Islamic Azad University
02 May 2007
LONDON, (CAIS) -- 1000-hectare area of a historical site belonging to Parthian dynastic era (248 BCE-224CE) in Khuzestan province has fall victim of development constructions of Islamic regime's Hamidieh Azad University in Hamidieh city.
The destructive activities of Islamic Azad University, which prior to this has demolished large parts of Sasanian Ivan Karkheh during its construction works and agricultural activities raised the objections of cultural heritage authorities in Khuzestan province. However, despite all oppositions made by cultural heritage experts, this 2200-year-old site was not released.
In a talk with Persian service of CHN, Mojtaba Gahtotuni, member of Khuzestan cultural heritage enthusiasts association said: "With removing the soil with mechanical shovel, Islamic Azad University is destroying a Parthian historic site located on west of Ahvaz - Hamidieh road in order to construct the building of the university."
Considering that this area has already been registered on 8th of March 2003 with number of 7930 in list of Iran's National Heritage sites, and existing of architectural evidence in the area, cultural heritage enthusiasts immediately took actions to protect the area against damages posed to it and asked the authorities of the project to stop construction of Hamidieh Islamic Azad University in this historical site.
According to Gahsotuni, Hamidieh gas station is also located on ruins of this historic area, however, Iran's Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization has made no measure in this regard. It seems a number of pre-Islamic historical sites and monuments have been targeted by Islamic Azad University in Khuzestan province for establishing its branches. Settling of the official department of this university in Abadan historical church has also evoked the objection of cultural heritage enthusiasts.

6. Hamas says Extermination of Jews is for benefit of humanity
[Extract Only]
Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin - May 3, 2007
View this bulletin [in full] online here
http://pmw.org.il/bulletins_apr2007.htm#b030507

Hamas: "The extermination of the Jews is good for the inhabitants of the worlds."
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
Palestinian Media Watch:
p:+972 2 625 4140e: pmw@pmw.org.il
f: +972 2 624 2803w: www.pmw.org.il

The extermination of Jews is Allah's will and is for the benefit of all humanity, according to an article in the Hamas paper, Al-Risalah. The author of the article, Kan'an Ubayd, explains that the suicide operations carried out by Hamas are being committed solely to fulfill Allah's wishes. Furthermore, Allah demanded this action, because "the extermination of the Jews is good for the inhabitants of the worlds."

Following is the excerpt from the Hamas article:
"We find more than once condemnation and denunciation to the resistance operations and bombings [suicide attacks], carried out by Hamas and the Palestinian resistance branches. There is no other choice but to use restraint regarding the condemnation, the attaching of the label of terror [to "resistance"], and the assembling of conferences [for] condemnation [of the attacks]. [This] so that everyone will know, that we did this only because our lord commanded so, "I did it not of my own accord" [*] and so that people will know that the extermination of Jews is good for the inhabitants of the worlds on a land, to which Allah gave his blessing for the sake of the inhabitants of the worlds."
[Al-Risalah, April 23, 2007]

7. BBC Spends a Fortune to Hide its Shame
From: Steven Shamrak


BBC's anti-Israel bias Report.
The BBC has won its legal battle to block the publication of a report into alleged bias against Israel. It is estimated that the BBC spent an estimated £200,000 to keep the report secret.

Jerusalem News-620
Date: 19 Iyar 5767, 7 May 2007
Contents:
1. DNA: World-wide distribution
2. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 10.2
3. Australians Pray for Rain.

Other Israelites requested to pray as well.

1. DNA: World-wide distribution
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/050200sci-genetics-evolution.html
mt[female-transmitted]DNA distribution is summarized succintly and reasonably well whereas the explanation of Y [male-trassnmitted]DNA is skimpy

2. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 10.2
From: david meadows
================================================================
explorator 10.2 May 6, 2007
================================================================

================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================
Haven't had a CAT scan of a mummy in a while ... this one reveals a possible murder:
http://tinyurl.com/2ljejh (Telegraph)
http://tinyurl.com/yv8vj2
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/03/ap/tech/main2756516.shtml
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070503/ap_on_sc/mummy_scan_7
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18424249/

An aristocratic 'settlement' of Sassanid [Persian] date near Kermanshah:
http://www.chnpress.com/news/?section=2&id=7123

Plenty of sites in Saudi Arabia:
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093151712

Excavating David's palace:
http://tinyurl.com/24km93 (Sun)

================================================================
EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
================================================================
A possible Celtic temple found during road construction near Tara:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0503/m3.html
http://tinyurl.com/2z9wla (NPR)

Radio interview about recent work at Stonehenge:
http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2007-05-01-voa1.cfm

================================================================
NORTH AMERICA
================================================================
Latest on 'Yames Town':
http://tinyurl.com/28yoeb (ABC)
... and some background (probably associated with the visit of the Queen):
http://tinyurl.com/yq3vzd (BBC)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070430/cm_csm/ejamestown_1

Feature on 'Woodhenge'/The Moorehead Circle:
http://tinyurl.com/27dhen (Dispatch)

All about the Alamo:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/arts/30conn.html
================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
Assorted word origins:
http://newsminer.com/2007/04/30/6742

================================================================
TOURISTY THINGS
================================================================
Mdina:
http://www.di-ve.com/dive/portal/portal.jhtml?id=276148&pid=1

Gamla:
http://www.infoisrael.net/cgi-local/text.pl?source=7/a/290420071

Apulia:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/travel/06Puglia.html
================================================================
NUMISMATICA
================================================================
Iron Age and Roman Coins from Wales:
http://tinyurl.com/yplsa7 (database)

Hobbyblog:
http://hobbyblog.blogspot.com/

Ancient Coin Collecting:
http://ancientcoincollecting.blogspot.com/

Ancient Coins:
http://classicalcoins.blogspot.com/
================================================================
EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
================================================================
There's a new museum at Masada:
http://tinyurl.com/2zylc6 (JPost)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=855658

3. Australians Pray for Rain.
Other Israelites requested to pray as well.

Date: Mon, 07 May 2007 07:55:50 -0400 (EDT)
From: Halyn@aol.com
Subject: Aussie PM Requests Prayer for Australian Drought
i pretty much read every brit-am newsletter you send...
if you've included a request for prayer for the Australian drought situation, i apologize for somehow missing it... i don't seem to remember you passing on prayer requests very often; however, seeing as this is a national prayer request due to a horrid drought that may reduce them to drinking water only.................... could you make an exception and pass on the PM's prayer request to the brit-am folks? i don't think anyone who prays would object to hearing a prayer request on such urgent matters, especially not the brit-am folks. for the record, i'm not an australian. i'm an american, but my heart is breaking for the aussies right now.


SYDNEY MORNING HERALD - April 20, 2007
For millions the water will stop midyear
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/for-millions-the-water-will-stop-midyear/2007/04/19/1176697003182.html
JOHN HOWARD has urged everyone to pray for rain after warning that the millions of people along the Murray-Darling Basin will have only enough water for basic domestic use from the middle of the year. The Murray-Darling Basin is the country's food bowl, and irrigators and winemakers warn that food and wine prices will soar, while economists fear heavy local job losses. The Prime Minister said yesterday that unless there is substantial rain within a month, there would be no water allocations for irrigation or environmental flows from July 1. "We should all pray for rain," he said.

THE ECONOMIST - Apr 24th 2007
Australia's costly drought
http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=9065059&fsrc=RSS
Australia's prime minister, John Howard, has announced that irrigation supply to the Murray-Darling basin (eastern Australia's main water resource) will be cut off if the drought-afflicted region does not receive heavy rainfall over the next two months. Given that the region is Australia's most important agricultural area, accounting for around two-thirds of farm output by value, such a decision would not only add to the woes of Australia's extremely weak agricultural sector. ...If it occurs, the suspension of irrigation in the Murray-Darling basin would have a devastating effect on Australian agriculture, creating a ripple effect throughout the economy. The failure of crops grown in the region?which accounts for around 85% of Australia's irrigated land?could cause the price of food products ranging from dairy to fruit and vegetables to rise sharply. (The price of meat, however, would be likely to fall as lack of feed and water forced farmers to slaughter livestock for early sale.)


Jerusalem News-
621
Date: 20 Iyar 5767, 8 May 2007
Contents:
1. DNA:
(a) Australian Aborigines and Europeans Share A Common Origin?
(b) Aborigines and New Guineans from One Source
2. Archaeology: The Grave of King Herod has been found!
3. Sandra Inglis: Australia Needs to Repent

1. DNA:
(a) Australian Aborigines and Europeans Share A Common Origin?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/05/070507-aborigines-dna.html

(b) Aborigines and New Guineans from One Source
From: Joan Griffith
Subject: DNA + Australia

From Tuesday's New York Times Science section.
-- Joan
For how many things, which for our own sake we should never do, do we perform for the sake of our friends. -- Cicero

May 8, 2007
From DNA Analysis, Clues to a Single Australian Migration
By NICHOLAS WADE


Geneticists re-examining the first settlement of Australia and Papua-New Guinea by modern humans have concluded that the two islands were reached some 50,000 years ago by a single group of people who remained in substantial or total isolation until recent times. The finding, if upheld, would undermine assumptions that there have been subsequent waves of migration into Australia. Analyzing old and new samples of Aborigine DNA, which are hard to obtain because of governmental restrictions, the geneticists developed a detailed picture of the aborigines' ancestry, as reflected in their Y chromosomes, found just in men, and their mitochondrial DNA, a genetic element passed down just through the mother. The results show that Aborigines and the people of Papua-New Guinea share several ancient genetic lineages, indicating that both are descended from a single founding population. All Australian Aborigines, at least to judge by the genetic samples in hand, are descended from this founding population, meaning that no further immigrants reached Australia in numbers large enough to leave a genetic trace until the modern era. The findings, by Toomas Kisivild and a group of geneticists and archaeologists situated mostly at the University of Cambridge in England, are reported today in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The oldest human remains from Australia, about 45,000 years in age, have quite thin or gracile bones, whereas fossils from 20,000 years ago are robust. The new findings suggest that the difference must stem from some internal process like adaptation to climatic change, and not to interbreeding with the archaic species Homo erectus, as some have suggested. The new genetic analysis also undercuts the theory that the dingo, a dog that appeared in Australia 4,000 years ago, arrived with a new wave of settlers. Dr. Kisivild suggested that the dingo could have been an item of trade. But Richard G. Klein, a paleoanthropologist at Stanford University, said new immigrants were more likely to have introduced the dog, even though they were too few to have left a genetic trace. Dr. Kisivild's team has also been able to estimate, by counting mutations in DNA, the duration of the emigrants' journey from India, an early point of settlement outside Africa, to the lost continent of Sahul that then included New Guinea and Australia. The journey would have taken less than 5,200 years, the geneticists calculate, as a growing population gradually spread along the coastlines of southeastern Asia. The emigrants would have had to cross open sea only at the final stage of their journey. The genetic estimates for the duration of the journey are "intriguing, but not compelling," Dr. Klein said. "I think we need lots more archaeological evidence to resolve the question of how long it took modern humans to spread from Africa to Australia or anywhere else." The oldest inhabitants of New Guinea, who speak languages of the Papuan family, would have changed under the evolutionary forces of selection and genetic drift. Still, modern Papuan speakers may offer "a pretty good idea of what our ancestors might have looked like coming out of Africa 2,000 generations ago," said Peter Forster of Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, an author of the new report. Dr. Klein, however, said that aboriginal Australians and Papuans differed in appearance from that expected for the earliest fossil remains in Australia and that their morphology had to have emerged later. "I don't think genetics implies that aboriginal Australians and Papuans resemble the original modern African emigrants more closely than anyone else," he said.

2. Archaeology: The Grave of King Herod has been found!
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122373

3. Sandra Inglis: Australia Needs to Repent
From: Sandra Inglis
Subject: Praying for Rain
Praying for Rain

It is not rain Australians should be praying for. What Australia needs is to turn to the Almighty with all their heart, soul and mind. They need to repent of their sins and ask for forgiveness, and then Almighty will hear their prayer and send the much needed rain. It is true Australia is in severe drought. I live in an area where we are on level 5 water restrictions. That means water can not be used to water plants, wash cars, fill pools etc. Showers are limited to 3 minutes and there is a limit to how much water each person is allowed to use. Soon our water will be recycled sewerage. Almighty is not sending rain because of the disobedience of the people. We are Israel and we have sinned against Almighty. He is trying to wake us up. The drought is prophecy coming to fulfillment.

Deuteronomy 28:15-24 (15) But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of YHWH thy God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. (16) Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. (17) Cursed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough. (18) Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the young of thy flock. (19) Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. (20) YHWH will send upon thee cursing, discomfiture, and rebuke, in all that thou puttest thy hand unto to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the evil of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken Me. (21) YHWH will make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until He have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest in to possess it. (22) YHWH will smite thee with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery heat, and with drought, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. (23) And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. (24) YHWH will make the rain of thy land powder and dust; from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

Hosea Chapter 13
(1) When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he became guilty through Baal, he died. (2) And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, according to their own understanding, even idols, all of them the work of the craftsmen; of them they say: 'They that sacrifice men kiss calves.' (3) Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the dew that early passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the wind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the window. (4) Yet I am YHWH thy God from the land of Egypt; and thou knowest no God but Me, and beside Me there is no saviour. (5) I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. (6) When they were fed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten Me. (7) Therefore am I become unto them as a lion; as a leopard will I watch by the way; (8) I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the enclosure of their heart; and there will I devour them like a lioness; the wild beast shall tear them. (9) It is thy destruction, O Israel, that thou art against Me, against thy help. (10) Ho, now, thy king, that he may save thee in all thy cities! and thy judges, of whom thou saidst: 'Give me a king and princes!' (11) I give thee a king in Mine anger, and take him away in My wrath. (12) The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is laid up in store. (13) The throes of a travailing woman shall come upon him; he is an unwise son; for it is time he should not tarry in the place of the breaking forth of children. (14) Shall I ransom them from the power of the nether-world? Shall I redeem them from death? Ho, thy plagues, O death! Ho, thy destruction, O netherworld! Repentance be hid from Mine eyes! (15) For though he be fruitful among the reed-plants, an east wind shall come, the wind of YHWH coming up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up; he shall spoil the treasure of all precious vessels.

