Israel bill to limit Muslim call to prayer passes parliamentary first reading

Independent.co.uk - An Israeli law to limit the Muslim call to prayer from mosques has won preliminary approval though opponents have denounced the measure as racist.

Mima Saina, orang Indonesia jadi pahlawan di Israel

Mima Saina (Kiri) dan Tole Madna (Kanan)

Merdeka.com - Mungkin tak banyak orang tahu dan sejarah Indonesia pun belum pernah mencatat. Namun bagi Israel, sekecil apapun sumbangsih bangsa lain kepada warganya menjadi sebuah penghargaan tertinggi. Di Yadvashem dua nama nama orang Indonesia tercatat sebagai pahlawan. Mereka adalah orang-orang telah mempertaruhkan nyawanya untuk warga yahudi dari kekejaman Nazi.

Indonesia, Israel should formalize diplomatic ties

Jpost.com - The link between Indonesia and Israel can be traced back to the 17th century with the presence of the Jewish Diaspora during the Dutch colonial period. In 1921, a Dutch census estimated that around 2,000 Jews were living in Indonesia’s most populous island, Java. Historically, Indonesians were tolerant and accepting of their Jewish communities, which were underrepresented as a minority group. Anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli sentiments in modern Indonesia are unique as they are imported.

Want to be a spy? The Mossad is recruiting

Haaretz.com - It is already common for intelligence agencies to recruit their officers online, but Israel's Mossad has gone one further by touting for local agents and informants too.

Israel, which has full diplomatic ties with only two Arab countries, Egypt and Jordan, lacks embassies elsewhere in the Middle East that would-be informants could turn to, leaving it in need of other local recruitment channels.

"All are welcome, regardless of religion, nationality or occupation, to contact our organization -- Mossad -- to work for us or to be involved in activities which could bring great personal benefit," reads the new "Contact us" section of the Mossad website, also available in Arabic, Farsi, French or Russian.

"Rest assured that total discretion and confidentiality is of the utmost priority and is the basis of our connection."

Even in Egypt and Jordan, Israel's embassies are under heavy scrutiny and, apparently heeding the risk that online offers of information or help may also be far from secure, Mossad adds:

"We suggest you consider whether the computer you are using and your location is secure enough. It would be safer to fill in the form using means that are not directly connected to you."

The glossy Mossad website went up a decade ago to boost recruitment for officers and analysts amid increasingly fierce competition from Israel's booming private hi-tech sector. In one promotional video, a couple are shown racing from shadowy spy missions to family time at home.

Gad Shimron, a former Mossad field officer who now writes on intelligence and military affairs, said the new approach "seems to be an effort by the Mossad to attract the maximum number of interested parties."

"If some of them prove to be valuable sources of information or help, even if 90 percent get written off as useless, that could still be worthwhile."

The Iron Dome Intercepts 15 Rockets At The Same Time

Sebelum Menyerang, Militer Israel Telepon Pemilik Bangunan di Gaza

Warga Jalan Al-Jalla, Gaza menyaksikan sebuah bom Israel jatuh dan menghantam sebuah bangunan. Bom yang jatuh terlihat jelas di bagian atas foto ini.

Kompas.com - Jarum jam menunjukkan pukul 14.30. Warga di Jalan Al-Jalla, Gaza, ramai membicarakan rencana serangan udara Israel. Sasarannya adalah sebuah bangunan bertingkat di jantung kota Gaza.

Anak-anak berkumpul di balkon-balkon bangunan. Para pemuda berkumpul di persimpangan jalan, sementara beberapa orang lainnya meletakkan batu dan ban bekas untuk menghalangi jalan yang melintasi gedung yang akan menjadi sasaran.

Seorang pria yang hanya mengenakan kaus dalam berperan sebagai polisi lalu lintas, mengarahkan pengguna jalan untuk mengubah arah kendaraan mereka. Mobil-mobil berhenti, mata mereka tak berkedip memandang gedung naas yang sesaat lagi akan hancur.

Beberapa menit sebelumnya, militer Israel menelepon putra Bashir al-Ramlawi (58), pemilik dari gedung yang akan menjadi sasaran. Bagaimana militer Israel mendapatkan nomor telepon pemuda tersebut, hal itu masih menjadi misteri.

Suara di ujung lain telepon itu memerintahkan pemuda tersebut mengevakuasi keluarganya karena gedung itu akan menjadi sasaran serangan udara.

