3,200-year-old fort, site of epic battles in biblical era, found in south Israel

TOI STAFF

Israel Antiquities Authority says remains of Egyptian citadel, built to repel Philistines while Israelites settled elsewhere in the country, will be opened to public free of charge

A 3,200-year-old citadel unearthed near Guvrin Stream and Kibbutz Gal On, August 2020. (Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority)

A 3,200-year-old Canaanite citadel where epic battles were fought during biblical times has been unearthed near the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Gat, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced Sunday.

The 12th century BCE fort next to Kibbutz Gal On and the Guvrin Stream, some 70 kilometers (40 miles) south of Jerusalem, was built by the Egyptians, who ruled the area at the time, as a defense against the Philistines, in an era corresponding to the period of the biblical Book of Judges, the IAA said in a statement.

The citadel was eventually abandoned by the Egyptians, leading to the destruction of many Canaanite cities, probably at the hands of the Philistines.

According to IAA archaeologists, Saar Ganor and Itamar Weissbein, the structure that was unearthed is 18 meters (59 feet) long and 18 meters wide, with towers in its four corners for a lookout.

They said a huge doorstep has been preserved that was carved out of a single rock weighing 3 tons.

Earthenware discovered in a 3,200-year-old citadel unearthed near Guvrin Stream and Kibbutz Gal On, August 2020. (Dafna Gazit/Israel Antiquities Authority)

Inside is a yard with brick paving and columns, flanked by rooms. Hundreds of pieces of earthenware were discovered in the rooms, some of them whole, including many bowls produced in an Egyptian style. One bowl and a mug were likely used for worship, the archaeologists said.

“The citadel we discovered offers a glimpse into the geopolitical reality described in the Book of Judges, where the Canaanites, Israelites and Philistines battle each other,” Ganor and Weissbein were quoted as saying in the statement.

“At the time, the Land of Canaan was ruled by the Egyptians, and its residents were their proteges,” they said. “But then, during the 12th century BCE, two central players appeared in the area: the Israelites and the Philistines. And thus began a series of bloody territorial struggles.

“The Israelites settled in unfortified communities on the central mountain ridge, while the Philistines gained power in the southern Mediterranean coast,” they added. “Trying to conquer more land, the Philistines battled the Egyptians and the Canaanites on the border, which likely passed along the Guvrin Stream between the Philistine kingdom of Gat and the Canaanite kingdom of Lachish.”

A sketch of a 3,200-year-old citadel unearthed near Guvrin Stream and Kibbutz Gal On, August 2020. (drawing by Itamar Weissbein/Israel Antiquities Authority)

“The Gal On Citadel was seemingly built as part of a Canaanite-Egyptian attempt to deal with the new geopolitical situation.

“The citadel was built in a strategic spot, overlooking the main road along Guvrin Stream — a road that linked the coast to the Judean lowlands.”

According to the statement, similar Egyptian fortresses from the same period have been discovered elsewhere in Israel.

The citadel was found in excavations carried out by schoolchildren from Beersheba, students of the Nahshon pre-military academy and many more volunteers.

The site will be opened to the public in a ceremony on Tuesday in collaboration with KKL-JNF. Visits will be free of charge.

Serbia to designate Hezbollah as terrorist organization

JERUSALEM POST STAFF

This is “another significant step limiting this Iranian backed terrorist group’s ability to operate in Europe.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visiting Sudan, 2020. / (photo credit: SOVEREIGN COUNCIL MEDIA OFFICE/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)

Serbia intends to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization on Sunday.

According to the report, the US Department of State commended Serbia for its decision.

Serbia’s announcement that it will designate [Hezbollah] as a terrorist organization in its entirety is another significant step limiting this Iranian backed terrorist group’s ability to operate in Europe,” said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “This important action was announced as part of the historic commitments President Trump secured on a wide range of economic normalization issues between Serbia and Kosovo, coupled with the steps both nations are taking to help achieve peace in the Middle East.