Jeremiah 5:20-31 (20) Declare ye this in the house of Jacob, and announce it in Judah, saying: (21) Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding, that have eyes, and see not, that have ears, and hear not: (22) Fear ye not Me? saith YHWH; will ye not tremble at My presence? who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, an everlasting ordinance, which it cannot pass; and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it. (23) But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted, and gone. (24) Neither say they in their heart: 'Let us now fear YHWH our God, that giveth the former rain, and the latter in due season; that keepeth for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.' (25) Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good from you. (26) For among My people are found wicked men; they pry, as fowlers lie in wait; they set a trap, they catch men. (27) As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; therefore they are become great, and waxen rich; (28) They are waxen fat, they are become sleek; yea, they overpass in deeds of wickedness; they plead not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they might make it to prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. (29) Shall I not punish for these things? saith YHWH; shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this? (30) An appalling and horrible thing is come to pass in the land: (31) The prophets prophesy in the service of falsehood, and the priests bear rule at their beck; and My people love to have it so; what then will ye do in the end thereof?

2 Chronicles 7:13 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people; (14) if My people, upon whom My name is called, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

If you want to help Australians, tell them their sin and tell them of their need to repent.

Sandra Inglis


Jerusalem News-
622
Date: 23 Iyar 5767, 11 May 2007
Contents:
1. The Double Standard: US Spies Regularly on Israel with Impunity!
2. Shas MK Wants Sabbath for Cars
3. Ulster: Smiles where there once was hatred?
4. The Age: Australian Tourists Attacked in Morocco
5. Steven Plaut: The Khazar Myth and the New Anti-Semitism

1. The Double Standard: US Spies Regularly on Israel with Impunity!
From: imra@netvision.net.il
Subject: America's efforts to spy on Israel

America's efforts to spy on Israel.
Spy Games
by Gregory Levey

The New Republic Online Post date: 05.08.07
www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=w070507&s=levey050807

In George Tenet's new book, At the Center of the Storm, the former CIA director claims that, when the Israeli government sought the release of jailed Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard in 1998, it was at Tenet's insistence that the former Navy intelligence analyst was kept behind bars. People who say Israel cannot be trusted by the United States have long pointed to Pollard as the case in point. In 2004, Pat Buchanan wrote, "Washington today is rife with reports the FBI has been investigating whether or not a nest of Pollardites inside the Pentagon has been funneling secrets, through the Israeli lobby ... and on to Sharon." Anytime Israel is thought to be snooping on its closest ally--such as in the 2005 arrest of Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin for providing information to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)--commentators jump on it as an excuse to disparage Israel's trustworthiness. After Franklin's arrest, The Nation's Robert Dreyfuss wrote, "Did Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel, run a covert program with operatives in high-level US government positions to influence the Bush Administration's decision to go to war in Iraq?"

But this perspective is missing one whole side of the equation. While Israel has certainly spied on the United States in the past (and likely continues to do so), it may actually be the United States that is the nosier country--and the one that enjoys far more license in such covert activities. If one party should be paranoid about prying eyes--and I'm not sure either should--it should be the Israel.

When I first started work at the Israeli prime minister's office as a speechwriter, I already held a security clearance from a previous job. Still, to obtain the higher level of clearance required for my new position, I had to go through a battery of security tests, interviews, and background checks. Nothing strange there, but then I noticed that the security agents seemed most concerned that I might be spying--for the United States. In fact, much of the questioning turned on this issue. And my clearance was twice delayed because I had a few (not very close) acquaintances who worked in American intelligence. It had never occurred to me that the Israelis were concerned about American espionage, which seemed to me like the least of their troubles, so I asked an Israeli counterintelligence agent if this was really such an issue. "Definitely," he nodded gravely. "They're trying to spy on us all the time--every way they can."

When I recently brought this up to a former U.S. intelligence official who spent several years working on Middle East issues, he was quick to confirm it. "As an American, I would certainly hope so," he said, referring to the question of whether the United States spies on Israel; he added that he had himself analyzed information from "classified sources in Israel." There is "definitely an inordinate amount of focus" on Israel in U.S. intelligence, he told me. And, when I asked him if he thought there were people in the Israeli government and military who were feeding information to the United States--Israel's own Jonathan Pollards--he said, "It wouldn't surprise me at all." "The neocons ran the administration until recently," he added, but "someone who rides the fence on whether Israel is a true ally in the CIA or [the Department of] Defense would push for that sort of thing."

For obvious reasons, it's impossible to provide current examples of this phenomenon. But there have been cases in the past that have been disclosed, only to be quickly hushed by both the Israeli and American governments (in a way that the Pollard issue, a festering wound to both countries, never was). One of the most telling such examples is the 1986 episode of Yosef Amit. Amit was a major in Israeli military intelligence. At one point, he worked in the secretive "Unit 504," which is responsible for coordinating spies in Arab countries neighboring Israel, and he also had close contacts in the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence agency. In the mid-'80s, Amit was recruited by Tom Waltz, a Jewish CIA officer based in the CIA's station in Tel Aviv. And, until his arrest, he furnished the CIA with classified information about Israel's troop movements and its plans in both the occupied territories and Lebanon.

The incident got little press in either the United States or Israel, whose government barely even complained about it. Waltz stayed at his post in Tel Aviv, and, later, when officials inside the Israeli government considered offering to trade Amit for Pollard (or even to release Amit in exchange for leniency for Pollard), they quickly nixed the idea, because they feared stoking more anger in the United States. To some Israeli government officials I have spoken with, there is a lingering sense that Israel has been subjected to a "double standard," as one of them put it.

Rafi Eitan, the legendary Israeli spymaster who was Pollard's handler (and who can no longer return to the United States for fear of arrest), is now a member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet. Inevitably, he was circumspect about the specifics of U.S.-Israeli espionage and counterespionage, but when I asked about the extent of American spying on Israel, he said simply, "Some things you don't hear about." Then, laughing bitterly, he added, "Why don't you ask the head of the CIA about that? He knows."

A senior Israeli diplomat I spoke to about this was a bit more open. "The way I see it," he told me, "there has been a switch. For many years, we knew that we could count on the Pentagon and the CIA, but we had to be careful of the State Department. Now it is the opposite. The State Department is more supportive of us, and we have to be more careful of the Pentagon and, especially, of the CIA." Then he shrugged and said that, if Israel is caught spying on the United States, it harms Israel, but if the United States is caught spying on Israel, the Israeli government brushes it under the rug for fear that this, too, will hurt Israel.

"What does America have to lose? Israel has something to lose," the former American intelligence official told me. "What is Israel going to do if it catches the U.S.? The U.S. has Israel by the short and curlies."

To be sure, Israel almost certainly does continue to spy on the United States, despite occasional protestations to the contrary. But all countries, including allies, are constantly engaged in espionage against each other--especially when their relationships are so close. Not only does the United States return the favor, it also has far more leeway to do so because, if it were discovered, it wouldn't harm U.S. interests at all.

In the coming months, the recently delayed trial of two former AIPAC staffers accused of passing classified information to the Israeli government will finally commence. When it does, some pundits in the United States will gleefully use it as a tool, once again, to cast doubt on the level of trust Israel deserves. But they're really living in glass houses.

==========

Gregory Levey was Israel's United Nations speechwriter and senior foreign communications coordinator for Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert. He teaches at Ryerson University and is writing a book, Shut up, I'm talking, about his experience in the Israeli government.

--------------------------------------------

IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

2. Shas MK Wants Sabbath for Cars
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122374
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) MK Yaakov Margi (Shas) has a proposal to reduce energy resource waste, air pollution, and traffic accidents. He says that every car must rest one day a week, in accordance with the owner's choice. A legislative proposal by MK Margi states that every car owner must inform the Licensing Authority what day of the week his vehicle will not be in use - and pay a fine if the car is used on that day. Every car will be equipped with a sticker indicating which day it may not be used. A similar system was implemented shortly after the Yom Kippur War, in order to cut down on national fuel consumption. Some Sabbath-observers conveniently chose Saturday as their car's day of rest, while others, wishing to contribute more directly to the national effort, chose a different day. "The number of cars in Israel has risen meteorically in recent years," Margi explains in his bill, "and as a result, there is much congestion on the roads, leading to air pollution, a giant waste of energy resources, and a significant jump in car accidents."

Margi says his law would reduce traffic accidents by an estimated 13%. In terms of pollution, one estimate has it that shutting down a car one day each week for a year would save 55 lbs. of pollution from being emitted into the air

3. Ulster: Smiles where there once was hatred?
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=716832007


4. The Age: Australian Tourists Attacked in Morocco
Aussie fends off machete attacker
Dan Harrison
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/aussie-fends-off-machete-attacker/2007/05/10/1178390423893.html


5. Jewish Press: The Khazar Myth and the New Anti-Semitism
by Steven Plaut
http://www.jewishpress.com/page.do/21499/The_Khazar_Myth_and_the_New_Anti%2DSemitism.html


The Khazar Myth and the New Anti-Semitism
By: Steven Plaut

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

• "Israelis have no history in the Land because they are Khazars, who are not connected to the land…" – Al Hayat Al Jadida, June 16, 2003

•"…Oddly, the Zionists were mostly non-Jews whose ancestors had themselves converted to Judaism around 800 AD in a place called Khazaria, in the Caucasus Mountains between the Caspian and Black Seas. They were quite literally Caucasians." – Judicial-inc. website

•"In 1917 the Khazar Jews passed a major milestone towards the creation of their own state in Palestine. The same year they also created the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. There followed a Christian holocaust, the likes of which the world has never seen. The Khazar Jews were once again in control of Russia after more than 900 years, and they set about the task of destroying the Russian Christians – over 100-million of them, at the same time over 20-million religious Jews also died at the hands of the Khazar Jews." – Aljazeerah.info website

It is one of the great ironies of the 21st century that anti-Zionists and anti-Semites on both the Left and the Right, have returned to racialist arguments against Jews that most of us thought had died out after World War II. One of the most bizarre aspects of this "re-racializing" of anti-Semitism is the role played by the Khazar myth. The newly fashionable Khazar mythology holds that modern day Ashkenazim, and especially the European leadership of the Zionist movement, are not Jews at all in the racial sense, but rather descendents from non-Jewish Khazars; therefore, the Khazar "theorists" claim, Zionists and Israelis have no legitimate claims to the Land of Israel. It would be hard to exaggerate how widespread the misuse of the Khazar myth is among those seeking to delegitimize Israel and Jews today. A recent investigation showed nearly 30,000 websites using the Khazar "theory" as a bludgeon against Israel and Zionism. Some two hundred websites claim to describe a cabal known as the Khazarian Zionist Bolsheviks (KZV). Neo-Nazi and Holocaust denial organizations and websites are particularly fond of the Khazar myth. It is also growing in popularity among left-wing anti-Zionists. Arab and Islamofascist propagandists have long bandied about the Ashkenazim as Khazars theory and Iran’s genocidal leaders adore it. Al-Jazeera has been using the Khazar story to urge a worldwide Christian religious war against the Khazar pseudo-Jewish imperialists. Groups promoting the Protocols of the Elders of Zion often cite the nefarious role of Khazars as "proof" of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy (I counted 700 such websites). And even Jewish anti-Zionist cranks like Alfred M. Lilienthal and the Swedish "Israel Shamir" have used the Khazar myth to attack Zionism. Why are these various groups suddenly interested in a rather esoteric and archaic group of people in Central Asia that disappeared nearly a millennium ago? The answer is very simple.

According to the Khazar theory of the new anti-Semites, most Jews today, particularly Ashkenazi Jews, are not racially Jews at all but descendents from the Turkic tribe of Khazars, whose ruling class and parts of its rank and file population converted to Judaism in the 8th or early 9th century CE. Hence, argue the racialists, Ashkenazi Jews have no rights to live in the racially Semitic Middle East and especially not in the Land of Israel.

Fact and Legend
For Jews, the history of the conversion of the Khazars to Judaism is best known from essays in The Kuzari: In Defense of the Despised Faith, a medieval book composed by the great Spanish poet and philosopher Judah Ha-Levi. Only part of the book actually deals with the Khazar kingdom, about which little was known, and the historic claims about them in the book are not considered fully reliable. In any case, The Kuzari purports to report the debates at the Khazar royal court that supposedly led to the Khazar elite’s conversion to Judaism. Other senior Jewish officials in the Spanish Muslim regimes actually corresponded with the Khazar kingdom – most notably Cordova Rabbi Hasdai ibn Shaprut (whose letters have survived). And the great Iraqi sage Saadia Gaon is believed to have maintained correspondence with Jews in the Khazar kingdom. It is commonly thought that part of the motivation for the Khazars’ conversion was to establish political neutrality for the Khazar kingdom, which faced potential threats from the powers of both Christendom and Islam. The Khazars themselves left no documentary records. The Arab historian ibn Fadlan wrote about them, but he did so two centuries after the conversions to Judaism had occurred. Some Jews, having sought refuge from Byzantine persecutions, probably lived in the Khazar kingdom long before the conversion of the royalty there. One ironic historical twist is that the Khazars contributed to the Cyrillic alphabet, in which Russian and some other Slovak languages are written. Saint Cyril came to Khazaria in 860 in an attempt to convert the Khazars to Christianity. Since the Hebrew of the Khazars and Greek were the main alphabets known to St. Cyril and the early Slavs, they borrowed from both. Western interest in the Khazars was stimulated largely by the 1976 book The Thirteenth Tribe by Arthur Koestler, a writer better known for his lifelong battles against totalitarianism in all its forms. Koestler’s book was largely based on the earlier book The History of the Jewish Khazars, by the historian D.M. Dunlop. Dunlop rejected the idea that large numbers of Ashkenazi Jews could trace their origins to the Khazars, but not so Koestler. By grossly and sensationally exaggerating the role and numbers of Khazar descendents among European Jewry, Koestler – who was a strong Zionist – inadvertently provided today’s racialist anti-Semites with all the ammunition they could want, and many of them frequently cite his book as the basis for their racialist denunciations of Israel. A number of more serious books about Khazars are now on the market, including The Jews of Khazaria by Kevin Alan Brook. Rabbi Bernard Rosensweig was one of the leading figures in debunking the Khazar theory of Ashkenazi Jewish origins. Writing in Tradition (16:5, Fall 1977, pages 139-162), he dismissed it as "wobbly scholarly foundations without historical support." Likewise, the Swedish archaeologist Bozena Werbart, an expert on the Khazars, wrote: "In the Khazar kingdom, Koestler wanted to see the origin of the eastern European Jewry. Nevertheless, all the historical and linguistic facts contradicted his theories." As The Encyclopedia of Judaism (1989) emphatically states, "The notion that Ashkenazi Jewry is descended from the Khazars has absolutely no basis in fact."

