‘Free Zion’ coin minted 1,967 years ago unveiled

HERB KEINON

“The liberation of Jerusalem changed the city fundamentally.”

‘Free Zion’ coin minted 1,967 years ago. Photo By: CULTURE AND SPORT MINISTRY

Long before the “Free Palestine’slogan became popular – in fact about 1,967 years before – a “‘Freedom of Zion” coin was minted and circulated in Jerusalem.

Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev unveiled that coin at Sunday’s cabinet as part of a presentation she gave about preparations for next year’s celebration of 50 years since the reunification of Jerusalem. The coin was uncovered during an excavation about a month ago of a recently uncovered road in Jerusalem. The excavation site will be opened to the public during Hanukka.

The ancient coin was one of a series minted during the Jewish revolt against the Romans that eventually led to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70. The flip-side of the coin bears the inscription, “Two years to the Great Revolt,” which dates it to the year 67.

“Exactly 1,900 years later, in 1967, the paratroopers entered Jerusalem’s Old City and renewed its freedom, and ours,” Regev said. “We restored Jewish sovereignty to Jerusalem. We threw into the dustbin of history the coin issued by Titus after his victory over the rebels: Judea Capta [Judea Captive].”

read more: ‘Free Zion’ coin minted 1,967 years ago unveiled

EXCLUSIVE: HR Exposes Accredited Journalist as BDS Activist

Simon Plosker

Judging by Antony Loewenstein’s Twitter feed, it looks like we’ve caught his attention:

Fanatical #Zionist lobby “exposes” me as a journalist working in #Israel/#economic when all my work/background is widely available online https://t.co/UdWKxD8teV
— Antony Loewenstein (@antloewenstein) December 15, 2016

.@antloewenstein The issue is that a hateful BDS activist shouldn't be running around Israel with a press card & @FPAIsPal membership.

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) December 15, 2016

When Yesh Atid chairperson Yair Lapid responded to a hostile question at a press conference this week in Jerusalem, he may not have realized how close to the mark he was when he attacked The Guardian and some media outlets for taking a one-sided approach towards Israel and the Palestinians.

For the question was being posed by an anti-Israel activist at an event organized by Israel’s Foreign Press Association. The activist was also the holder of an official press card issued to him by Israel’s Government Press Office. Serious questions need to be asked concerning his FPA membership, the GPO’s due diligence and his dubious self-claimed links to The Guardian.

The questioner was Antony Loewenstein, a self-described freelance journalist for publications including The Guardian. Yet when HonestReporting asked The Guardian directly about him, incredibly Peter Beaumont, the newspaper’s Israel correspondent replied in an email: “I don’t anything [sic] about Antony Loewenstein.”

Furthermore, Harriet Sherwood, a former Israel correspondent and The Guardian’s current religion correspondent posted the following on Facebook in response to the original Jerusalem Post story of Loewenstein’s appearance at the FPA event:

Either way, Loewenstein was at the press conference. The Jerusalem Post described the exchange as follows:

“You talked before about the idea that since Oslo, Israel has done little or nothing wrong, but the truth is that 2017 is the 50th anniversary of the occupation.

There are now 600,000- 800,000 settlers, all of whom are regarded by international law as illegal, including your good friends in Amona apparently.”

“Is there not a deluded idea here that many Israeli politicians, including yourself, continue to believe that one can talk to the world about democracy, freedom and human rights while denying that to millions of Palestinians, and will there not come a time soon, in a year, five years, 10 years, where you and other politicians will be treated like South African politicians during Apartheid?” he asked.
Lapid pushed back stating: “The problem is that the Palestinians are encouraged by The Guardian and others saying we don’t need to do anything in order to work for our future because the international community will call Israel an apartheid country.”

[See the video below for Lapid’s complete response.]

https://www.facebook.com/yeshatid/videos/1254182387971752/

read more: EXCLUSIVE: HR Exposes Accredited Journalist as BDS Activist

WATCH: IAF pilots fly F-35 over Israel for the first time

Traditional Jewish wedding

Mor yehiel

WATCH: For the first time, ISIS targets IDF troops

For the first time, Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists intentionally attacked Israel, this report indicates. Several mortars “spilled over” into Israeli territory in the past, but today’s attack was the first in which ISIS targeted IDF troops.