“There is no doubt that the dominoes are falling on [Hezbollah]’s European operations, where it has continued to plot terrorist attacks, procure military technology, and raise much needed funding,” he continued. “Recent actions by Germany and Lithuania against [Hezbollah] follow those taken last year by the United Kingdom and Kosovo. The United States continues to call on the European Union and European nations to designate or ban [Hezbollah] in its entirety, and recognize the reality that it is a terrorist organization root and branch with no distinction between its so-called “military” and “political” wings.”

Pompeo concluded, “We urge all countries in Europe and elsewhere to take whatever action they can to prevent [Hezbollah] operatives, recruiters, and financiers from operating on their territories.

This is a developing story.

Hassidic music goes global as concert move to online platforms

GREER FAY CASHMAN

At this time of the year, popular hassidic singer Avraham Fried is usually in Israel, singing to a full house in Jerusalem’s Sultan’s Pool.

ESHET LAPIDOT RECIPIENTS (from left) Nurit Kozahinof, Esther Mor, Osnat Levtzion-Korach and Zohar Yakobson. /  (photo credit: YAAKOV NACHAMI)

At this time of the year, popular hassidic singer Avraham Fried is usually in Israel, singing to a full house in Jerusalem’s Sultan’s Pool. That won’t be happening this year. Like so many cultural events, whether high brow, low brow or flavored with religion, Fried’s pre-Rosh Hashanah concert will be presented online, and because he happens to be a Chabadnik, it will be hosted by Chabad of Rehavia under the title “Bringing Jerusalem to the World.” Fans of hassidic and cantorial music will have additional treats with performances by the Pirchei Yerushalayim choir, Aaron Razel, Duvie Shapiro, Gershon Wachtel, Motti Flikshtein and cantor Zvi Weiss.

There will be no charge, though Rabbi Yisroel Goldberg, the director of Chabad of Rehavia, will welcome donations that will be used for Rosh Hashana outreach and other activities. Chabad of Rehavia has been providing meals for the poor, plus various online services. The concert, which will be viewed across the world on Sunday, September 6, can be seen in Israel from 7 p.m., London at 5 p.m. and Eastern Australia at 2 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time for viewing is 12 p.m., and Pacific Daylight Time 9 a.m. The link is www.BringingJerusalemToTheWorld.com

Apropos Chabad, the annual gathering of Chabad envoys in New York toward the end of the year is unlikely to take place unless there is some major positive change in relation to the pandemic. For the time being emissaries from more than a hundred countries and many more cities, have decided not to endanger themselves and each other or anyone with whom they might come into contact.

■ CONFERENCES HAVE become a major online hit, especially those run by newspapers, because they succeed in getting a large number of politicians from different parties who present a variety of views. Coming up on September 2 is the annual Jerusalem Conference hosted by the Besheva media group. The conference is usually an all-day day affair, though in the past it has also been a two-day event. How long it will take online with 45 speakers, plus sponsors, is anyone’s guess. The chief sponsor in Keren Kayemeth-Jewish National Fund, which is celebrating its 120th anniversary. Unlike the ultra-Orthodox movements, the National-Religious movement, with which Besheva identifies, has no problem giving a platform to women, and nine are included among the speakers.

The benefit of online events is that people who might cause last-minute changes in live events due to their being suddenly indisposed, can participate from anywhere in the world. Thus Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata, who tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently in isolation, can participate from home, as can MK Ayelet Shaked. The conference will be broadcast on Arutz Sheva and the Besheva Facebook account.

■ AFTER HOSTING a Life’s Door event in their home a few weeks ago, Life’s Door founders Dr. Ben Corn and his wife, Dvora, have discovered that other people are more than willing to emulate them and are happy to host events that comply with Health Ministry regulations. Thus on the evening of Thursday, September 3, Dr. David and Devora Goldfarb will be hosting a small group of friends who will come together to listen to prizewinning writer A.B. Yehoshua,whose subject will be: “Hope. Can we find light at the end of the tunnel?” Friday morning events have always been popular in Tel Aviv, and another pair of Life’s Door supporters, Menachem and Rutie Oren of Tel Aviv, will be hosting a brunch on Friday, November 20, with former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy speaking on “Paternalism, autonomy and their significance. How do we opt between free choice and health and security?” Both events will be online. Contact details are available on the Life’s Door Facebook account.