What Became of the Khazars?
The actual Khazar kingdom was partly subjugated by the early Russians in the 10th century, and whatever was left was annihilated as a result of the Mongol invasions of Central Asia. What exactly became of the Khazar Jews is simply not known. Those who retained their Judaism probably integrated themselves into other Jewish communities around the world. Some groups of Khazars joined the Magyar invasion into what became Hungary and may have merged with local Jews already living in those lands; indeed, archeologists have found Jewish stars in the remains of Hungarian Khazar villages. Small groups of Khazar mercenaries probably found refuge in other places. Most likely the largest integration of Khazar Jews among other Jews took place in Iran and Iraq, the large communities closest to the Khazar kingdom and with whom close ties had been maintained. (An urban legend holds that red-haired Jews are descended from Khazars, though that could hardly explain King David, not to mention Esau. Arthur Koestler claimed many were blond with blue eyes.) In any case, Khazar political existence ended a thousand years ago.
So what are we to make of the Khazar myth concerning Ashkenazi Jews and their supposed lack of legitimate claims to Israel due to their Khazar origins? The greatest irony is that even if the entire Khazar theory of Ashkenazi Jews were correct – and virtually none of it is correct – it would be entirely irrelevant. Judaism has never defined Jews on racial grounds. Anyone from any race is welcome as a convert to Judaism as long as he or she is sincere. The biblical Israelites themselves were already a racial hodgepodge. They absorbed the "mixed multitude" that left Egypt together with them at the time of the Exodus. There are biblical references to Jews of different racial features, including the black-skinned Shulamit mentioned in the Song of Songs. Jews always defined themselves in religious, ethnic-national and at times linguistic terms, but never along racial lines. If all Ashkenazi Jews were indeed converted Khazars, as the racial anti-Zionists claim, they would be no less legitimately Jews – and, as such, would have the same legitimate claims to the Jewish homeland as any other group of Jews. (Given the traditional Jewish deference to righteous converts, maybe more so.)

Pseudo-History and Poppycock
The actual details of the Khazar theory concerning European Jewry are simply pseudo-history and crackpot poppycock. Jews already lived in Europe a thousand years before the Khazar kingdom was formed. There are no genetic markers or indicators at all showing that Ashkenazi Jews are descended from Turkic tribes. In fact, there exists considerable genetic evidence showing that European Jews are closer to Levantine and Syrian Arabs than to Central Asians. After the Mongol invasion most Khazars probably assimilated into the Jewish communities of Iran and Iraq, which of course eventually emerged as important Sephardic centers, formed mainly of Jews with Semitic racial characteristics, descended from migrants and exiled Jews from the Land of Israel. In any case, there are more "Semitic" Sephardic Jews in Israel today than there are European Ashkenazi Jews. And if the Khazars looked Turkic, how on earth could they give Ashkenazi Jews a European complexion? There are other problems. If all Ashkenazi Jews are descended from converted Khazars, why are there Cohens and Levis among them? One inherits the status of a Cohen (priest) or Levite from one’s father. Descendants of converts through the male line can never be a Cohen or a Levite. And why are there no Khazar surnames among Ashkenazim, or Khazar names for towns in Europe where Jews lived? And why did most Ashkenazi communities speak variations of Yiddish rather than Turkic? As mentioned, the popularity of the Khazar myth among anti-Semites represents a return of modern anti-Jewish bigotry to the racialism of the 1930’s and earlier. Nearly every anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi website denounces Zionists and Israelis as "Khazars." Web chat lists in which Jews defending Israel are dismissed as "Khazar usurpers" are too numerous to count. The racialism once again in vogue holds that Jews would only have legitimate claims to the right of self-determination in their homeland if they were appropriately Semitic from a racial point of view. Palestine is part of the Semitic racial lebensraum and those who do not possess the correct pure racial markings have no business being there. Racial purity is suddenly the new basis for national rights. I discovered scores of neo-Nazi websites claiming that "Khazar Zionists" were really behind the 9/11 attacks. I found thousands of websites claiming that "Khazar Jew-pretenders" are in a conspiratorial league with Freemasons, the Vatican, the Illuminati and others to control the world. Khazar conspiracists get nuttier by the day; a widely cited Ku Klux Klan website claims that the pro-Israel evangelist Pat Robertson is really a Khazar Jew. The neo-Nazi American Patriots Friends Network claims Khazars are themselves descended from the Magog race and secretly control America. If we take the racialist argument to its logical conclusion, Palestinian Arabs have the right to exercise all claims to sovereignty in Israel due to their being true racial Jews, while Zionists are non-Jewish Khazars – racial imposters and usurpers. To make things even sillier, Arabs themselves are, of course, a mix of racial strains, with a particularly large Caucasian component thanks to Arab intermixing with Spanish and Italian Europeans, Caucasian Berbers, Vandals, Goths, and even some Vikings. The racialist delegitimizing of Zionism as "Khazar imperialism" is smack inside the same insane asylum with the "Jesus was a Palestinian" theory and the claim that all real Jews (from a racial point of view) converted to Islam after the Arab conquest of Palestine in the 7th century and so became Palestinian Arabs. One can also find countless websites claiming those things.

Steven Plaut, a frequent contributor to The Jewish Press and the new Jewish Press Blog (www.thejewishpress.blogspot.com), is a professor at the University of Haifa. His book "The Scout" is available at Amazon.com. He can be contacted at steveneplaut@yahoo.com.

For More information concerning the Khazars, the Lost Ten Tribes , and related subjects see:
The Khazars and the Scottish

Jerusalem News-
623
Date: 25 Iyar 5767, 13 May 2007
Contents:
1. Israel and Big Business
2. More Than 1,000 Expected at Joseph's Tomb Despite IDF Warnings
3. NCSY Calls on Jewish Teens: Just Say No




rose


1. Israel and Big Business
Forbes Reinforces Claim That Kadima is Tool of Oligarchs
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/101391
 
by Ezra HaLevi

(IsraelNN.com)
According to the report, the business groups are controlled by the following families: Sami Ofer, Nochi Dankner, Shari Arison, the Cerberus-Gabriel consortium, Charles Bronfman, Yitzchak Tshuva, the Saban group, Lev Leviev, Matthew Bronfman, Tzadik Bino, the Borovich family, and Eliezer Fishman. The 12 families own 60 percent of the aggregate market value of all Israeli public companies (excluding the even larger Teva Pharmaceutical Industries), Forbes reported.

The report goes on to say that the families have constructed their empires, which consist of Israel's largest companies, using organizational structures that have long ago been done away with in the Western world.

The report explains that the groups have an inordinate amount of control over Israel's economy, political leaders and media due to the structuring of their holdings as pyramids meaning several layers of companies each own others beneath them but are all beholden to the leading families. Such a phenomenon was eliminated in the US in the early 20th century through restrictions on ownership and the double taxation of dividends a company paid its owner company.

The report stressed that the issue is not economic, but political saying the only way to regulate the power of the families is a large government coalition that would seek such regulation.

2. More Than 1,000 Expected at Joseph's Tomb Despite IDF Warnings
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122421
 
by Ezra HaLevi

(IsraelNN.com) Organizers of the mass entry into PA-assigned Shechem (Nablus) to visit Josephs Tomb say the worshipers are expected to make the pilgrimage despite IDF security warnings.

The IDF announced that the entry to Josephs Tomb would endanger civilians and interfere with IDF activities in the region.

Moshe, one of those planning on making the journey regardless of IDF warnings, told Army Radio, Whereas under former IDF Central Regional Commander Moshe Kaplinsky there were several organized visits to the Tomb, ever since Yair Naveh took the position, there have been almost no organized entries at all.
Asked whether he was concerned about endangering his own life and the lives of those entering Shechem due to concrete terror threats reported by the IDF, Moshe said: We have heard the same story of concrete threats by the IDF many times. They know that we know they can handle it, but Central Commander Naveh simply wants to demonstrate his ability to scare us away from Josephs Tomb, which we are supposed to be able to pray at even under the Oslo Accords.

Organizers cite the IDF's opposition to recent mass returns to Homesh, which, rather than physically opposing, it stood aside and allowed at the last minute.

Over 1,000 people are expected to attempt to reach the tomb, around which the modern Arab city of Shechem has been built. Sunday night is the date of the 49-day Omer count between Pesach and Shavuot associated most with Joseph, whose undocumented date of death is also observed on that night.

Groups of dozens of Breslov Chassidim have in the past succeeded in circumventing IDF checkpoints and praying at the tomb.

Organizers have requested that right-wing Knesset Members convince the IDF to allow an organized visit if there truly are security concerns.

We are dealing with hundreds of youths, over which there is no control, Moshe told Arutz-7. We are dealing with people who are very angry that for two years they have not been allowed to visit Josephs Tomb. They want to prove to the army that if it cannot succeed in securing entry to the city of Shechem, then they can get along on their own. Most of them have already done this dozens of times.

MK Uri Ariel (National Union-NRP) rejected calls to pressure the IDF, and instead called upon Jews considering entering Shechem not to endanger themselves. He also called upon the IDF to begin organizing secured visits as it used to do in the past.


3. NCSY Calls on Jewish Teens: Just Say No
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122414
 
by Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) The OU's youth organization, saying its advisors are in accurate touch with Jewish teens, announces a new web-based "sexual abstinence program."

NCSY (National Council of Synagogue Youth), the youth organization of the OU (Orthodox Union), has announced a website-based program to convince teenagers that sexual activity before marriage should be avoided in the interests of their physical, emotional and religious well-being.

The announcement of the new program stated that it stemmed from NCYS's deep disturbance at the fact that "teenagers, including Jewish teens, are increasingly engaged in sexual experimentation."

The website-based program (www.negiah.org), uses frank language to convey the risks faced by young men and women engaging in sexual experimentation. Articles are categorized according to four types of risks, as explained by text writer Rabbi Jack Abramowitz: Physical bodily dangers, mental and emotional hazards, negative impacts on one's life; and negative impacts on one's soul.

Explaining his approval of the program and the terminology it employs, OU Executive VP Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, a clinical psychologist, said, "NCSY works with teenagers where they are. Its advisors know the culture of the Jewish adolescent population firsthand, because of the climate of trust and openness that they inspire. I think it is fair to say that they know what is really happening among our teens at least as well, if not better, than many parents, rabbis and educators."

"Engaging in sexual activity before one is truly ready... can have REAL emotional consequences," the website says. "Some of these may pass; others can even affect your marriage years later." These dangers include stress, guilt, loss of self-respect, a sense of betrayal, anger, depression, stunting of personal growth, and regret.

The NCSY leadership has "become convinced," Rabbi Weinreb wrote, "that the only effective response to this troubling state of affairs is a comprehensive educational program in the modality (i.e., the Internet) and language to which our teens best relate. Thus, NCSY has developed this program, aimed to urge sexual abstinence among our children."

The announcement states that Rabbi Hershel Schachter, Rosh Yeshiva (Dean) at Yeshiva University, and Jewish-legal consultant for OU Kosher, approved the program, noting that the language was straightforward but not so graphic as to render it too unsuitable for observant teens to read.

Approval has also been given by medical and mental health professionals, the OU states, including David Pelcovitz, Ph.D. and David Hurwitz, M.D.

NCSY acknowledges
that "in our sex-drenched culture, deciding to abstain can be easier said than done. It may be hard, but you will find that abstinence can be far more rewarding than you imagine. Abstinence doesn't just happen by itself, and just saying 'no' isn't much of a strategy. You have to think about it, plan a course of action, and stick to it." The program then provides strategies for success.

Key sections of the program include pregnancy, dangers of disease, how to achieve real commitment without the dangers of sexual experimentation, the correlation between sexual activity and suicide rates, Biblical role models such as Joseph, family purity, and more.

Rabbi Steven Burg, National Director of NCSY, expressed pride that NCSY "is the first organization to address this issue specifically as it pertains to Jewish teenagers."

Jerusalem News-624
Date: 27 Iyar 5767, 15 May 2007
Contents:
1.  Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 10.3
2. Setting the Record Straight:
The Left Was not and Is NOT ALWAYS Against Us
3.  Europeans Still hate Jews, love Conspiracy Theories
like all anti-Semites
4. Climate change exiles to top 1 billion
5.
Khazars: Evidence Overlooked or a Hoax?


