Brit-Am Regular Updates and Outposts on Contemporary Issues
Update from the Holy Land.
A BRIT-AM HEBREW AWARENESS PROJECT.
12 May 2023; 21 Iyar, 5783.
Contents:
1. Israel to turn Biblical Sebastia into archaeological park.
2. Rocket kills man in Israel as strikes target Gaza militant commanders.
3. Unprecedented: EU body links textbook antisemitism to Palestinian attacks.
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Isaiah (KJV) 42:
6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a Covenant of the People [BRIT- AM], for a light of the Gentiles;
Isaiah (KJV) 49:
8 Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a Covenant of the People [BRIT- AM], to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
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1. Israel to turn Biblical Sebastia into archaeological park.
https://jewishwebsite.com/featured/israel-to-turn-biblical-sebastia-into-archaeological-park/89668/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Today+in+JWS
The capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel will be preserved and prepared for visitors. Photo: Roman columns at Tel Sebastia. Photo by Ovedc via Wikimedia Commons.
By
Etgar Lefkovits
Extracts:
-
May 9, 2023
The Israeli Cabinet approved a nearly $9 million budget on Sunday for the restoration and development of Sebastia, a major archaeological site that served as the capital of the Kingdom of Israel nearly three millennia ago.
The investment at the history-rich site deep in the biblical heartland comes after Palestinian vandalism there and follows decades of neglect, damage and disrepair due to lawlessness in an area marked by conflicting Israeli and Palestinian control.
The site is located a few miles northwest of Nablus.
The ancient city of Shomron (Samaria in English) was the capital of the Kingdom of Israel during the 9th and 8th centuries B.C.E. Herod the Great renamed it 'Sebastia' in honor of Emperor Augustus, translating the Latin epithet augustus to the Greek sebastos, 'venerable,' according to Josephus.
Since the Oslo Accords, the archaeological site has been in Area C of Judea and Samaria, under full Israeli control, and the adjacent present-day Arab village of Sebastia has been in Area B, under Israeli security control and Palestinian Authority civilian jurisdiction.
Alexander the Great, King Herod and medieval Islamic rulers left their marks on the site.
The site has barely been excavated.
The last archaeological dig took place in 1967, when the area was still under Jordanian occupation. Since then, only salvage excavations have taken place.
Moreover, like many archaeological sites in Judea and Samaria, visits to Sebastia by tourists are restricted due to security concerns.
Yossi Dagan, chairman of the Samaria Regional Council, welcomed the government's plan as 'historic.'
'This is the first step towards saving one of the most important heritage sites in history,' he said.
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2. Rocket kills man in Israel as strikes target Gaza militant commanders
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-65553728
By Raffi Berg and Rushdi Abu Alouf
BBC News, in London & Gaza City
Extracts:
The Israeli military has killed two Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders [in addition to the three commanders killed the day before] in air strikes in Gaza during a third day of fighting with militants there.
A pre-dawn attack on an apartment in Khan Younis killed the head of PIJ's rocket-launching force and two others, who the military said were militants.
In the afternoon, his deputy was killed in a strike in a nearby town.
Later, one man was killed when a rocket fired from Gaza hit a building in the central Israeli city of Rehovot.
It was the first fatality in Israel since it began an operation against PIJ on Tuesday morning with a series of air strikes that killed another three of the group's commanders.
Twenty-nine people have been killed and 93 injured in Gaza over the same period, health officials there say. At least 10 civilians are also among the dead, which the United Nations has called unacceptable.
The Israeli military said four people, including three children, were killed in Gaza by rockets falling short on Wednesday, though this has not been corroborated by Palestinian sources. PIJ denied the allegation and accused Israel of trying to evade responsibility for their deaths.
Militants have launched at least 803 rockets since Wednesday, 620 of which have crossed into Israeli territory, the Israeli military says. Some have hit buildings, but most have landed in open areas or been intercepted. It says it has hit 191 PIJ sites since Tuesday.
On Thursday night a barrage of rockets reached the area around Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial capital, about 60km (37 miles) north of Gaza, with no immediate reports of injuries.
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3. Unprecedented: EU body links textbook antisemitism to Palestinian attacks
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bygh1mq42
European Parliament resolution contains unprecedented criticism against the Palestinians for the inciting textbooks it pays for; says will freeze funding until changes made
BY
Itamar Eichner|
The European Parliament passed a resolution condemning the Palestinian Authority for continuing to incite violence, antisemitism and hatred in its textbooks. It is the fourth year in a row that such a resolution was passed, but is the first resolution to demand its removal. The resolution passed on Wednesday called to freeze of funding to the Palestinian Authority until its curriculum is adjusted to international standards of peace and tolerance and hatred is removed.