■ WORLD WIZO President Esther Mor was among the recipients of the Eshet Lapidot award given to outstanding women philanthropists who give of themselves and of their money to life improvement and life-saving projects, primarily in the field of health but also in other areas of well-being. Eshet Lapidot is the brainchild of Yehuda Meshi Zahav, the founder of ZAKA, the international search and rescue organization, which in Israel is also concerned with forensic issues. Other recipients were Nurit Kozahinof of the Beresheet Tower Real Estate project, whose family gives generously to numerous medical projects in Israel, Dr. Osnat Levtzion-Korach, the director of the Shamir Medical Center (formerly Assaf Harofeh), who was the first director of a state hospital to deal with coronavirus patients, and actors’ agent Zohar Yakobson, who created the Tal Center for cancer patients in memory of her daughter Tal who died of cancer.

■ PEOPLE WHO suffer frequent disturbances in their lives, and try to live with them, are often heard to say: “It can’t get any worse than this.” In actual fact it can. While some of the prime minister’s neighbors are upset over the court ruling that demonstrators can continue to protest in their neighborhood, Jewish News Syndicate reports that protests outside a Michigan synagogue are protected under the First Amendment according to a ruling by Federal Judge Victoria Roberts of the Eastern Michigan District Court.

In her 11-page decision, Roberts wrote: “Peaceful protest speech such as this – on sidewalks and streets – is entitled to the highest level of constitutional protection, even if it disturbs, is offensive,and causes emotional distress,”

The protests in Jerusalem have been in force for only a few months. Those in Michigan have been taking place every Saturday since 2003, according to the JNS report.

Every Saturday, a group of protesters harasses congregants outside the Beth Israel Congregation. They stand in front of the synagogue with signs that state “Jewish power corrupts,” “Zionism is racism” and “Resist Jewish power,” among other slogans that elsewhere might be regarded as incitement.
In justifying her ruling, Roberts also wrote: “There is no allegation that the protesters prevent plaintiffs from attending Sabbath services, that they block plaintiffs’ path onto the property or to the synagogue, or that the protests and signs outside affect the services inside. Plaintiffs merely allege that the defendants’ conduct causes them distress and ‘interferes’ with their enjoyment of attending religious services.”
True, there has been some violence in Jerusalem, but happily police, who have caused injury to demonstrators, are not trigger-happy like police in America, who have shot unarmed people simply because of the color of their skin.

After some of the police violence that was shown on television and social media, people should be worried, because it can get worse.

■ ALL MAYORS presumably care about the needs of the residents of their cities, but Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai surely stands out in this regard. Though not religiously observant himself, Huldai takes care of the needs of both the religious and secular residents of his city. Last week he announced that High Holy Day prayers could be conducted in the city’s public spaces, so that congregants from Tel Aviv’s 450 synagogues would have a place outside of their own homes in which to worship. Huldai is coordinating with Eldad Mizrahi, chairman of the Tel Aviv Religious Council and with synagogue officials to enable prayer services for expanded congregations while following Health Ministry guidelines.

Huldai issued a statement declaring: “The right to prayer and religious gatherings is fundamental, and everything will be done in order to permit tens of thousands of worshipers to carry out the holiday commandments – even under the health restrictions. From the very first days of the first Hebrew city, Jewish tradition has been of great importance in our daily life. As Meir Dizengoff, the first mayor of the city, said: ‘We are striving so that the spirit of Judaism will be in harmony with our enterprise and this city – so that the spirit of brotherhood, peace and love will prevail.’”

Later in the week, Huldai took care of the cultural needs of the city’s secular population by entering into negotiations for the municipality to assume ownership of the financially strapped Habimah Theater, which for some years has been functioning under an ever-growing deficit, and was almost on the verge of closure.

The theater, which has debts amounting to NIS 60 million, is already under threat of liquidation, and although it has been granted a brief reprieve, there is little chance of it surviving unless city hall takes over its financial management.