1.  Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 10.3
From: david meadows <rogueclassicist@gmail.com>
================================================================
explorator 10.3 May 13, 2007
================================================================

================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================
Massive coverage of the discovery (it appears) of Herod's tomb:

http://www.davisenterprise.com/articles/2007/05/12/news/237new0.txt
http://tinyurl.com/3y36ye (Tribune)
http://torontosun.com/News/World/2007/05/09/4165235-sun.html
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4787553.html
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/world/05/09/9herod.html
http://www.news.com.au/sundaymail/story/0,,21699289-5003419,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6617832,00.html
http://tinyurl.com/3b7r2a (LA Times)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4787281.html
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/158/story/30102.html
http://tinyurl.com/3b932x (Sun)
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/her070511mc
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/08/herods.tomb.ap/
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/05/08/ap3695522.html
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/08/news/herod.php
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6618373,00.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6633979.stm
http://www.hunews.huji.ac.il/articles.asp?cat=6&artID=773
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070508102841.htm
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21696532-663,00.html
http://tinyurl.com/289lpr (Press release)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070508/ap_on_sc/israel_herod_s_tomb_9
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18539605/
http://tinyurl.com/2rtgqo (Telegraph)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18628611/site/newsweek/
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/05/08/herod-tomb.html

... nice photosets:

http://tinyurl.com/22cl8f (NG)
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,21444,00.html
http://tinyurl.com/2xlfz4 (Yahoo)

... and there was a nice piece on Ehud Netzer's search:

http://tinyurl.com/2ukh7g (LA Times)

... later in the week, some focus was shifting to the political
implications (and doubts associated thereby) of the find:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/858212.html
http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=12662
http://tinyurl.com/yrxhkr (JPost)

... and what Herod really was like:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2524437.ece

... best headline:

http://tinyurl.com/26v33f (New York Post)

Somewhat lost in all that was a claim that the Leviticus Scroll
has been 'manhandled':

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/857757.html
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=858045

... and the search [Persia] for a king who had 'five rings of power':

http://www.payvand.com/news/07/may/1066.html


There's also growing coverage of a somewhat contentiously-presented
article on Egypt being the 'father of medicine' (n.b., I'm not
suggesting that Egyptians weren't in the forefront of medical
developments; I am saying the way this research is being presented
is less than 'genuous', especially as regards the opinion of
Classicists and/or 'historians'):

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070509161143.htm
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=24964
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070510/139/6fl34.html
http://tinyurl.com/2gdrw2
http://tinyurl.com/24ybll


================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================

The search for Tartessos:

http://www.eux.tv/article.aspx?articleId=7993

I'm pretty sure we had this a month or so ago ... research seems
to suggest Romans used astronomical alignments when setting up
cities:

http://www.newkerala.com/news5.php?action=fullnews&id=27387
http://uktv.co.uk/index.cfm/uktv/History.news/aid/587581
http://tinyurl.com/22btqm (DC)


================================================================
EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
================================================================
The latest on work in and around Silbury Hill:

http://tinyurl.com/27dwzk (Telegraph)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL1123613620070511
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wiltshire/6645367.stm

Archaeology in Europe Blog:

http://www.archaeology.eu.com/weblog/index.html
================================================================
ASIA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC
================================================================
Possibly only one wave of migration to Australia:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/science/08abor.html
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2007/507/3

Harappan remains from Pakistan (?):

http://in.news.yahoo.com/070508/139/6fha0.html


================================================================
NORTH AMERICA
================================================================

Overviewish things on Jamestown:

http://tinyurl.com/349vfu (Plain Dealer)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18534104/site/newsweek/
http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/T/timeteam/thisweek.html
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2496632.ece
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0508/p13s01-bogn.html?s=hns

... and some recent finds:

http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=6493959&nav=S6ay

================================================================
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
================================================================
Nice feature on Inca suspension bridges:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/science/08bridg.html


================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
Piles of purported Mothers Day origin stories this week, so I
think I'll just include this one, which has a list of 'famous
mothers' at the end of it:

http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=50820

This 'virtual heritage' thing sounds interesting:

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/05/08/Virtual_Heritage/


================================================================
CRIME BEAT
================================================================
Someone is stealing antique Bibles from churches:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/6641015.stm
http://tinyurl.com/2f6oxd


2. Setting the Record Straight:
The Left Was not and Is NOT ALWAYS Against Us
Source: H-ANTISEMITISM@H-NET.MSU.EDU
Subject: H-AS NADEL: (RUBINSTEIN) Article on New Antisemitism]
From:    "Stan Nadel" <StanNadel@aon.at>
    There is a great deal of misinformation being spread by anti
leftists on this subject.  Historically, for example, it was the
Socialist's Republican Guard in inter war Austria that provided defense
squads to protect Jewish and Zionist events from Nazi attacks.  And it
was the Soviet Union, not the US, that was the main force in organizing
U.N. support for an Israeli state -- and the state of Israel survived
the Arab invasions primarily because of weapons provided by leftist
Czechoslovakia while all the non-leftist powers like the US, Britian,
and Australia stood by and watched Israel fight for its life. At that
time it was also leftists in the US, not moderates or rightists, who
organized violations of the US neutrality laws to send arms and
volunteers to Israel.  Nowadays, while some parts of the extreme left in
Austria and Germany are virulently anti Zionist and sometimes even
Antisemitic, other parts of the extreme left have consistently not only
opposed the rise of neo-fascism to the point of fighting neo-Nazis in
the streets, they have also organized demonstrations and events in
support of Israel -- including most recently during the Lebanon War when
much of the mainstream and conservative media were strongly anti
Israel.  So Steven Beller is quite right to say that:

> many people  on
>'the left' in Europe and in the USA would be surprised to learn that they
>have had a 'deep and longstanding hostility to the state of Israel'

I too find your blanket claims of an "age-old hostility towards Israel
and Zionism" on the part of the left to be unwarranted by the facts on
the ground -- both historically and in the present.

Stan Nadel
University
of Portland Center in Salzburg Austria


3.
  Europeans Still hate Jews, love Conspiracy Theories
like all anti-Semites

ADL: Large portion of Europeans feel Jews too powerful in business
By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Staff
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/859366.html

Extracts:

A study conducted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) among five European countries found rising anti-Semitism, including beliefs that Jews possess too much power in business and finance, the ADL announced Monday.

"A large number of Europeans continue to be infected with anti-Jewish attitudes, holding on to the classical anti-Semitic canards and conspiracy theories that have dogged Jews through the centuries," said the organization in a press release.

The study, which was distributed among 2,714 adults in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Poland, found that negative attitudes toward Jews increased, or in some instances did not change, when compared to a similar study conducted in 2005.

The ADL study found that 39 percent of respondents believe that "Jews have too much power in the business world," while 44 percent said they agreed with the statement that "Jews have too much power in international financial markets."

Overall, 20 percent of respondents said they blame Jews for the death of Jesus.

ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman said the study marked the first time that the organization decided to examine the connection between criticism of Israeli government policy and increased anti-Semitic sentiment.

In a Jerusalem press conference, Foxman said the results prove there is indeed a linkage between the two. "We still can't say how reservations about Israeli policy affects the anti-Jewish sentiment and to what extend, but the fact that there is a relationship between the two phenomena is significant," he said.

Responding to a reporter's question, Foxman said "biased media coverage" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a contributing factor to anti-Semitic beliefs among the public.

In addition, nearly half of all respondents, including a majority of respondents from Spain and Poland, said they believe American Jews control the United States' foreign policy in the Middle East.

4. Climate change exiles to top 1 billion

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/climate-change-exiles-to-top-billion/2007/05/14/1178995076889.html
Jeremy Lovell, London
May 15, 2007

GLOBAL warming will create at least 1 billion refugees by 2050 as water shortages and crop failures force people to leave their homes, sparking local wars over access to resources, a leading aid agency has said.

Published to mark Christian Aid Week, the report said the numbers of displaced people would dwarf the refugee crisis that followed World War II. Released yesterday, the report, Human Tide: The Real Migration Crisis, said that unless urgent action was taken, the added problems brought by environmental changes would spiral out of control.

Christian Aid said that as the developed world was responsible for most of the climate-changing pollution, it should bear the brunt of the cost of helping those worst hit by it the poor.

"We believe that forced migration is now the most urgent threat facing poor people in the developing world," said lead author John Davison.

Scientists predict that average temperatures will rise by between 1.8 and 3 degrees this century because of greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, causing floods and famines and putting million of lives at risk.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that by 2080, up to 3.2 billion people a third of the planet's population will be short of water. Up to 600 million will be short of food and up to 7 million will face coastal flooding.

"We estimate that, unless strong preventative action is taken, between now and 2050 climate change will push the number of displaced people globally to at least 1 billion," the Christian Aid report said.

Security experts fear that the tidal wave of forced migration will not only fuel existing conflicts but create new ones in some of the poorest parts of the world, those least equipped to deal with them.

"A world of many more Darfurs is the increasingly likely nightmare scenario," the report said, citing the conflict in the western Sudan where the UN says at least 200,000 people have been killed and 2 million forced out of their homes.

While many climate refugees would cross national borders, many millions more would be unable to leave their countries and would remain largely invisible to outsiders, it said.

The report quotes British Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Jock Stirrup, who last year warned: "Climate change and growing competition for scarce resources are together likely to increase the incidence of humanitarian crises. The spread of desert regions, a scarcity of water, coastal erosion, declining arable land, damage to infrastructure from extreme weather: all this could undermine security."

The special adviser to the UN Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, Dennis McNamara, said: "Tens of millions of the poorest people in the poorest parts of the world are uprooted and lack basic assistance and protection. Their numbers can destabilise whole regions and may be an obstacle to building peace."

REUTERS, TELEGRAPH

5. Khazars: Evidence Overlooked or a Hoax?
Hoaxes are more frequent in the world of History and Archaeology than people realize.
Hoaxes are created for all kinds of reasons that run the gamut
from boredom, fraud, to ideology.

The URLs below were brought to our attention by Joan Griffith
http://users.tpg.com.au/etr/rovas/clu/clues.html
http://users.tpg.com.au/etr/rovas/inf/rovasE.html
http://users.tpg.com.au/etr/rovas/marsigli.html

The findings quoted are widespread and appear to be authentic.

The script is attributed to the Szekely who were an early Hungarian group living in Romania.
The Magyars before and after moving to Hungary were ruled over by the Khazars.
A Khazar Tribe (or a subservient people of the Khazars), the "Chabars",  attached themselves to the Magyars.
It was suggested by the author of the URLs, "Torukszentmikles", that the Szekely alphabet may have originated with the Khazars.
The alphabet in question is more than 50% Phoenician meaning Ancient Hebrew.
If this is correct it could be quite significant.
Why is more research not being done on this subject?


Extracts:






http://users.tpg.com.au/etr/rovas/marsigli.html
In 1686, Italian Count and military engineer, Luigi Fernando Marsigli, took part in the liberation of Buda from the Turks. But today we remember him because of a quite different deed: during the war operations he visited Transylvania, where he found a peculiar peace of wooden staff carved with strange incisions. He was told that this was ancient Scythian writing. Intrigued, he started to study "the language of the descendants of the Scyths". He made an accurate copy of this ancient relic, and preserved it for coming generations. This act made him famous. The original wooden staff has long time ago perished, but Marsigli's handwritten copy is luckily preserved in the University Library of Bologna (Biblioteca Universitaria Bologna), in band MSS.MARSILI MS.54 (band 54 of the 120 Marsigli collection).

The wooden staff itself was 1.5m (5ft) long, 2.5 cm (1 inch) thick, and it was carved on all four facets. It contained 671 written signs, which represented 914 letters, 243 of them should be understood from the context. The 46 ligatures contained 103 letters, that represented some 38% saving. If that saving wouldn't be implemented, the length of the staff should have been 2m (7ft). [Bibl.2]

The type of copied writing is presented on the following picture [Bibl.1]. The first reading was done by Marsigli himself (maybe the native people of
Transylvania helped him), then by SebestyGyula. Marsigli thought he found a calendar of variable holidays, it turned out, that the writing was actually a calendar of fixed Name Days of the Szlys. The estimates about the time of the origin are between the end of 1200s and the beginning of 1300s, and most likely the wooden staff itself could have been a copy of a much older original.
 


Szekelely
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sz%C3%A9kely
The Szekely have historically claimed direct descent from Attila's Huns, but this theory has lost currency in the 20th century. Theories have been advanced suggesting Avar (most of the recent theories), Gepid, or Turkic ancestry, and some have dated their presence in the Eastern Carpathians as early as the fifth century. A small number of scholars believe that they are related to Scythians who joined the Magyars on their trek westward and assimilated into the proto-Hungarian culture.

Some have also suggested the Szekely are simply Magyars, like other Hungarians; according to this theory, their strongly distinguishable cultural differences stem from centuries of relative isolation in the mountains. Many scholars believe in a two-fold Hungarian migration of
Transylvania and the Pannonian Plain, one prior to the main Magyar conquest of the Pannonian Plain in 896. According to this theory, the Szekely are a Hungarian group that settled in Transylvania during this first migration.

Jerusalem News-625
5 Sivan 5767, 22 May 2007
Contents:
1.Archaeology: Explorator 10.4
2. DNA: Distribution of the male lineages of Genghis Khan's descendants in northern Eurasian populations
3. Movies: "300" and the real story
4. Movies and Ideology: Taking it too far
5.
Sparta and Rome from Edom

1.
Archaeology: Explorator 10.4
From: david meadows <rogueclassicist@gmail.com>

================================================================
explorator 10.4 May 20, 2007
================================================================

================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================

Latest finds from the City of David digs:

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=12729
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122461

Still a trickle of coverage of the apparent Herod's tomb
discovery:

http://www.davisenterprise.com/articles/2007/05/18/news/237new0.txt
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18628611/site/newsweek/
http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/13009/

Interesting/scary details from the indictment of a PFLP member
this week (scroll down to the final few paragraphs):

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3401232,00.html

Interesting paper on 'preserving' Temple Mount through 3d
laser scanning techniques:

http://www.amerisurv.com/PDF/TheAmericanSurveyor_Jenkins-TempleMount_March20
07.pdf

... while tensions are easing at the Mughrabi Gate:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=859552

On snake cults in the pre-Islamic Middle East:

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1926969.htm
http://tinyurl.com/2krgtu (Discovery)

More coverage of Egypt as the 'father' of medicine:

http://uktv.co.uk/index.cfm/uktv/History.news/aid/588106
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-05/uom-eng050907.php
http://www.newkerala.com/news5.php?action=fullnews&id=29411


================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================
Since the artifact seems to be Greek, we'll put this discovery
of an ancient wooden anchor at Urla in this category:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070516094901.htm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18728135/
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/530018/

In case you missed it, here's the pile of coverage which wants
to downplay (somewhat) the accomplishment of Alexander's siege
of Tyre:

http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070514/full/070514-2.html
http://tinyurl.com/3yg44x (Live Science via Yahoo)
http://tinyurl.com/33pqjg
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,483050,00.html
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2007/514/1
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/05/070515-alexander-great.html
http://www.newkerala.com/news5.php?action=fullnews&id=29564
http://tinyurl.com/yt6cyb (Telegraph)
http://tinyurl.com/3yw6f3 (SciAm)
http://www.livescience.com/history/070514_tyre_bridge.html

Interesting Roman dental technology find:

http://www.amjmed.com/article/PIIS0002934306008382/fulltext
http://www.newkerala.com/news5.php?action=fullnews&id=29573
http://tinyurl.com/3bey7o
http://tinyurl.com/226e3y (Discovery)


Some interesting background/details about that Illyrian ships
excavation:

http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070520-030543-3244r

More/echoed coverage of Romans using the sun to align their towns:

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1924665.htm
http://tinyurl.com/2qk7hk (Discovery)


300 is still causing reactions in Iran:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=10327&sectionid=351020105

... and there are spinoff effects of the movie in Sparta:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/15/europe/letter.php
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=a8zPIRBYLzE8&refer=europ
e


Global warming threatens Rome's monuments:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6654305.stm


================================================================
EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
================================================================
Bulgarian scientists hope to prove that the sanctuaries at
Perperikon and Tatul predate the pyramids (the Egyptian ones):

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=80736

An old shoe from Norway turns out to be really old:

http://www.norwaypost.no/cgi-bin/norwaypost/imaker?id=79953

Iron Age defences found near Edinburgh Castle:

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=780392007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/6671617.stm


More coverage of that 'temple' near Tara:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/05/070515-ireland-tara.html

Archaeology in Europe Blog:

http://www.archaeology.eu.com/weblog/index.html

================================================================
NORTH AMERICA
================================================================

Did Lincoln have smallpox?:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18727435/
http://tinyurl.com/3yxuus (SD)

... and what would have happened if he survived?:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18737431/


Review of Michael Beschloss, *Presidential Courage*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/books/review/Norton-t.html

================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
On the DNA front, the technology is being used to help piece
together the Dead Sea Scrolls:

http://tinyurl.com/2qt8k7 (JPost)

... and to determine the potato's roots (sorry ... couldn't
resist):

http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2007/515/2


Interesting item on Torah restoration:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0516/p20s01-ussc.html?s=hns


================================================================
TOURISTY THINGS
================================================================
Nice little tour of Rome:

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2557924.ece

Palermo:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/travel/20journeys.html
================================================================
GENERAL MAGAZINES AND JOURNALS
================================================================
American Heritage magazine is shutting down:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/17/arts/17heri.html

About.com Archaeology:

http://archaeology.about.com/

Archaeoblog:

http://archaeoblog.blogspot.com/

Archaeology Briefs:

http://archaeologybriefs.blogspot.com/

2. DNA:

Distribution of the male lineages of Genghis Khan's descendants in northern Eurasian populations
http://dienekes.blogspot.com/
The highest frequency of haplotypes from the cluster of the Genghis Khan's descendants was found in Mongols (34.8%). In
Russia, this cluster was found in Altaian Kazakhs (8.3%), Altaians (3.4%), Buryats (2.3%), Tyvans (1.9%), and Kalmyks (1.7%).

