Things to Worry About

1. U.S. textbooks portray Judaism and Christianity inaccurately and condescendingly, while describing Islam exactly as the Moslem clerics do.  Israel is portrayed as an agressive terrorist state, while Palestinian terror is almost ignored.  These textbooks are being used by tens of millions of students!
2. Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls? An opinion piece in the [...]

Ahmadinejad’s Anti-Semitic Rants in New York

Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is spreading his anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist and Holocaust denial rhetoric in New York.  On Tuesday he told Larry King that more research needs to be done to determine the extent of the Holocaust.  He said it is impossible to be both Jewish and Zionist, because “How can you be religious and kill [...]

Newly Discovered Pictures of the Hebron Massacre

A collection of pictures from the Hebron Massacre of 1929, as well as simultaneous massacres around the country, have been posted on the website of Hebron’s Jewish community.  Noam Arnon has identified most of the victims and even corrected some wrong identifications.  The collection was given to Arnon by the widow of Gershon Gera, a [...]

Arab States as a Refuge for Jews?

How’s this for irony?  In 1936, the Mufti of Jerusalem (Haj Amin Al-Husseini) told the Peel Commission that the Jews had always fared well under Moslem rule:
It will not be the first time that Jews have lived under the aegis of an Arab state. In the past it has been the Arab states which were [...]

Obama, Zionism and the American Dream

Barack Obama writes for Jewels of Elul:
Just as the courageous Zionists who established the State of Israel were energized by Theodore Herzl’s dictum, so do Americans draw inspiration from the notion that determination can turn our dreams into reality.
As someone who grew up without a strong sense of roots, I have always been drawn to [...]

Israel Antiquities Authority Setting Up Shop in Canada

The Israel Antiquities Authority hopes it can use the upcoming exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto as a jumping-off point for building a relationship between the IAA and Canadian Jewry.  The IAA has sent Ya’en Vered to Toronto for three years.  He has set up an office and [...]

Prime Ministers of Israel

Eric at The Israel Situation has started a series on Israeli Prime Ministers in History.  So far you can read about David Ben-Gurion and Moshe Sharett.  Check it out!

Avraham Biran Died at 99

Avraham Biran, Director of the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology of HUC-JIR/Jerusalem, died this morning at the age of 99 in Jerusalem.  He was awarded the Israel Prize in 2002.  His most famous work was the excavation of Tel Dan.  He also directed excavations at Anathoth, Tel Zippor, Ira, Aroer and the synagogue [...]

The Aleppo Codex Is in the News Again

Every once in a while, the Aleppo Codex pops up in the news.  This time, it is because Biblical Archaeology Review posted an article on the history of the Codex on its website.
In response to the partition vote, anti-Jewish riots broke out in Aleppo, Syria, and elsewhere in the Arab world. The Aleppo synagogues were [...]

Middle East Antiquities Database

The Jordanian Department of Antiquities and Iraq State Board of Antiquities and Heritage are teaming up with the Getty Conservation Institute to create a database of Middle East antiquities.  The project will standardize archaeological information and be available online in both Arabic and English.  Reported (in brief) by the New York Times.