Seusai menerima telepon itu, pemuda tersebut dengan panik memanggil sang ayah yang kemudian meminta semua anggota keluarganya yang berjumlah 35 orang untuk meninggalkan gedung itu dan mencari tempat aman.

Para tetangga mungkin melihat keluarga Al-Ramlawi berlarian meninggalkan kediamannya, atau mungkin juga putra Al-Ramlawi menghubungi kawan-kawannya, yang jelas kabar serangan itu menyebar dengan cepat dan dengan segera semua warga di jalan Al-Jalla mengetahui akan datangnya serangan Israel itu.

Menanti

Warga kemudian menunggu detik-detik jatuhnya bom dari langit Gaza. Tiba-tiba, sebuah ledakan keras terdengar diikuti kepulan asap mirip cendawan. Gedung tempat keluarga Al-Ramlawi sudah diserang. Namun, warga sudah mafhum, serangan ini baru "menu" pembukaan.

Beberapa menit kemudian, sebuah bom jatuh dari langit menghantam gedung tersebut. Sekali lagi asap membubung, menyelubungi jalanan di bawahnya. Bom ketiga kemudian menghantam, dan gedung itu masih berdiri.

Tak seorang pun beranjak. Mereka sudah paham, tiga serangan pertama merupakan peringatan kecil dari drone Israel. Serangan ini adalah peringatan bagi siapa pun yang masih berada terlalu dekat dengan gedung itu dan sekaligus sebagai cara "melunakkan" gedung itu.

Jarum jam kini menunjukkan pukul 14.50, dan terdengar raungan jet F-16 di langit Gaza. Sekejap kemudian, sebuah rudal melesat di atas kepala warga Jalan Al-Jalla, menghantam gedung itu.

Asap lebih besar membubung, dan gedung itu akhirnya tumbang. Tak ada korban jiwa atau luka. Gedung-gedung di sekitar sasaran juga tak mengalami kerusakan.

Dalam hitungan menit, ketegangan itu hilang dan jalanan dibuka kembali. Mobil-mobil kembali melanjutkan perjalanan melewati puing-puing bangunan. Semua tampak normal, kecuali tentu bagi Al-Ramlawi.

"Saya tak tahu mengapa mereka menyerang kediaman saya, padahal saya tak memiliki kaitan apa pun dengan Hamas atau kelompok lainnya," kata Al-Ramlawi, nyaris menangis.

Pria itu menambahkan, semua kerabatnya yang tinggal bersama dia sudah pergi mencari tempat aman di Shijaiyah, wilayah timur Gaza. Sekarang, mereka semua tak memiliki tempat tinggal.

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What An Israeli 'Roof Knock' Looks Like

Kami tidak menyasar warga sipil

Paul Hirschson

Merdeka - Untuk kesekian kalinya Israel mempertontonkan kebiadaban mereka terhadap penduduk Palestina, terutama di Jalur Gaza. Perang baru meletup - yang ketiga - sejak mereka mundur dari wilayah seluas 360 kilometer persegi itu.

Tentu saja konflik bersenjata ini mengakibatkan jatuhnya korban warga sipil. Tiga hari sejak operasi militer bersandi jaga Perbatasan dilangsungkan, Israel telah membunuh hampir seratus orang dan melukai lebih dari 700 lainnya.

Berulang kali pula, Israel membantah menyasar warga sipil. "Kami melakukan segala upaya untuk menghindari jatuhnya korban sipil," kata Paul Hirschson, juru bicara Kementerian Luar Negeri Israel, saat dihubungi melalui telepon selulernya semalam.

Berikut penjelasan Hirschson kepada Faisal Assegaf dari merdeka.com.

Apakah adil Israel membalas serangan roket Hamas dengan gempuran berlebihan karena kekuatan militer kedua pihak tidak berimbang?

Sejak awal tahun hingga sebelum tiga hari ini, 400 roket telah ditembakkan oleh Hamas dan kelompok lainnya di Gaza ke arah permukiman di Israel, tanpa pandang bulu berusaha melukai dan membunuh penduduk sipil. Sejak 12 Juni, selama tiga pekan sejak penculikan dan pembunuhan tiga warga kami oleh Hamas, ada peningkatan pesat atas jumlah peluru kendali dan roket ditembakkan dari Gaza ke Israel.