3. Movies: "300" and the real story
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=10327&sectionid=351020105
Sat, 19 May 2007 19:43:23
The Hollywood flick 300 was at number one on the US Box Office chart for several weeks scoring sharp criticism especially from Iranians.

They rightfully protested that Iranians were ridiculed in the film and portrayed badly. Before a review of the film, let us look at the historical background of the Battle of Thermopylae, on which the film was based.

The Greek historian, Herodotus, is our major source of information on the battle that took place during the late 480s B.C. in Thermopylae, Greece, although his account of the battle, like all of his battle narratives, has a tendency towards exaggeration and is somewhat romanticized.

According to Herodotus, Xerxes, the Persian Achaemenid King, begins preparations to invade Greece in 481 B.C. by first sending ambassadors demanding 'earth and water', effectively their submission. He then marches toward
Greece with an army of five million (although the Encyclopedia Britannica puts the number at only 360,000).

Xerxes and his army march to
Sardis in present day Turkey, where they spend the winter.

Meanwhile, in the spring of 481 B.C. King Leonidas of
Sparta, which was among the most powerful states in ancient Greece, calls a conference with other Greek states. The Spartans preside over the conference and make a series of political resolutions.

The allies decide to end all wars among themselves and declare war against
Persia.

The Spartans know Xerxes and his Persian army are on their way and so they send a force to north under their king, Leonidas.

Herodotus, surely exaggerating, states there were 1,700,000 Persians against 7,000 Greek fighters including the 300 men of the Spartan King elite guard.

The Spartans decide to build a wall to defend themselves from a frontal assault. However, the basis of King Leonidas' strategy is that the Persians will arrive only by a certain road. When he discovers there is a well-disguised path in the mountains at their left flank along which an army could easily move, he stations a defense force of 1,000 Phocians in a streak of panic.

However, the Malians, who live near
Thermopylae and are hostile to the Phocians, decide to inform Xerxes of the Phocians forces.

Ephialtes does just that and at the end of the third day of fighting Xerxes sends his immortal foot soldiers around the wall.

The Persians prepare themselves for an attack against the Spartans and there are three days of attacks by the Persians against the Spartans.

Herodotus writes when the Phocians hear that the Persians are coming they flee to the hilltops while a few report the news to King Leonidas, who then calls his forces together and dismisses the vast majority of the allies.

Therefore, King Leonidas is left with his 300 Spartan soldiers, armed helots and some of Boectians.

On the dawn of the fourth day, they prepare to die. The Persians come around on both sides and the Spartans are slaughtered. Leonidas dies and his men fight until the last man is down.

The result is that the road to
Greece is now wide open. The Spartans have succeeded in delaying the Persians for a few days. They have inflicted thousands of casualties (although the actual figure cannot be verified). However, their major achievement is in the validation of the prime Spartan myth-self-sacrifice and undying loyalty to the State. They demonstrated that even a Spartan king is prepared to fight to the death.

Ultimately, the largest benefit to the Spartans is the growing legend that gives rise to stories illustrating Spartan courage.

Today, people tend to view the recent
Hollywood account of this battle historically and criticize the film politically. However, that would be misguided. 300 is based on a comic book written in 1998 and is just like another picture based on Frank Miller's work, Sin City. The point is to make the comic book come to life. It is action, entertainment, and popcorn fun.

The visuals in 300 are all invented. The real Xerxes had a beard and never went near the front line. There was relatively little freedom in
Sparta and daily life was highly controlled even by ancient Greek standards. Their society was rigid, strict and involved a caste system.

The helots, descendants of an earlier conquered race, were enslaved and forced to labor on large states. They were enslaved for life and closely watched by the secret police of the time, the Krypteia. When Spartan warriors were in shortage, helots were forced into the military.

Sparta did not produce much literature, art, architecture or other advancements that we could associate with great civilizations of the ancient world like the Persian Empire.

Cyrus the Great, the founder of the
Persian Empire, was described as a liberator and an ideal ruler in the Bible and by Greek historian Xenephon.

In all 300 is not a film to be taken seriously; it is what it is - a cartoon in bad taste.

FK/MR/KB

4.
Movies and Ideology: Taking it too far
I have just seen "300".
It is reasonable entertainment by modern standards
though the artistic licence is debased and designed to appease baser instincts rather than serve the truth.
The film has an ideological edge as if depicting an enlightened "west"
against a despotic and mystical east.
In our days with the present fear of
Iran and kowtowing to Islam this may be pertinent
but I would suggest a degree of reservation is in order.
Also the film appears to admire the virtues of euthanasia and professional militarism.
I found this distasteful and factually misleading.
It is true however that these were the ideals of
Sparta.
Sparta was founded by descendants of Esau as shown in the following item below.

5. Sparta and Rome from Edom
Extracts from "Ephraim. The gentile Children of Israel"
by Yair Davidi (temporarily out of print):
In the Book of Maccabees and History of Josephus it is related how both the Spartans of Greece and the Romans of Republican Rome established contact with the then-independent kingdom of Judah. Both Spartans and Romans then claimed to be related to the Jews through a mutual descent from Abraham. Esau and Jacob were twin-brothers sons of Isaac son of Abraham. One authority states that the Romans owe their origins to the Albanes of Latinium in Peloponesus (southern
Greece), -descendants of the Laconian-Spartans and Ausones migrating to Italy where they intermixed with the Sabines and Ombrians5. The Romans therefore did have some link to ancient Sparta. This could explain how both Sparta and Rome claimed descent from Abraham. Alexander the Great King of Macedonia conquered much of the known world Alexander was descended from the Temenidae. The Temenidae had come to Macedon in ca.650 BCE6. The ancestor of the Temenidae was a legendary King Temenus of Argos in Greece*i. Also in Macedonia was the province of Odomantica and town of Idomene. These names indicate a connection with Edom and with Temen son of Eliphaz son of Edom (Genesis36;11)....

AND ISAAC HIS FATHER ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM, BEHOLD, THY DWELLING SHALL BE THE FATNESS OF THE EARTH, AND OF THE DEW OF HEAVEN FROM ABOVE [GENESIS 27:39]; 
Esau too (like Jacob) would be blessed with material plenty. His blessing in this case is almost the same as that given to Jacob. Esau was blessed with physical bounty and fertile areas to abode in. Esau was destined to become a warrior race, by thy sword shall you live.
AND BY THY SWORD SHALT THOU LIVE, AND SHALT SERVE THY BROTHER; AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS WHEN THOU SHALT HAVE THE DOMINION, THAT THOU SHALT BREAK HIS YOKE FROM OFF THY NECK [GENESIS 27:40].
In Talmudic literature
Edom is known for being warlike, BY THY SWORD SHALT THOU LIVE. It is said that no war can be won without his presence (Gittin 57b). In other words the military talent of the children of Esau may on occasion be put to good effect. Onkelos explains that Esau has dominion when Jacob neglects his moral obligations. At that stage he is enabled to assert himself. Jacob had received from Isaac the blessing that Esau considered he should have had. He consequently hated Jacob and plotted to kill him.
 ESAU HATED JACOB BECAUSE OF THE BLESSING WHEREWITH HIS FATHER BLESSED HIM: AND ESAU SAID IN HIS HEART, THE DAYS OF MOURNING FOR MY FATHER ARE AT HAND; THEN WILL I SLAY MY BROTHER JACOB [GENESIS 27:41].
There existed a tradition that in the Last Days Edom will repent.
Edom must be distinguished from his descendant Amalek who will not repent (Deuteronomy 25;19). Bringing our sources together we reach the conclusion that Edom will be both intertwined with Israel and separate from him. Amongst the present-day Israelites there exist Edomites. They are subservient to Israel most of the time but in times of distress and moral breakdown they too break loose. When Israel is up and morally strong then the Edomites help them but when Israel is down they are liable to turn away and worse. In addition too the Edomites amongst Israel Edomites head and influence certain nations that are opposed to Israel and will attempt to destroy Israel [and Judah]. Edom has hatred in his heart against Israel and wants to kill him. When Israel does the will of God then the Edomites inside Israel are of assistance and the Edomites of foreign nations are defeated or quiescent. When Israel does not do Gods will then the Edomites rebel and try to harm Israel wherever they can. They aim for the most vulnerable sections of the nation.

Jerusalem News-626
8 Sivan 5767, 25 May 2007
Contents:

Jerusalem News-626
Contents:
1. Holocaust: Escape from hell
2. Librescu Repudiated The Cult Of The Victim
3. Steven Collins: The Chinese Threat


1. Holocaust. The Scotsman:
Escape from hell

RELIEF at escaping Hitler was tinged with sorrow for the 10,000 children of the Kindertransport, many of whom settled in Scotland and never saw their families again
http://heritage.scotsman.com/people.cfm?id=768862007


2. Librescu Repudiated The Cult Of The Victim
http://www.towardtradition.org/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=446
 by  Daniel Greenfield

The article first appeared in The Jewish Press
Wednesday, April 25, 2007

 At the 1972 Munich Olympics, when Palestinian terrorists broke into the rooms of the Israeli athletes, wrestling referee Yossef Gutfreund threw his weight against the door so that others might escape through the windows. That legacy was alive when Virginia Tech Professor Liviu Librescu blocked the door with his own body so that his students could escape through the windows.

 The 76-year-old academic held the gunman back long enough to allow all but two of his students to reach safety. And then he died on the same classroom floor his feet had paced energetically for so many years.

 One escaping student, in a letter sent to Prof. Librescus wife, writes of looking back at the professor through the other side of the window from the ledge. I saw your husband still standing there. He was holding the door closed and looking over his shoulder to make sure everybody else was safe. It was the bravest thing I have ever seen and I will always remember his courage.

 In this YouTube generation, Librescus heroism was very nearly overshadowed by the story of Jamal Albarghouti, a relative of arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti, who filmed some footage of the attack and sold it to CNN. Stories about Albarghouti repeatedly described him as a Palestinian from the West Bank, and characterized his actions as intrepid, daring and bold. As if such words can be used about a man who uselessly filmed an ongoing attack and then profited from it.

 Its hard to find a greater contrast between a man who risked his life to save others and another who stood around taking video footage of it and then sold it for an undoubtedly tidy sum. It is more than a contrast between cultures or generations. It is the contrast between running into a burning building and slowing down to watch the aftermath of a car crash.

 Shortly after 9/11, articles began to appear by pundits and journalists who complained about a Cult of the Hero they felt had evolved after the attacks a cult they claimed worshiped soldiers, rescue workers and police officers. Virtue, they feared, had been reduced to a matter of brawn.

 But of course they had it wrong. It doesnt take brawn to be a hero. Europe is filled with muscular men who do not lift a finger against the Muslim violence brewing in their cities, who react with passivity to torched cars, rampaging gangs and mosques preaching Jihad.

  Librescu was no titan or Atlas. He was an elderly man who gave his life to save others not as a byproduct of physical strength but of moral strength. Because he saw the willingness of a man to sacrifice himself for others as the most natural and responsible act an individual can do.

  His actions serve as a rebuke to a political and media culture that preaches passivity at home and abroad and celebrates citizen journalists like Albarghouti who stand around videotaping a tragedy, but smears the American soldier in Iraq facing bullets and bombs and the Israeli soldier trying to keep the next suicide bomber from boarding the Number 19 bus.

 The rejection of heroism is the rejection of the idea that people can be anything other than victims. The media prefer the complacent viewer who watches but does not act, videotapes but does not intervene. It is hardly surprising that television stations that view getting footage of an attack as more important than actually stopping the attack prioritize Jamal Albarghouti over Liviu Librescu.

 Liberalism too prefers the victim to the hero. Rather than strengthen people, it prefers to weaken them. And the media, which operate from an ideological wellspring of liberalism and prefer tears to strong arms and figures slumped in misery to men and women raising their heads high, have replaced the Cult of the Hero with the Cult of the Victim.

  It is ironic but not surprising that under some of the British boycotts proposed against Israeli universities and even Israeli academics and faculty, Liviu Librescu would have been barred in favor of a Jamal Albarghouti. The Palestinian sympathizer is, after all, the chief worshiper at the bloody altar of the Cult of the Victim endlessly magnified.

  In the amoral transmogrification required to justify Palestinian terrorism, morality and responsibility are eliminated by the argument that feelings of helplessness and hopelessness topple all human obligations and norms.

  Once rendered helpless, the victim is set free to behave in a completely amoral manner. The Cult of the Victim then becomes the cult of the terrorist and the criminal, who are viewed as nothing more than pinballs in a political and economic system that has left them incapable of doing anything other than committing the atrocities they perpetrate.

  The continuing heroism of American and Israeli soldiers and civilians in the face of a constant onslaught of terrorism only further enrages the followers of the Cult of the Victim, who view apathy or cowardly brutality as the only proper responses to a crisis. Failing to be proper victims, Israelis and Americans after 9/11 are accused of behaving like Nazis.