■ MODEL AGENTS in Israel have come and gone but the one who seems to have the most lasting ability is Roberto Ben Shushan, who has discovered some of Israel’s top models, several of whom later became actresses, singers or television presenters. Among some of the household names that have been represented by his agency are Moran Atias, Agam Rudberg, Rotem Sela, Yuval Scharf and Maya Buskilla among many others. Ben Shushan has now branched out into the art world, and together with Yitzhak Mevorach, has opened a gallery in Tel Aviv, which goes by the name of Roberto’s Gallery.

Why Americans in Israel must vote for Trump – opinion

MARTIN OLINER

Despite Israel’s crisis being solved, some 300,000 Israelis can still exercise their democratic right to cast ballots in an election in November.

US President Donald Trump speaks about a peace deal reached between Israel and the United Arab Emirates from the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, August 13, 2020 / (photo credit: REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE)

Were it not for the agreement reached between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party on Monday night, Israelis would have gone to the polls in November.

Despite Israel’s crisis being solved, some 300,000 Israelis can still exercise their democratic right to cast ballots in an election in November.

That is roughly the number of residents of Israel who are eligible to vote by absentee ballot in the November 3 election in the United States.

Four years ago, there was a high-profile campaign in Israel for then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Stickers bearing Trump’s name in Hebrew were handed out in Israeli malls, and the president addressed a campaign rally in Jerusalem’s Old City by video.

This time, Americans in Israel have been relatively silent about the US election, when they really should be shouting out loud and going to vote in droves.

On the one hand, it is understandable why there was such so much more enthusiasm and motivation about voting four years ago. Americans who care about Israel had just endured eight years of Barack Obama and Joe Biden in power and saw the way they advanced a deal with Iran while throwing Israel under the bus at the United Nations.

They had every right to be terrified that Obama’s secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, would continue his policies that endangered Israel’s future existence and the special relationship between Israel and the United States.

But on the other hand, four years ago, American voters in Israel could only guess what they would be getting if Trump became president. They heard his campaign promises to move America’s embassy to Jerusalem and defend Israel at the UN, but who believes what any politician says during a campaign?
Now, after four wonderful years of making both America and Israel great again, President Trump’s actions speak even louder than his words, which is saying a lot.

The move of America’s embassy to Jerusalem is no longer a promise made by president after president but an actual building with an American flag flying high with pride in Israel’s capital that is finally recognized by the United States. The building has the names of President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence and always will.

A few minutes’ drive away from the embassy are thriving Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria that the US government no longer calls illegal settlements and no longer instigates an international uproar when a family builds a home for their grown children across the street.

This American administration recognized Israel’s control over the Golan Heights after the previous administration of Obama and Biden would not even recognize that the Syrian regime had to be punished for using chemical weapons against its own people.

The Obama-Biden government made a despicable deal with Iran that ended soon after Donald Trump became president of the United States. Relentless American pressure continues on Iran, but it would obviously end immediately if Biden becomes president and seeks another deal with Iran at Israel’s expense.

Even the UN, where the Obama-Biden administration gave Israel a parting pie in the face before they left office, became a much less hostile place for the Jewish State as soon as President Trump took over. Biden did nothing to stop Obama from pushing forward UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which called Jews living in their Biblical heartland a “flagrant violation” of international law with “no legal validity.”

While Obama and Biden chose to battle against Israel in the final months of their term, President Trump is ending this term by facilitating Israel making peace with its Arab Muslim neighbors. The deal with the UAE is already fostering economic cooperation that will benefit the entire world and could even help put a stop to COVID-19.

So if they voted four years ago, how could Americans in Israel neglect to perform their civic duty this time around? How can they not have hakarat hatov – gratefulness – to President Trump for all the good he has done for the two countries they love?

Even Israelis from firmly red and blue states have to cast ballots. Their votes may not end up making a difference in the electoral college, but they will be counted by the Trump campaign as the ultimate thank you note.