Selama itu pula kami menyampaikan secara terbuka dan melalui sejumlah saluran tertutup agar serangan dihentikan. Hamas menolak pesan itu dan memilih untuk meningkatkan serangan. Ini membuat kami berada dalam posisi sulit.

Perlu ditekankan, rakyat Palestina bukan musuh kami. Kami cuma ingin menyelesaikan pertikaian kami dengan bangsa Palestina dan seluruh negara Arab. Hamas membuat persenjataan yang sama dibuat ISIS di Irak, Boko Haram di Nigeria, dan kelompok lainnya. Tidak diragukan lagi Hamas ingin menghancurkan Israel dan mereka merupakan ancaman nyata bagi rakyat Palestina.

Setelah Hamas menolak pesan kami sampaikan dan memilih untuk memperkeruh konflik, kami mulai mengaktifkan kekuatan militer. Operasi militer kami lancarkan ini tidaklah mudah dan bertujuan untuk menghentikan serangan roket, menghancurkan mesin perang mereka.

Kami tidak jumlah pasti infrastruktur perang mereka tapi kami sudah menyerang 60 terowongan, 30-40 tempat peluncuran roket bawah tanah, lebih dari seratus peluncuran roket bergerak, dua gudang senjata berukuran besar, dan 18 pabrik senjata. Operasi militer ini memang tidak mudah, namun kami ingin menghancurkan infrastruktur teror mereka.

Dalam tiga hari sejak Operasi Jaga Perbatasan digelar, hampir seratus orang tewas dan lebih dari 700 lainnya luka. Apakah Israel memang menyasar warga sipil?

Tentu saja tidak. Kami melakukan segala upaya untuk menghindari jatuhnya korban sipil. Jika Anda lihat rekam jejak perang kami dengan Gaza dua tahun lalu dan lima tahun lalu.

Perbandingan antara militan dan orang sipil terbunuh oleh Israel di Gaza sangat rendah dibanding konflik militer serupa di zaman modern ini. Di Fallujah, Irak, ada sepuluh warga sipil bersama satu kombatan terbunuh, di Kosovo ada lima warga sipil meninggal untuk tiap militan tewas.

Saya tidak tahu berapa jumlah pasti warga sipil tewas saat ini di Gaza karena masih terlalu dini untuk menghitung. Saya tahu ada korban sipil. Kami melakukan semua usaha bisa dilakoni suapa tidak jatuh korban dari warga sipil.

Kami menyebarkan selebaran menggunakan pesawat. Kami memberitahu lokasi bakal kami serang dan meminta penduduk segera meninggalkan rumah mereka. Namun Hamas menggunakan perisai manusia dengan menawan mereka di sasaran bakal kami serang.

Situasi ini sangat sulit. Rakyat Palestina bukan musuh kami. Kami ingin mencegah ada korban sipil. Itulah kenapa selama tiga pekan kami meminta mereka menghentikan serangan roket. Itulah kenapa kami ingin menghancurkan infrastruktur militer mereka lantaran itu hambatan besar untuk berdamai dan menyelesaikan konflik.


Sejauh ini lebih dari 300 rumah rusak akibat gempuran udara Israel. Apakah Israel menjadikan rumah sebagai target serangan?

Tidak. Saya tidak tahu berapa jumlah rumah rusak. Tiga hari terakhir kami sudah melancarkan serangan atas sekitar 750 target. Sebanyak 100-150 target kami adalah tempat peluncuran roket bergerak, lebih dari 40 tempat peluncuran roket bawah tanah, 18 pabrik senjata, dua gudang senjata.

Kami menyasar target sah karena itu infrastruktur teror milik Hamas, Jihad Islam, dan kelompok lainnya di Gaza. Kami akan melakukan segala upaya agar tidak ada korban sipil. Tapi sekali lagi saya ingin tekankan. Ini adalah konflik militer. Hamas menggunakan penduduk sipil sebagai perisai.

Ini tidak mudah, tapi kami tidak pernah berniat menyerang warga sipil atau rumah-rumah mereka.


Maksud Anda Hamas memakai infrastruktur sipil, seperti rumah, sekolah, dan masjid sebagai tempat melancarkan serangan ke Israel?

Mereka sudah lama melakukan hal itu. Mereka menyimpan senjata di masjid, menembakkan roket dari sekolah. Ini bukan cerita baru. Karena itulah mereka tidak hanya mengancam Israel tapi juga berbahaya untuk Palestina.