 These are the only two possible categories that exist in the liberal mindset one is either a victim or a Nazi. Liviu Librescu had been a victim of the Nazis, but his actions repudiated these categories. He chose to be a hero.

  The Romanian government conferred the National Order of the Star of Romania posthumously on Librescu. His body was transported to Israel for burial. A hero, brought home for eternity.


3. Steven Collins: The Chinese Threat
From: Steve Collins <scollins@sio.midco.net>
Subject: Fw: Dangerous underestimate of China

Shalom Yair,
 
This photo gallery confirms the rapid militarization of China (check out the 2007 update as well). Ezekiel 38's prophecy about Russia, China and Iran leading a surprise attack against the nations of the house of Israel in "the latter days" is marching toward fulfillment. Jeremiah 30 shows this attack ("Jacob's Trouble") will fall on both Israel and Judah at the end of our age. Ezekiel 38 describes this attack from the perspective of the nations of the ten tribes, but Zechariah 14 shows the same climactic war from Judah's perspective. The end of our age is drawing nearer.
 
Steve
http://www.jeffhead.com/redseadragon/2006.htm



Jerusalem News-627
10 Sivan 5767, 27 May 2007
Contents:

1. Human Origins: Japanese from Africa?
2. Physicist who refused to lecture in U.K.:
I'm not calling for boycott
3. Marijuana Can Destroy You and Your Children:

Be Aware!



rose


1. Human Origins: Japanese from Africa?
Marc Washington does not deny North Asian origins of Japanese
but claims an additional African element
<http://tinyurl.com/283nyt>http://tinyurl.com/<http://tinyurl.com/283nyt>283nyt

2. Physicist who refused to lecture in U.K.: I'm not calling for boycott
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/863233.html
by Charlotte Halle, Haaretz Correspondent


An American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate who withdrew from a speaking engagement at a London university, citing anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment in the U.K., says he is not calling for a boycott of Britain.

"I'm not calling on anyone else not to go to Britain," Prof. Steven Weinberg of the University of Texas, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1979, told Haaretz on Thursday night. "I don't want to say I'm cutting ties with the U.K. - I love England. I just feel personally uncomfortable going with the atmosphere there at the moment. It's increasingly hostile to Israel, especially in the intellectual world."

Weinberg told the Imperial College in London, where he had been invited to speak in July in honor of Pakistani physicist Abdus Salam, that his decision was motivated by a move by Britain's National Union of Journalists to boycott Israeli products.

"I just felt this was too disgusting and I didn't want to go there this summer," Weinberg said. "I see in the British press and the BBC signs of a very strong anti-Israel bias - a kind of blind hostility that whatever Israel does, it is always in the wrong - so this is not an isolated action of a small group of anti-Semitic conspirators. This represents a widespread feeling among British journalists."

Weinberg said he sent the letter before learning that 120,000 members of the University and College Union were asked to vote on a proposed boycott of Israeli universities at its annual congress in Bournemouth on Tuesday and before he knew about the call in March by 130 British doctors to boycott the Israeli Medical Association.

Weinberg said he is against boycotts, and specifically boycotts of Israel: "To boycott Israel today would be like boycotting Czechoslovakia in 1938 when Hilter was complaining the Czechs were being unpleasant to the Germans in the Sudetenland."

Weinberg also pulled out of a 2006 conference at Durham University due to a boycott of Israeli academics imposed by the British National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education.

The International Advisory Board for Academic Freedom at Bar-Ilan University, which coordinates Israeli efforts against boycotts, said it respects but does not endorse Weinberg's position.

"Although we respect Prof. Weinberg's decision and sympathize with his feelings, we do not believe counter-boycotts are an effective way of dealing with the situation," the board said in a statement.

3. Marijuana Can Destroy You and Your Children:
Be Aware!
http://www.ou.org/index.php/shabbat_shalom/article/2013?utm_source=haart
Extract:
With the help of the dedicated professionals at Tempo, we started to learn about the "disease" of addiction. If 10 teenagers were to experiment with marijuana, nine of them might enjoy it but would not develop an incessant craving for it. The tenth, however, might be genetically predisposed to develop a chemical dependency. We learned that this disease is viewed like diabetes -- you can learn to live with it, but there is no cure.


 


Jerusalem News-628
13 Sivan 5767, 30 May 2007
Contents:
1. Israeli High Court Bans New Muslim Burial Site Next to Temple Mount
2. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 10.5
3. Soft Drinks and mt[female-transmitted]DNA
[More proof that DNA can change]
4. Arabs Query: Is President [of France] Sarkozy pro-Israel?
5. Other anti-Israel companies to boycott


1. High Court Bans New Muslim Burial Site Next to Temple Mount
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122581
 by Hana Levi Julian

(IsraelNN.com) The High Court of Justice has upheld a decision by Public Security Minister Avi Dichter to ban Muslim burials on the grounds immediately southeast of the Temple Mount.

The area, which borders the eastern wall of the Temple Mount, is believed to contain important archaeological artifacts from the First Temple era and is designated as part of a national park. It is an extremely sensitive area in that the Temple Mount is considered Judaism's holiest site and the third holiest place in Islam.

A petition was filed in court by the Committee for the Prevention of the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount when it was discovered that Muslims were using the site as a burial ground.

Supporters of the committee and its petition included left-wing author A.B. Yehoshua, Hebrew University Jewish philosophy professor Avi Ravitsky, former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Shomron and senior archaeologists such as Gabriel Barkai, Eilat Mazar, Ehud Netzer, Ronny Reich and Ephraim Stern.
Muslim burial on the site, which was never a cemetery in the past, could end any possibility of excavating the area in the future, as has been done at the foot of the southern wall and the bottom part of the Western Wall.

Police have been blocking Muslims from burying their dead at the site for several months, having identified dozens of plots sold by Silwan elders, who did not own the area, to Muslim families for their departed loved ones. At least 21 of the graves are occupied, 39 are empty and 35 other plots have not yet been opened. The committee has demanded in its petition that the unused gravesites be filled in.

"Muslim burial on the site, which was never a cemetery in the past, could end any possibility of excavating the area in the future, as has been done at the foot of the southern wall and the bottom part of the Western Wall", explained archaeologist Gabriel Barkai in the petition to block the burials.

An Islamic burial ground does exist outside the walls of the Temple Mount compound, at its southeast foot, but apparently Muslims had begun to extend their cemetery into the area defined as a national park.

Police had initially feared that stopping the burials would spark riots and other violence by Muslims. Jerusalem Police Chief Ilan Franco admitted to the court he had iniitially refused to escort city inspectors to hang up notices prohibiting use of the site after Muslims continued to build mausoleums, fearing the reaction by Islamic worshippers.

Repairs being made to a footbridge leading to the entrance of the Temple Mount at the Rambam (Mughrabi) Gate ignited days of violent protests across the country and massive demonstrations in Muslim communities worldwide.
Muslims dumped tons of soil containing priceless artifacts into a riverbed in 1999 while digging a huge pit in the Temple Mount to build an entrance to Solomon?s Stables. The police did not act to stop the illegal digs despite numerous petitions and court orders to halt any such activity.

The area forms a seamline between construction from the Hasmonean and Herodian eras. Remains from the First Temple and 8th century B.C.E. sealing rings stamped ?For the King? have been found in past excavations at the site, including one by British archaeologist Charles Warren 140 years ago.


2. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 10.5
From: david meadows <rogueclassicist@gmail.com>
================================================================
explorator 10.5 May 27, 2007
================================================================
==============================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================
Belgian archaeologists have found the intact tomb of an
Egyptian courtier:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070520/sc_nm/egypt_discovery_dc_2
http://uk.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUKL2032506420070520
http://www.alalam.ir/english/en-NewsPage.asp?newsid=041090120070521101639
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/05/070521-egypt-tomb.html
http://www.artdaily.com/section/news/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=20310
http://tinyurl.com/2zqnuv (NG photos)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18783703/

... excellent official (?) webpage of the find:
http://www.arts.kuleuven.be/egyptology/Henu.htm

Concrete and the pyramids again:
http://www.livescience.com/history/070518_bts_barsoum_pyramids.html
http://tinyurl.com/2gfrqc

Some reexamination of artifacts have established that a chunk of  wood from Turkey is actually the world's oldest wooden anchor:
http://tinyurl.com/23jalb (ANI)
http://it.moldova.org/stiri/eng/48943/
http://tinyurl.com/2f5cbl (UPI)
http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070523-122102-5490r
http://www.huliq.com/22361/ancient-wooden-anchor-discovered

Interesting feature on 'Biblical Archaeology':
http://tinyurl.com/yte5b6 (Newsmax)

================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================

More coverage of Alexander's seige of Tyre:
http://tinyurl.com/3y4q5r (Discovery)

More coverage of that Trafalgar Square find:
http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/exh_gfx_en/ART47613.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6684993.stm

... and the burial under the A2:
http://uktv.co.uk/index.cfm/uktv/History.news/aid/588440

================================================================
EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
================================================================

Nice website on the Silbury Hill excavations 2007:
http://www.users.myisp.co.uk/~gtour/Silbury2007.html

OpEd piece on goings-on in the Tara-Skryne Valley:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/25/opinion/25muldoon.html
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/25/opinion/edmuldoon.php

================================================================
ASIA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC
================================================================

A European in a Chinese tomb:
http://tinyurl.com/328qsv (NG)

Rethinking a recent 'altar' find in Hanoi:
http://tinyurl.com/2l5ueq

New Zealand Archaeology eNews:
http://www.nzarchaeology.org/netsubnews.htm
================================================================
NORTH AMERICA
================================================================
This week, a comet is being blamed for wiping out megafauna
(and maybe Clovis too!) in prehistoric North America:
http://tinyurl.com/2v3nqd (Times)
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/530208/?sc=rssn
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6676461.stm
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2083758,00.html

Ancestry.com has made available a pile of war records:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18839361/
================================================================
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
================================================================
Possible Aztec 'lightning bolts' found in Mexico:
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20070525/mexico-volcano-archaeology.htm
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070525/ap_on_sc/mexico_volcano_archaeology_12
http://tinyurl.com/3c3zcz (USA Today)
http://tinyurl.com/2nyuzo (IHT)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18867416/

================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
On the DNA front, we have some interesting (political?) conclusions
about the DNA of Genghis Khan:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070519131507.htm

I'm not quite sure where I should be putting the Black Swan news,
since it's obviously becoming a major international story, so
this seems to be the place ... this week's general coverage:
http://tinyurl.com/39dz2l (NG)
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/05/19/us/19treasure.html
http://tinyurl.com/32j6s8 (WPost)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/6671975.stm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18785078/

... while a press release from Odyssey Marine seems worth while
singling out:
http://tinyurl.com/2nw8yw

... as does a piece mentioning interest from Disney (!):
http://www.mickeynews.com/News/DisplayPressRelease.asp_Q_id_E_5237Deal
http://tinyurl.com/32qgjx (Sentinel)

... and how Odyssey found the wreckage:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6672725.stm

Also in the 'how do I categorize this' category, is an item on
John K. Lattimer's 'collectable':
http://www.startribune.com/commentary/story/1193120.html

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Lives of the Week:
http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/lotw/

================================================================
GENERAL MAGAZINES AND JOURNALS
================================================================
About.com Archaeology:
http://archaeology.about.com/

Archaeoblog:
http://archaeoblog.blogspot.com/

Archaeology Briefs:
http://archaeologybriefs.blogspot.com/

================================================================
NUMISMATICA
================================================================
Some old English coins were found when a Suffolk park pond was
cleaned up:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/suffolk/6681681.stm

Useful information on coinage in Pepys' (of Diary fame) time:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/316.php

Hobbyblog:
http://hobbyblog.blogspot.com/

Ancient Coin Collecting:
http://ancientcoincollecting.blogspot.com/

Ancient Coins:
http://classicalcoins.blogspot.com/
================================================================
EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
================================================================
Masterworks of Six Centuries:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/25/arts/design/25mast.html

Mythic Creatures:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/25/arts/design/25myth.html

Gods, Myths, and Mortals:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/23/arts/design/23gree.html

The Israel Museum is putting some interesting Torah fragments
on display:

http://tinyurl.com/ywsvx6 (JPost)

The Creation Museum:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/24/arts/24crea.html?hp

Previewing Christie's upcoming antiquities auction:
http://www.news-antique.com/?id=782523&keys=christies-antiquities-greek-roman-sale

... and some of Moshe Dayan's collection is going to auction:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/863582.html
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=863350

... as is the 'world's oldest' camera:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6695739.stm

Randolph Macon Women's College is considering selling some of
its art:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/25/arts/design/25voge.html

A fashion museum is emerging in Chile:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/24/fashion/24COLLECT.html

3. Soft Drinks and mt[female-transmitted]DNA
[More proof that DNA can change]
Subject: Re: [DNA] Soft Drinks and mtDNA
To: genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com

In a message dated 5/27/2007 9:57:36 A.M. Central Daylight Time, 
knordtvedt@bresnan.net writes:

Oh -  oh.  A British researcher thinks a preservative in soft drinks disrupts
 mtDNA and speeds up aging-related diseases.  At least that's what he  found
it does in yeast.

Maybe that explains the reported  discontinuities between modern and ancient
mtDNA in Europe?  Back to beer  --- the ancients drank that.

See:
CARDIOMYOPATHY FROM ASPARTAME
http://www.wnho.net/cardiomyopathyfromaspartame.htm
Also do a Google search on
Soft drinks mtDNA for numerous articles on this subject.

4. Arabs Query: Is President [of France] Sarkozy pro-Israel?
From: imra@netvision.net.il

+++ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 27 May '07:"Arabs Fear Sarkozy May Change Policy on
Mideast"Nicola Nasser, Arab News -
QUOTE FROM TEXT:"Sarkozy could be following the leadersship of the US"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXCERPTS

The pro-Israel statements of Nicolas Sarkozy, who was sworn in as the new
president of France on May 16... have alerted Arab capitals and public
opinion to a possibly imminent break with Paris' balanced approach to the
Arab-Israeli conflict.
.  .  . His pro-Israeli views had prompted a flurry of contacts between Arab
capitals and Paris, with governments seeking a reassurance of continuity.
Sarkozy is undoubtedly the most Israel-friendly president since the founding
of the Fifth Republic in 1958,...His maternal grandfather, Aron Mallah,
nicknamed Benkio, was a Greek Jew from Salonika who migrated to France
before World War II and converted to Catholicism but nevertheless had to
hide during World War II because of his Jewish roots.....  .  Arabs are
already aware that Sarkozy's grandfather was Jewish, but he himself grew up
Catholic. ... Sarkozy could be following the leadership of the US, but this
is the same leadership with the strongest Jewish connection that most Arab
leaders are already in business with, which promises more of the same, but
no drastic change.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Nicola Nasser is an Arab journalist based in Ramallah, Palestine.