Their ballots could also end up helping key local races and perhaps will be the deciding votes that enable the Republican Party to maintain control of the Senate. If Americans in Israel voted four years ago before they had heard of Ilhan Omar or Rashida Tlaib or knew what AOC stood for, how could they not vote now, when the progressive wing has become such a dominant force in the Democratic Party?

For centuries, Jews were deprived of the right to vote by despicable anti-Israel leaders in countries around the world. Now it is easier than ever to vote for the most pro-Israel leader of the free world in the history of mankind.

This article is intended to serve as a wake-up call to Americans in Israel. They were spared the burden of voting in yet another intense Israeli election, but they have the responsibility to cast their ballots in an another election that will go a long way to deciding Israel’s future.

The writer is co-president of the Religious Zionists of America, chairman of the Center for Righteousness and Integrity, and a committee member of the Jewish Agency. Martinoliner@gmail.com.

The Netanyahu-Gantz government is a failure, pure and simple – opinion

YAAKOV KATZ

Every decision Netanyahu makes is tainted and motivated by what is good for him personally, and not for the country.

Did they ever get along?
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

It is time to admit that it is simply not working. This government is a failure. It is that simple. There is no other way to say it. Every decision is politicized; everything is made into a game.

If peoples’ lives were not on the line, we might be able to ignore what is happening; to push it away and pretend that everything is okay. But with Israel’s infection rate staggering – on Thursday it climbed to nearly 4,000 infections in one day – this has got to stop.

In short, this government needs to go home.

Set up to fight the coronavirus, this government has done nothing. Instead, it has fought against itself from its inception.

And the writing was on the wall.

Benjamin Netanyahu is in the middle of a criminal trial, facing a lengthy jail sentence if convicted of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, and the only true priority he has right now is fighting for his innocence – at all costs. Everything else is not important.

In November when the prime minister was indicted, I wrote: “As talented as Netanyahu is, he can’t go to court in the morning and fight for his freedom, and then come back to the office in the afternoon to convene the security cabinet and approve airstrikes against Iranian targets in Syria. The prime minister will be distracted, unfocused and unable to properly execute his duties.

“Moreover, any move a prime minister makes in such a position would be viewed suspiciously: was it done to sway public opinion? Nothing will be looked at purely. Everything will be tainted… Staying in office, as Netanyahu indicated he will do, will eat away at Israel’s moral character from the inside. Is this the type of leadership we want at the helm of our nation?”

Afterward I came under fire from Netanyahu supporters, who falsely claimed that the prime minister could manage both the country and his trial – and anyhow, Israeli law allows him to remain in office even under indictment.
They were wrong.

SINCE THE beginning of this health crisis seven months ago, we’ve seen that every decision Netanyahu makes is tainted and motivated by what is good for him personally, and not for the country.

You don’t even have to go that far back to BC – before corona. Just look at last month’s fight over the budget. The leader of the government had originally signed the coalition agreement saying he would pass a two-year budget. But when the deadline neared, he balked, claiming that he would only agree if Blue and White relinquished its veto right over the appointment of a new police chief, attorney-general and state prosecutor. Gantz refused and Netanyahu refused, leaving the country without a budget in one of, if not the worst economic crises it has ever known.

Then there was the fiasco over the lockdown of Israel’s “red” cities. The cabinet decided last Thursday to impose a closure on some 30 cities – mostly Arab and haredi (ultra-Orthodox) – where the infection numbers remain out of control. The decision was supposed to go into effect on Monday evening.

But just hours before that, Netanyahu came under pressure from his last loyal veteran coalition partners – the haredi parties. They made it clear that if he locks down their cities – as if it was being done for a personal vendetta – Netanyahu will pay a political price.

Netanyahu surrendered, and suddenly a lockdown became a curfew, and a curfew became some random and confusing restrictions.

So when massive weddings were then held in haredi and Arab communities on Tuesday night without adhering to restrictions, should anyone really have been surprised?

This wasn’t the first time that the government flip-flopped on decisions impacting the entire nation.

UMAN IS another example. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine told The Jerusalem Post this week that he was specifically asked by Israel weeks ago to restrict access to the grave of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov for Rosh Hashanah.