Memang benar hidup tidaklah mudah di Gaza. Tapi sebagai negara berdaulat, kami wajib melindungi keamanan warga kami.

Jika Israel peduli dengan kemanusiaan, apakah negara Anda bakal membuka perbatasan agar korban luka bisa dirawat di Israel?

Perbatasan terbuka dan berfungsi kemarin. Lebih dari 180 truk berisi makanan, bahan bakar, obat-obatan, dan kebutuhan lainnya dikirim masuk ke Gaza. Hari ini (Kamis) lebih dari 200 juga mengirim pasokan ke Gaza. Kami tidak membatasi hal itu. Kami bertanggung jawab untuk mengirim pasokan obat-obatan ke Gaza sejak kemarin.

Saya tidak yakin seratus persen apakah pihak kami bakal melakukan tindakan serupa Mesir, memberikan layanan kesehatan bagi korban cedera.

Kapan perang ini bakal berakhir dan apa syarat buat gencatan senjata?

(Menarik napas) Kami sudah mengatakan untuk menciptakan ketenangan sebelum perang ini terjadi, tapi mereka menolak. Sekarang ini perhatian utama kami adalah menghancurkan infrastruktur militer mereka. Itu tidak mudah dan tidak bakal terwujud dalam semalam.

Apakah invasi bakal dilakukan dalam dua atau tiga hari ke depan?

Kemungkinan itu ada namun belum ada keputusan. Pemerintah telah menyuruh militer bersiap untuk melancarkan serangan darat tapi keputusan belum dibuat.

Researchers find 300,000-year-old hearth in Israel

Qesem Cave near the central Israel town of Rosh Ha'ayin, with an arrow pointing to a 300,000-year-old hearth recently uncovered. (The Weizmann Institute)

Foxnews.com - They weren’t cooking brontosaurus burgers -- but maybe mammoth meat?

A team of researchers has uncovered the oldest hearth in Israel, a 300,000-year-old fire pit where prehistoric humans roasted ancient meats. Scientists estimate that humans discovered fire over a million years ago, and this find helps determine when our ancestors learned to cultivate it and use it as a tool, said Ruth Shahack-Gross of the Kimmel Center for Archeological Science at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

“These findings help us to fix an important turning point in the development of human culture – that in which humans first began to regularly use fire both for cooking meat and as a focal point – a sort of campfire – for social gatherings,” Shahack-Gross said in a press release.

“They also tell us something about the impressive levels of social and cognitive development of humans living some 300,000 years ago.”

The hearth was discovered in the Qesem Cave near the central Israel town of Rosh Ha’ayin, a spot archaeologists have plumbed for nearly 15 years. During recent work there, Shahack-Gross spied a thick deposit of wood ash, hardened and compressed over the centuries into sediment and buried in the center of the cave.

By taking thin slices of it and studying it under a microscope -- using a technique called infrared spectroscopy -- she and her colleagues Avi Gopher and Ran Barkai of Tel Aviv University determined that bits of bone and soil that had been heated to very high temperatures were mixed in with the ash.

There were also tiny but clear layers in the ash, which she called conclusive proof that the area had been the site of a large hearth that was used over and over again.

Around the hearth area they found flint tools that were clearly used for cutting meat -- early knives and forks, in a sense. Flint tools found just a few feet away had a different shape and were clearly designed for other activities.

Also in and around the area were burnt animal bones -- further evidence for use of the fire pit for cooking meat.

Biblical-Era Town Discovered Along Sea of Galilee

Scientificamerican.com - A town dating back more than 2,000 years has been discovered on the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee, in Israel's Ginosar valley.

The ancient town may be Dalmanutha (also spelled Dalmanoutha), described in the Gospel of Mark as the place Jesus sailed to after miraculously feeding 4,000 people by multiplying a few fish and loaves of bread, said Ken Dark, of the University of Reading in the U.K., whose team discovered the town during a field survey.

The archaeologists also determined that a famous boat, dating to around 2,000 years ago, and uncovered in 1986, was found on the shoreline of the newly discovered town. The boat was reported on two decades ago but the discovery of the town provides new information on what lay close to it.