5. Other anti-Israel companies to boycott
Posted by: "Shield of David List Moderator"
magen_david_1948@yahoo.com  
magen_david_1948
Sun May 27, 2007 9:37 am (PST)
http://www.geocities.com/truthmasters/jointheboycott.htm
<http://www.geocities.com/truthmasters/jointheboycott.htm>

NY Times Protest

Minneapolis Star
<http://www.minnesotansagainstterrorism.org/index.html>
Philadelphia Inquirer
<http://www.netreach.net/%7Ezoa/phlink/index.html>
NPR Protest <http://home.comcast.net/%7Ejat.action/nopledge.htm>
The Body Shop
<http://www.geocities.com/truthmasters/TheBodyShopProtest.html>
TIME Magazine
<http://www.thedenenbergreport.org/article.php?index=852>
Whole Foods <http://www.voy.com/119804/705.html>
 

Jerusalem News-629
17 Sivan 5767, 3 June 2007
Contents:
1. Steve Collins: President Sarkozy and the Jews
2. Anti-Judah Hypocrisy in Britain
3. Brit-Am Exposed Chamish who has not retracted.
4. Prof. Paul Eidelberg:
"THE MYTH OF ISRAEL'S DEPENDENCE ON THE UNITED STATES"
5. History: Demographic Impact of Roman Slavery Re-evaluated

1. Steve Collins: President Sarkozy and the Jews
From: Steve Collins <scollins@sio.midco.net>
Subject: Fw: Sarkozy's Jewish roots (May 8, 2007)

Shalom Yair,
 I think you will find this interesting!
 Steve
 
 Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 9:23 AM
Subject: Sarkozy's Jewish roots (May 8, 2007)
France's new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, lost 57 members of his family to the Nazis and comes from a long line of Jewish and Zionist leaders and heroes, writes RAANAN ELIAZ.
...
Sarkozy's grandfather, Aron Mallah, nicknamed Benkio, was born in 1890.

Beniko's uncle Moshe was a well-known Rabbi and a devoted Zionist who, in 1898 published and edited "El Avenir", the leading paper of the Zionist national movement in Greece at the time.

His cousin, Asher, was a Senator in the Greek Senate and in 1912 he helped guarantee the establishment of the Technion the elite technological university in Haifa, Israel.

In 1919 he was elected as the first President of the Zionist Federation of Greece and he headed the Zionist Council for several years. In the 1930?s he helped Jews flee to Israel, to which he himself immigrated in 1934.
...
http://www.ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=3162

2. Anti-Judah Hypocrisy in Britain
Note: On the whole Brit-Am refrains from negative reporting concerning Israelite nations.
The following is an exception since valid points are made and constructive conclusions could be derived.

From: imra@netvision.net.il
Subject: BRITISH HYPOCRITES

HYPOCRITES
(Article by Ben-Dror Yemini, Ma'ariv, 31.5.07, pp. 1, 9)

Why are we witnessing a recurrent historical phenomenon, a different law for Jews - a unique and racist law - as opposed to all others?   It is not morality.   Because, if human rights and human lives were what interested the British, they would devote much greater energy to what is happening in Darfur than to what is happening in the West Bank.

The British lecturers know the truth.  They are at least supposed to know.
They know that in Chechnya, for example, Putin's Russia wiped out tens of thousands of Muslims; some say hundreds of thousands, in order to regain control of the rebellious region.  They know that the Israeli army is the epitome of humanity compared to the Russian army.  They know that in Central Europe, in Srebrenica, more Muslims were slaughtered in one week than have been killed in 40 years of Israeli occupation.  They know that British soldiers, who control the Basra area in Iraq, and US soldiers in Baghdad and in other areas, behave much less humanly than do the Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, or Judea and Samaria.  They know that the Syrian regime brutally suppresses the Kurdish minority, and jails any intellectual who dares to open his mouth against the regime.  And, given this, they have not decided to boycott Russia, Britain, the USA or Syria.  A partial list.  They have decided to boycott only Israel.

Why?  How is it that, once again, the Jews - excuse me, citizens of the Jewish collective - are again deserving of boycotts even though they did not perpetrate any crime against humanity then, seventy or eighty years ago, or now, if we compare what other countries have done, including Britain, to what Israel is doing to the Palestinians.  Why?  Why are we witnessing an astounding, recurrent and disturbing historical phenomenon of a different law for Jews - a unique and racist law - than for all others?

It is not morality.  Stupid is the person who thinks that the British morality glands are working overtime.  Hypocrisy does not go hand in hand with morality.  Because boycotting Israel and not Syria or Russia, leads the British hypocrisy, and not the British morality, to new records.  Because if human rights and human lives were what interested the British, they would devote much greater energy to what is happening in Darfur than to what is happening in the West Bank.  The answer, hard to believe, is petrol.  The conflict here shakes the stability of the world oil markets.  British lecturers are deluding themselves that sacrificing Israel will appease the Muslim tiger. They, at least, want to ingratiate themselves with the nations that control most of the petroleum market.  They are not boycotting the Saudis whose repression of women is much greater than the repression of the Palestinians.  And not the miserable dictatorships of other oil nations.
Are you kidding?  They wouldn't dare.  True, the main reason is brainwashing.  The blue screen transmits to the British - and not just to them - many more pictures from Beit Hanun in Gaza then from Chechnya or Basra.  About Darfur there is not much to say.  Arab Muslims are massacring black Muslims, a real massacre.  Genocide.  Hundreds of thousands have already been murdered.  Millions of refugees.  And that's alright.  Because the hypocrisy of the British academics is not easily excited about anything unless it is portrayed on the television screen.  And what is on the screen is mainly what is easy to attack.  Not what needs to be attacked.

The good news is that things must be put into perspective.  Two months ago I was present at some lectures in the framework of "Apartheid Week" that called, for example, for the destruction of Israel.  Some well poisoners from here were present, such as Yitzhak Lior and Eyal Sivan, Israelis who abhor the Jews' right to their own country.  And - lo and behold - the lecture halls were nearly empty.  Those present were mostly Palestinian students, a few Jewish Israel-hating activists and a marginal smattering of somnambulant left-wing radicals.  Most British know that the problem is not occupied Palestine.  The problem is Londonstan, which is being overrun by Islamists who declare vociferously: We want to raise the green flag over London.  And therefore, the lecturers' decision is, for the most part, proof of the decline and miserable state of its academia.

I only wish that it were possible to say that it is only happening there.
This disease is here as well.

--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

3. Brit-Am Exposed Chamish who has not retracted.
Barry Chamish suffered from a  divorce, a heart attack, and car accidents that he claims were attempts by Israeli Security to assassinate him.
He  "fled" to Canada, and then tried to enter the USA but was turned back at the border for reasons he declines to disclose.
After that he was contracted by e-mail by a Gentile female to whom he proposed marriage which offer was accepted thus enabling him (as the spouse of a US citizen) to legally move to Florida from where he continues his pernicious activities,
telling lies about other people, besmirching the State of Israel, maligning the Jewish people in general, and providing fuel for other idiotic anti-Semites like himself.

Brit-Am lost some supporters by our justified and overduly-restrained criticism of this would-be refugee from goodness. We are not sorry.
If anything we did too little, too late, in attempting to nullify the evil BC generated.
We are sometimes too nice for our own good.

Brit-Am publicly exposed Chamish.
He was caught reporting events that did not happen the details of which were PHYSIOLOGICALLY IMPOSSIBLE!
http://www.britam.org/Questions/QuesChamish.html#Article

His followers admit
 "That's not lying!" (an actual quote).
And at all events (say his disciples) bad things did happen even if they were not one iota as shocking as BC claimed.
[That is just the point.
Bad things were done. Innocent, good, people were beaten. There were cases of sadism.
Girls were touched indecently.
The people responsible should be punished severely along with they who encouraged and backed them.
Beating may well lead to murder but that does not make them the same thing.
The Truth should be known.
In order to be known it must be convincing and in order to be convincing it must be accurate.]

OK. If one is in the business of muckraking, scandal-mongering, and pathological> alarm-raising being mislead by false reports could conceivably happen.
The least BC could do however is apologize and if he is psychologically unable to do that then the minimum that might be expected is to remove the offending article or at least expunge the admittedly false segments.

We challenge anyone to find in ANY of BCs numerous articles two in a row (or even a single one) that does not contain outright mistruths that must have been consciously enunciated with knowledge of their falsehood.

BC basically says:
Aliens from outer space are taking over the world.
The Jewish People are ruled by agents of darkness who created the state of Israel in order to destroy the Jews.
He calls these agents of darkness sabbatianans and frankists but he has never provided
any evidence whatsoever that such groups exist in our day amongst the Jews.
In fact for most of what he says he provides no evidence since there is none.
BC says that The USA UK and assumedly everyone else are ran by wicked conspirators in cahoots with the Vatican and that they have nothing better to do in life but devise wicked schemes against the common people within whose ranks BC presumably purports to belong...

The Jewish People are not perfect.
Theoretically by emphasizing only negative points etc
one could write anti-Jewish diatribes that would not be lies.
BUT NO-ONE DOES!
ALL anti-Semites tell lies.
They are all bad.
BC is no exception.

ADD INIQUITY UNTO THEIR INIQUITY: AND LET THEM NOT COME INTO THY RIGHTEOUSNESS [Psalms 69:27].
People who dislike the Jews are usually corrupt personalities.  They are often moral reprobates with something wrong with them.
Potentially we are all liable to go bad in the same way that on the other hand we can all better ourselves if we so will.
The ability to do good, to be good, not to pervert our paths, is a gift from the Almighty.
When you get a chance to be better take advantage of it.
It may not come again, at least not so easily.
Be like a good businessman running his business.
When you can profit spiritually do so.
Not only are anti-Semites naturally no-good but David in this Psalm wishes that they not get better.
In other words, they who hate the Jews curse themselves and are accursed.
Stay away from them.
 
4. "THE MYTH OF ISRAEL'S DEPENDENCE ON THE UNITED STATES"
by Prof. Paul Eidelberg
Posted by: "Shield of David List Moderator" magen_david_1948@yahoo.com   magen_david_1948
Sat Jun 2, 2007 7:44 pm (PST)

[Extracts]
IsraelNationalNews.com -February 7, 2006

(1. So long as Israel believes it's dependent on the U.S. for
its survival, Washington will continue to mediate the Israel-Arab
conflict to the disadvantage of the Jewish state.

(2. American and Israeli politicians are ever saying that the
shared moral values the U.S. and Israel is the basis of their
friendly relationship. Ariel Sharon often said that his friendly
relationship with President George W. Bush was Israel's
greatest strategic asset. No wonder Sharon repeatedly engaged in
unilateral concessions to Israel's Arab enemies! But this
obviously renders Israelis servile and undermines the security of
their country.

(3. Now, contrary to conventional wisdom, Israel's military
and economic dependence on the U.S. is a myth. Some years ago
Joseph Sisco, former Assistant Secretary of State, told Israeli
author Shmuel Katz, "I want to assure you, Mr. Katz, that if we
were not getting full value for our money, you would not get a
cent from us." American foreign policy-makers are pragmatists,
not moralists. U.S. aid to Israel is animated by national
self-interest pious platitudes to the contrary
notwithstanding. Israel is and has been America's biggest
strategic bargain.

(4. According to Gen. George Keegan, former chief of U.S. Air
Force Intelligence, while Israel annually received $1.8 billion
in military grants from the U.S. between 1974-1990, Israeli aid
to America was worth between $50-80 billion in intelligence,
research and development savings, Soviet weapons systems captured
and transferred to the Pentagon, and testing Soviet military
doctrines up to 1990, when the USSR collapsed.

(5. Moreover, the bulk of the $1.8 billion Israel currently
receives in military aid must be spent in the U.S., where it
provides jobs for an estimated 50,000 American workingmen. It
should also be noted that Israel would not need this amount of
military aid were it not for huge American arms sales to Saudi
Arabia and Egypt. U.S. military aid to Israel creates a demand
for, and the purchase of, tens of billions of dollars worth of
U.S. weaponry by these and other Arab states.

(6. American arms manufacturers have a vested interest in opposing
any reduction of military aid to Israel and so do their
representatives in Congress. Directly and indirectly, Israel has
enriched a welter of American corporations. For this reason
alone, American congressmen, irrespective of their attitude
toward Israel, will oppose cuts in military aid to the Jewish
state. And as world leader in software and avionics, Israel has
many corporate friends in the USA.

(7. Mention should also be made of Israel?s medical research
contribution to the U.S. And then there are the thousands of
Israeli-educated engineers and scientists that live and work in
the U.S. and have contributed countless billions of dollars to
the American economy!

(8. As for the $1.2 billion Israel receives from the U.S. in
"economic" assistance, it does not go into building up Israel's
economy. Most of the money is used to repay pre-1974 loans for
military hardware. It has been reduced by $120 million a year
beginning in 1998, so that it is now negligible. By the way,
Israeli economists across the political spectrum agree that U.S.
aid to Israel has reduced the productivity of this country.
Israel would have its own fighter aircraft were it not for myth
of its dependence on the USA.

(9. But now consider Israel's strategic contribution to the
U.S.

a. Ever since 1971, when Israel first received significant
amounts of aid from the U.S., the Jewish state has helped secure
NATO's southern flank.

b. In 1970, at Washington's behest, Israel prevented a Syrian
invasion of Jordan. By protecting Jordan from this client of the
former Soviet Union, Israel thwarted Moscow's ambitions in the
Middle East. (By the way, it would be naive to think that Russia
has permanently abandoned its historic objectives in this
region.)

(10. Furthermore, Israel would not have been financially indebted
to the U.S. had she not withdrawn from the Sinai. By so doing
Israel lost a $17 billion infrastructure, including her most
sophisticated air bases, as well as Israeli-developed oil fields
which, by now, would have made the country energy-independent.
Israel has had to spend more importing oil than she has thus far
received in U.S. "economic" assistance. It was as if the United
States beggared Israel to display American "charity."