This was supposed to happen, until the haredim again threatened Netanyahu. Suddenly, when he saw his coalition crumbling, it was no longer a public health risk for thousands of hassidim to go to Ukraine – a risk coronavirus commissioner Prof. Ronni Gamzu specifically said Israel could not allow.
The education system for over two million students is yet a fourth example. At 11 p.m. on Monday night, nine hours before the opening bell, the government changed its mind and closed schools in red cities. Kids who had gone to sleep excited about going back to school after their first summer of corona woke up to the disappointing news that they were staying home once again.

But who cares, right?

Then there is the infighting within the government, which we witnessed this week with an unprecedented assault against the police, the prosecutors and the courts by Netanyahu and his fellow Likud members. One of them, an extreme MK by the name of Shlomo Kari, threatened to take a D9 bulldozer and raze the Justice Ministry building if the attorney-general dared change his mind and rule that Netanyahu has to recuse himself from the premiership.

In response, Benny Gantz – the leader of Blue and White who still walks around with the title of alternate prime minister – put out a video saying that his party will not allow the attacks against the justice system to succeed. “Stand tall,” he told them. “We will protect you.”

This is Israel in 2020: one prime minister attacks and the other defends.
AND THEN there is the signing ceremony in Washington next week of the UAE deal, a historic milestone for Israel marking the establishment of normalized ties with a powerful Gulf state.

But in what world does Netanyahu think that it makes sense for him to fly for four days to the US? That it makes sense for him to leave the country when there are 4,000 new infections every day and we are facing a month-long lockdown?

These aren’t just any four days either. Next Friday night is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and one of the most festive holidays on the Jewish calendar. With Netanyahu in Washington, there is little chance that any decision will be made on a lockdown or restrictions for the holiday – he wouldn’t want declaring those restrictions to overshadow his celebratory photo-op at the White House.

So, what will happen? Judging by the dysfunctionality of this government until now, when Netanyahu lands back in Israel on Wednesday afternoon, he’ll start holding meetings, and by Friday morning, if we are lucky, we will find out what we are allowed to do over the holiday – which starts that evening.

Two other points to keep in mind regarding that UAE signing ceremony. First, the deal will be signed on Tuesday morning. That means that Netanyahu can theoretically leave Israel on Monday night, fly directly to Washington, and fly back to Israel on Tuesday night arriving on Wednesday afternoon. This would give him Sunday and Monday to work on what is more important right now for Israel: saving Israeli lives.

As for the actual signing: Netanyahu will represent Israel, but the UAE will be represented by its foreign minister, Abdullah Bin Zayed. Why Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed is not coming is a mystery itself, but if the foreign minister is signing on behalf of the UAE, then according to diplomatic protocol – as explained to me by a few ex-diplomats who know a thing or two about signing protocols – the foreign minister should sign on Israel’s behalf as well.

This is routinely done, by the way, when foreign ministers sign and heads of state stand behind them. But not in Israel, where Netanyahu is the prime minister and Gabi Ashkenazi is the foreign minister. Does anyone think that Netanyahu is going to share the picture of the historic signing with one of his political rivals? Of course not.

But Netanyahu doesn’t care, and Gantz doesn’t seem to care that much either – or is too weak to do anything about it. On Sunday, when Netanyahu’s fight with the haredim became clear, Gantz paid a trip to Bnai Brak, something he hadn’t done since taking office in May. Until now, Gantz’s influence over the decision making when it comes to COVID-19 has been limited at best and mostly non-existent.

But this week he suddenly came alive, visiting haredi cities, hospitals and more. Is it because of the growing number of infections? Is it because Israel crossed 1,000 deaths? Whom are we kidding? It is for one reason and one reason only: Netanyahu is getting blamed for the failures, so Gantz sees a political opportunity to step up and fill the void.

Nice try – but it’s too late. Gantz will have to do a lot more than simply visit corona-stricken towns and hospitals to regain the public’s trust, just like Netanyahu will have to do a lot more than just cut short his trip to DC for us to believe that he cares about the public.

Israel is in an unprecedented crisis, and this government is not functioning. It is time for it to go home.