The evidence the team found suggests the town was prosperous in ancient times. "Vessel glass and amphora hint at wealth," Dark wrote in an article published in the most recent edition of the journal Palestine Exploration Quarterly, while "weights and stone anchors, along with the access to beaches suitable for landing boats — and, of course, the first-century boat … all imply an involvement with fishing." [Photos: 4,000-Year-Old Structure Hidden Under Sea of Galilee]

The architectural remains and pottery suggest that Jews and those following a polytheistic religion lived side by side in the community. In addition, the researchers found that the southern side of the newly discovered town lies only about 500 feet (150 meters) away from another ancient town known as Magdala.

Architecture and pottery

Fields between the modern-day town of Migdal and the sea coast contained hundreds of pottery pieces dating from as early as the second or first century B.C. to up to some point after the fifth century A.D., the time of the Byzantine Empire, the archaeologists found. The artifacts suggest the town survived for many centuries.

Also among their finds were cubes known as tesserae and limestone vessel fragments, which were "associated with Jewish purity practices in the early Roman period," indicating the presence of a Jewish community in the town, Dark told LiveScience in an email.

Some of the most impressive finds, however, were not made in the fields but rather in modern-day Migdal itself. The archaeologists found dozens of examples of ancient architectural remains, some of which the modern-day townspeople had turned into seats or garden ornaments, or simply left lying on the ground. In one instance, the researchers found more than 40 basalt ashlar blocks in a single garden.

After talking to the local people, and trying to identify the source and date of the findings, the researchers determined that many of the architectural remains came from the local area and likely were part of this newly discovered town. [Photos: Amazing Ruins of the Ancient World]

These remains included a number of ancient column fragments, including examples of capitals (the top of columns) carved in a Corinthian style. "This settlement may have contained masonry buildings, some with mosaic floors and architectural stonework," Dark wrote in his paper.

The finds also included a pagan altar, made of light-gray limestone and used in religious rituals by those of a polytheistic faith, Dark said.

Is it Dalmanutha?

In the New Testament, Dalmanutha is mentioned only briefly in the Gospel of Mark.

The gospel says that after feeding 4,000 people by miraculously multiplying a few fish and loaves of bread, Jesus "got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha. The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, 'Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.'Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side." (Mark 8:10-13, New International Version)

Dark isn't certain the newly discovered town is Dalmanutha, but there is evidence to support the idea. From the remains found, researchers can tell the newly discovered town would have been a sizable, thriving location in the first century A.D., and the name Dalmanutha has not been firmly linked to a known archaeological site.

It's likely that the newly found town's name is among the few place-names already identified by other researchers relating to the Ginosar valley shore, and one of those places is Dalmanutha, Dark said.

New clues to King Solomon's mines found

Foxnews.com - New evidence that links the vast copper mines in southern tip of Israel to the reign of King Solomon has been discovered, archaeologists report.

During the Iron Age, humans took advantage of the copper deposits lurking in Israel's Timna Valley, as evidenced by the thousands of ancient mines and dozens of smelting sites in the district. But archaeologists have debated who controlled the mines, and when.

After American archaeologist Nelson Glueck explored the region in the 1930s, he announced he had found the real-life "King Solomon's Mines" in the biblical kingdom of Edom. ("King Solomon's Mines" was a popular Victorian adventure novel, published by the English author H. Rider Haggard.)

Later research and the 1969 discovery of an Egyptian temple in the center of the valley cast doubt on Glueck's claims. Some archaeologists have since favored an interpretation suggesting the ancient Egyptians first built the mines in the 13th century B.C. [In Photos: Amazing Ruins of the Ancient World]

But recent excavations at Timna Valley turned up artifacts that have been radiocarbon dated to the 10th century B.C., when the Bible says King Solomon ruled.

The mines, however, were likely operated by the Edomites, a semi-nomadic tribe that battled constantly with Israel, the researchers say.

"The mines are definitely from the period of King Solomon," archaeologist Erez Ben-Yosef of Tel Aviv University, said in a statement this week. "They may help us understand the local society, which would have been invisible to us otherwise."

This past winter, Ben-Yosef and a team of researchers investigated an area known as Slaves' Hill, a previously untouched smelting camp that holds traces of hundreds of furnaces and layers of copper slag, the grit that's left over after the metal is extracted from its ore.

The site lacks significant architectural ruins, but the researchers found more ephemeral traces of ancient life: bits of clothing, woven ropes, dates, grapes, pistachios and ceramics.