(11. The question arises: What prevents Israel's political leaders
from telling the truth about this grotesque state of affairs? Do
they fear the loss of $1.8 billion in military aid? Perhaps this
was true in 1985, when Israel's Gross Domestic Product was
$24.5 billion. But today, when Israel?s GDP is almost $150
billion, the $1.8 billion is only 1.2% of its GDP. Given even a
much smaller GDP, $1.8 billion can't be deemed indispensable
for Israel's survival. if Israel had a government that was not
steeped in corruption, it could dispense with American "charity"
entirely! All it would have to do is clamp down on tax-evasion.
Or if the government granted a moratorium to big tax evaders and
lowered taxes, this would increase capital investment and make
Israel another Singapore!

5. History: Demographic Impact of Roman Slavery Re-evaluated
http://racialreality.blogspot.com/
Excerpt from:
Rome at War: Farms, Families, and Death in the Middle Republic
by Nathan Rosenstein

 

Jerusalem News-630
18 Sivan 5767, 4 June 2007
Contents:
1. Archaeology: The Brit-Am Version of Explorator 10.6
2.
Guysen  Israel News - Monday Extracts
3. Archaeology: Egyptian and Phoenician Influences in Ancient Jerusalem




rose


1. Archaeology: The Brit-Am Version of Explorator 10.6

[Brit-Am Recommendations in this color]
From: david meadows <rogueclassicist@gmail.com>

================================================================
explorator 10.6 June 3, 2007
================================================================

================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================

A Ptolemaic bowling alley:

http://tinyurl.com/2qy7m8 (El Masla)
http://tinyurl.com/2fv6ko (SIS)

Nice feature on the Gaza Field School:

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/847/he2.htm

What they've figured out so far about Gihon Pool:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=864747

Latest in the Temple Mount saga:

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=12881
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/864459.html
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122581

... and this:
http://tinyurl.com/2kayxy (JPost)

Nice feature on Herod:

http://tinyurl.com/2lh4vn (LA Times)

Some interesting old photos from Iran have been found:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/30/arts/design/30phot.html

================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================
Quite a few versions of this 'fast food in Pompeii' story:

http://www.livescience.com/history/070531_pompeii_life.html
http://tinyurl.com/yty6wt (ditto, via yahoo)
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070601/139/6givn.html
http://tinyurl.com/2ag3hz
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18983078/
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,276852,00.html

Bulgaria's Valley of the Kings is more extensive than
previously thought:

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=81191

================================================================
EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
================================================================

A medieval Jewish cemetery in the Czech Republic:

http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/102160.html

Archaeology in Europe Blog:

http://www.archaeology.eu.com/weblog/index.html
================================================================
ASIA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC
================================================================

An important Hawaiian site:

http://tinyurl.com/yp39l7 (Advertiser)

Remains of a 14th century observatory in India:

http://in.news.yahoo.com/070528/48/6gcww.html

Not sure what to make of this piece on the Hephthalites:
http://spotlightongames.com/variant/maharaja/eph.html
================================================================
NORTH AMERICA
================================================================
Low levels of Lake Okeechobee are revealing sites:

http://tinyurl.com/24rotc (PB Post)
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/68265.html
http://www.miamiherald.com/569/story/123884.html

An interview with Bly Straube about Jamestown:

http://www.archaeology.org/0705/etc/conversation.html

... also on the Jamestown front, John Smith apparently was a
skilled mapmaker:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18963823/

Mystery shipwreck near St. Augustine:

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/news-article.aspx?storyid=83100

Restoring/remaking some Civil War grave markers:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/28/nyregion/28civil.html
================================================================
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
================================================================

On climate change and the development of agriculture in Mexico:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070601173931.htm
================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
The Book of Kells is the latest manuscript to get a high tech
look-over:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/28/news/irish.php
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/28/world/europe/28kells.html

Normally I'd put these in their appropriate geographical categories,
but there's a trend of sorts here ... first, sites in Scotland
are threatened by rising sea levels:

http://it.moldova.org/stiri/eng/50181/
http://tinyurl.com/ytyeh4 (UPI)
http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=840532007

... as are sites in Jerusalem:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=865705

... and Beijing:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6709099.stm
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0525/p06s01-woap.html?s=hns

Some guy is going to try to cross the Atlantic in a reed raft:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070529/ap_on_re_us/atlantic_vessel_crossing_2
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/28/nyregion/28sail.html

... while I suspect a Viking longship going across the North Sea will
be more successful:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Viking-Ship.html

A while back we mentioned the 'excavation' of a Ford Van ... that
project is the latest feature at the Archaeology Channel:

http://www.archaeologychannel.org/

Promoting Early Music:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/arts/music/31earl.html

Latest on the British academic unions' attempts to boycott Israel:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/30/world/europe/30britain.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/world/europe/31britain.html

Some very old colour (!) photos:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2573293.ece

Review of three books about pirates and their ilk:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/books/review/Millard-t.html

================================================================
TOURISTY THINGS
================================================================
Richmond:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/06/01/travel/escapes/01American.html

================================================================
================================================================
More coverage of the sale of Moshe Dayan's collection:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=863582
================================================================
OBITUARIES
================================================================
Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood (Classical Scholar):

http://books.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,2091644,00.html
http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2606425.ece

W.K. Pritchett (Ancient Historian/Epigraphist):

http://classics.berkeley.edu/news/articles/story.php?id=16

James Beck (Art Historian):

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/29/arts/29beck.html

2. Guysen  Israel News - Monday Extracts
Daily Summary -Extracts Only
From: Guysen  Israel News <webmaster@guysen.com>
Subject: Mailinfo Guysen Israel News - Monday 4 June 2007

23:51  An association of 130 Palestinian institutions will address the UN Secretary General on Monday to inform him that "the inhabitants of Jerusalem are disengaging from the west part of the city and intend to set up a new municipality". (Guysen.Isra l.News)

22:45  Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeated that the Arab countries "will uproot" Israel is there is another Lebanon war. (Guysen.Isra l.News)

16:58  The Gay Pride parade is set to take place in Jerusalem, on the 21st June. The Jerusalem district police commander, Ilan Franco, who met on Sunday with representatives of the ''Open House'', the headquarters of homosexuals in Jerusalem, gave them an agreement of principle. The route of the march has not yet been determined.  (Guysen.Isra l.News)

13:45  The American antimissile shield in Europe is continuing to arouse Russian opposition. The Kremlin announced that it was ready to redirect its nuclear missiles on cities and military targets in Europe if "the United States continued in violating the strategic equilibrium" on the continent by stationing its antimissile shield there.  (Guysen.Isra l.News)

12:22  The countdown for the eradication of Israel has already started, if Ahmadinejad is to be believed. In a speech made on the occasion of the anniversary of the death of the ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini -the founder of the Islamic revolution, the Iranian president said that the countdown has started with Hizbollah's attack last summer, and that with the help of all the Lebanese and Palestinian fighters "the Zionist regime would soon disappear". (Guysen.Isra l.News)

12:11  The British university boycott of Israel is only the tip of the iceberg: British architects are preparing to put a ban on Israel, against a background of a disturbing surge in anti-semitism in Europe.  (Guysen.Isra l.News)

11:36  Iran is urging Hamas and the Islamic Jihad to continue the armed struggle against Israel. According to the Arabic language newspaper, Al Hayyat, the Iranian Foreign Minister Manushehr Mottaki met in Damascus with the heads of these terrorist organizations, Khaled Mashaal and Ramadan Shallah, and told them to put an end to the inter Palestinian violence in the Gaza Strip. (Guysen.Isra l.News)

11:17  Binyamin Netanyahu is calling on Israel to prepare for a war on 3 fronts: with Syria, Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip. Interviewed on army radio Galei Tsahal, the head of the opposition said that he thinks that peace negotiations with Syria were not foreseeable as "Bashar al-Assad has his umbilical cord tied to the Iranian axis of evil". (Guysen.Isra l.News)

08:19  The American authorities have announced that they foiled a terrorist plot to blow up the main gasoline tanks at the JFK airport in New York. Four people were arrested. Of the four, one is a former member of the Guyanese parliament and a second man is a former JFK airport employee who had worked in refueling airplanes.  (Guysen.Isra l.News)

07:49  The American Defense Minister, Robert Gates, has said that it is possible that the American attack in Somalia is the start of a prolonged military operation. Yesterday an American ship attacked a village in the north east of Somalia, where Islamic extremists associated with Al-Qaida had created a training camp.  (Guysen.Isra l.News)

3. Archaeology: Egyptian and Phoenician Influences in Ancient Jerusalem
How did fish reach Jerusalem?
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=864747
by Ran Shapira

Jerusalem's ancient water system, which excavations over the past decade are gradually uncovering, included a large pool hewn into rock. The pool, next to the Gihon Spring in the City of David, ceased to be used and dried up in the late eighth century B.C.E., after King Hezekiah of Judah built a new water project in the city, the Siloam tunnel. But according to Prof. Roni Reich, of the University of Haifa's Archaeology Department, and Eli Shukrun of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), who are overseeing the excavations at the site, the pool hewn into the rock did not remain desolate for long: Toward the end of the eighth century B.C.E., a Jerusalem resident decided to build himself a house inside it, thus sparing himself a lot of work, since the pool's four hewn walls served as a base for the external walls of his home.

Apparently, the new homeowners did not want to live in the depths of the pool and preferred to raise the lower level of their home by about three meters. In order to bring the house to the desired level, they poured stones and earth into the bottom of the pool, and its upper reaches abutted the floor of the house.

The excavation, being managed by the IAA with the assistance of the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority (INNPPA), the Elad Association and the Gihon Company, has uncovered in the attached earthen floor of the house clay vessels dating to the end of the eighth century B.C.E., but the more surprising findings were in the stratum beneath. Reich and Shukrun decided to sift through all of it in the hope of uncovering artifacts that would help date the structure.

The first sifting did not yield any dramatic discoveries. Mostly the earth yielded clay vessels typical of Jerusalem in the First Temple period, and the bones of animals that were part of the standard diet of residents of the city, mainly cattle and sheep. But Reich and Shukrun suspected that other findings were hiding there and therefore decided to sift through it all, around 250 cubic meters, once again. This time, the earth was rinsed with water and what remained in the sifter after the rinsing was carefully inspected in a process that lasted around a year and a half. The findings justified the effort.

Pottery sherds that differed in nature from those found so far in the City of David were uncovered and the researchers date them to the second half of the ninth century or the beginning of the eighth century B.C.E. approximately, a range that covers the reign of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, to the reign of Joash, son of Ahaziah, a period when Jerusalem was subject to the influence of its northern neighbors, the Kingdom of Israel and Phoenicia. (Reich is nonetheless cautious and says that the precise date has yet to be determined.)

In addition to the sherds, an abundance of small seals, about a centimeter in diameter, that were used to seal documents and goods were found. All the seals were broken - they had been removed from the letters or goods they sealed. In this respect, they differ from seals found in the past in the City of David, which were all unbroken, and apparently were used to seal documents preserved in the local archive of the City of David.

The seals uncovered by Reich and Shukrun differ from those uncovered by Shilo also in their graphic characteristics. Approximately 170 of the broken seals bore stamps or part of one and some had signs of Egyptian writing, unlike those uncovered by Shiloh, where the names appeared in Semitic writing. A review by experts found these were not meaningful signs, but a copy of Egyptian script familiar to residents of the ancient Near East. Such seals were uncovered in the past in excavations in Samaria, the capital of the kingdom of Israel.

The seals also bore other graphic symbols, such as sphinxes, images of winged persons and an image of the sun with wings. Others contained etchings of proto-aeolian capitals, an architectural motif typical of structures from the ninth and 10th centuries B.C.E. in Israel and Judea. This motif appears often in Phoenician ivory bas-reliefs.

A grouper surprise

Another surprise was the impressive amount of fish bones found in the earth. After the second sifting, it turned out that the fill beneath the house concealed close to 10,000 fish bones.

They were sent for careful analysis by Prof. Omri Landau, a retired surgeon, who now devotes himself to his hobby of researching fish bones uncovered in excavations. Landau has yet to complete his analysis, but at this stage it is clear that the lion's share of the bones are from fish found in the Mediterranean Sea, primarily bass and grouper. Like the seals, this is also not the first time fish bones were uncovered in Jerusalem. However, Reich stresses that such a large quantity of them in one site is not an ordinary occurrence. The large accumulation attests to the importance of fish in the diet of Jerusalem residents then, as they were willing to invest considerable effort in bringing fish from the Mediterranean coast to the city.

Phoenician ties

The high concentration of seals, the graphic motifs on them, which are not typical of Jerusalem of the First Temple era, in addition to the impressive amount of fish bones, are likely to provide evidence of the Phoenician or Israelite presence in Jerusalem during the second half of the ninth century, B.C.E. Reich notes that the dynasty of the house of Omri, the ruler of the Kingdom of Israel in the early ninth century, had family ties to the Phoenicians. These ties reached the Kingdom of Judah when King Jehoram, the son of Jehosaphat, who controlled Judah during the second half of the ninth century, B.C.E., married Athaliah, the daughter of Omri or of his successor, Ahab, who was of Phoenician origin. Athaliah forcibly assumed power and ruled Judah for a number of years until being deposed (II Kings 11).

It is possible that the high concentration of fish bones and seals with graphic images typical of the Phoenicians - one seal depicted a Phoenician ship, another an image of a fish - indicates that before the house was built in the pool, an administrative center of the rulers who were close to the Phoenicians operated nearby. Reich and
Shukrun note that apart from Athaliah, also her predecessor, Jehoram and her successor, Ahaziah, were likely to maintain close ties with the capital of the Kingdom of Israel and with Phoenician cities, such as Sidon.

The hypothesis regarding ties between Jerusalem and Phoenicia in the late eight and ninth centuries, B.C.E. is reinforced by other findings, including a pomegranate made of ivory that was found in the earth. The Phoenicians, who were talented sailors, builders and merchants served as cultural intermediaries in the Mediterranean basin, where they sailed. Among other things, they engraved ivory, a craft they learned in Egypt, where they found raw and etched ivory to bring back to Assyria. They also brought artistic motifs from one place to another, such as Egyptian symbols that appeared on the seals. As seafarers, it is likely that the Phoenicians did not want to give up the fish they were so fond of, even when they were far away from the coast, and took the trouble to bring the fish from the coastal cities to Jerusalem.
 


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