Eleven samples of material from Slaves' Hill were submitted for testing at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit at the University of Oxford in England. The results showed that the ancient items dated to Solomon's reign, the researchers said.

"In Timna Valley, we unearthed a society with undoubtedly significant development, organization, and power," Ben-Yosef said in a statement. "And yet because the people were living in tents, they would have been transparent to us as archaeologists if they had been engaged in an industry other than mining and smelting, which is very visible archaeologically."

Despite debate about how much archaeologists can trust the Bible as a historical source, Ben-Yosef added that it's very possible David and Solomon existed and at times, may have even exerted some control over the Timna Valley mines.

Ben-Yosef told LiveScience in an email that the team plans to submit their findings to a peer-reviewed academic journal. The new radiocarbon dates are in line with the chronology Ben-Yosef and other researchers put forth last year in the journal American Schools of Oriental Research. That 2012 study was based on findings from a nearby mining site.

Message decoded: 3,000-year-old text sheds light on biblical history

Foxnews.com - A few characters on the side of a 3,000-year-old earthenware jug dating back to the time of King David have stumped archaeologists until now -- and a fresh translation may have profound ramifications for our understanding of the Bible.

Experts had suspected the fragmentary inscription was written in the language of the Canaanites, a biblical people who lived in the present-day Israel. Not so, says one expert who claims to have cracked the code: The mysterious language is actually the oldest form of written Hebrew, placing the ancient Israelites in Jerusalem earlier than previously believed.

"Hebrew speakers were controlling Jerusalem in the 10th century, which biblical chronology points to as the time of David and Solomon," ancient Near Eastern history and biblical studies expert Douglas Petrovich told FoxNews.com.

"Whoever they were, they were writing in Hebrew like they owned the place," he said.

First discovered near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem last year, the 10th century B.C. fragment has been labeled the Ophel Inscription. It likely bears the name of the jug's owners and its contents.

If Petrovich's analysis proves true, it would be evidence of the accuracy of Old Testament tales. If Hebrew as a written language existed in the 10th century, as he says, the ancient Israelites were recording their history in real time as opposed to writing it down several hundred years later. That would make the Old Testament an historical account of real-life events.

According to Petrovich, archaeologists are unwilling to call it Hebrew to avoid conflict.

"It's just the climate among scholars that they want to attribute as little as possible to the ancient Israelites," he said.

Needless to say, his claims are stirring up controversy among those who do not like to mix the hard facts of archaeology -- dirt, stone and bone -- with stories from the Bible.

Tel Aviv University archaeologist Israel Finkelstein told FoxNews.com that the Ophel Inscription is critical to the early history of Israel. But romantic notions of the Bible shouldn't cloud scientific methods -- a message he pushed in 2008 when a similar inscription was found at a site many now call one of King David's palaces.

At the time, he warned the Associated Press against the "revival in the belief that what's written in the Bible is accurate like a newspaper."

Today, he told FoxNews.com that the Ophel Inscription speaks to "the expansion of Jerusalem from the Temple Mount, and shows us the growth of Jerusalem and the complexity of the city during that time." But the Bible? Maybe, maybe not.

Professor Aren Maeir of Bar Ilan University agrees that some archaeologists are simply relying too heavily on the Bible itself as a source of evidence.

"[Can we] raise arguments about the kingdom of David and Solomon? That seems to me a grandiose upgrade," he told Haaretz recently.

In the past decade, there has been a renaissance in Israel of archaeologists looking for historical evidence of biblical stories. FoxNews.com has reported on several excavations this year claiming to prove a variety of stories from the Bible.

Most recently, a team lead by archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel wrapped up a ten-year excavation of the possible palace of King David, overlooking the valley where the Hebrew king victoriously smote the giant Goliath.

Garfinkel has another explanation as to the meaning behind the Ophel Inscription.

"I think it's like a [cellphone] text," Garfinkel told FoxNews.com. "If someone takes a text from us 3,000 years from now, he will not be able to understand it."

The writing on the fragmented jug is a type of shorthand farmers of the 10th century used, in his opinion, and not an official way of communication that was passed on.

"What's more important is that there is a revolution in this type of inscription being found," Garfinkel told FoxNews.com. There have been several from the same time period found across Israel in the past five years.

"When we find more and more of these inscriptions, maybe not until the next generation, we may have a breakthrough," he said.

Wah! Indonesia Ternyata Impor Kurma dari Israel

Detik.com - Meski tidak resmi memiliki hubungan diplomatik dengan Israel, tetapi rupanya hubungan dagang Indonesia dengan negara Yahudi ini tidak dapat dilepaskan seutuhnya.

Tercatat dalam data Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS) yang dikutip detikcom, Selasa (7/8/2012), setidaknya dari 9 buah impor terbesar yang diminati masyarakat Indonesia, ada 2 buah impor yang berasal dari Israel.

Memang jumlahnya tidak banyak, tetapi pada bulan Juni tahun ini, tercatat masuknya impor kurma dari Israel. Impor tersebut sebanyak 20,6 ton dengan nilai US$ 191,3 ribu dan baru dilakukan satu bulan sejak bulan Januari 2012.

Selain itu, ada juga buah Jeruk Shantang yang berasal dari negara zionis ini. Sebanyak 0,666 ton jeruk shantang dengan nilai US$ 709 masuk dari Israel pada bulan April tahun ini. Impor jeruk itu, hanya terjadi sekali sepanjang satu semester tahun 2012.

Israeli Warships in Suez Canal a Signal to Iran?

Two Israeli warships reportedly sailed through the Suez Canal on Tuesday, ten days after a submarine believed to be nuclear-armed made the crossing.

The deployment into the Red Sea, confirmed by Israeli officials to The Times of London, came ahead of long-range exercises by the Israeli air force with the U.S. later this month and the test of a missile defense shield at a U.S. missile range in the Pacific.

Israel has strengthened ties with Arab nations who also fear a nuclear-armed Iran. In particular, relations with Egypt have grown increasingly strong this year over the “shared mutual distrust of Iran”, according to one Israeli diplomat.

"This is preparation that should be taken seriously. Israel is investing time in preparing itself for the complexity of an attack on Iran. These maneuvers are a message to Iran that Israel will follow up on its threats," the Times of London quoted an Israeli defense official as saying.

If Israel were to launch an attack on Iran, Israeli naval vessels would likely pass through the Suez Canal, the official said.

It is believed that Israel’s missile-equipped submarines, and its fleet of advanced aircraft, could be used to strike in excess of a dozen nuclear-related targets more than 800 miles from Israel.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told The Times that his government explicitly allowed passage of Israeli vessels, and an Israeli admiral said the drills were "run regularly with the full co-operation of the Egyptians."

Two Israeli Saar class missile boats and a Dolphin class submarine have passed through Suez. Israel has six Dolphin-class submarines, three of which may carry nuclear missiles.

Report: Saudis Give Nod to Israeli Strike on Iran

The head of Mossad, Israel's overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran's nuclear sites.

Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad's director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility.

The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials.

"The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia," a diplomatic source said last week.

Although the countries have no formal diplomatic relations, an Israeli defense source confirmed that Mossad maintained "working relations" with the Saudis.

John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who recently visited the Gulf, said it was "entirely logical" for the Israelis to use Saudi airspace.

Bolton, who has talked to several Arab leaders, added: "None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn't trumpet it as a big success."

Report: Israel Preparing Assault on Iran's Nuclear Sites

The Israeli military is preparing itself to launch a massive aerial assault on Iran's nuclear facilities within days of being given the go-ahead by its new government, the Times of London reported.

Among the steps taken to ready Israeli forces for what would be a risky raid requiring pinpoint aerial strikes are the acquisition of three Airborne Warning and Control (AWAC) aircraft and regional missions to simulate the attack.

Two nationwide civil defence drills will help to prepare the public for the retaliation that Israel could face.

“Israel wants to know that if its forces were given the green light they could strike at Iran in a matter of days, even hours. They are making preparations on every level for this eventuality. The message to Iran is that the threat is not just words,” one senior defense official told the Times.

Officials believe that Israel could be required to hit more than a dozen targets, including moving convoys. The sites include Natanz, where thousands of centrifuges produce enriched uranium; Esfahan, where 250 tons of gas is stored in tunnels; and Arak, where a heavy water reactor produces plutonium.

The distance from Israel to at least one of the sites is more than 870 miles, a distance that the Israeli force practiced covering in a training exercise last year that involved F15 and F16 jets, helicopters and refuelling tankers.

Miracle Baby Came Back To Life

London, Aug 19 (ANI): An Israeli baby declared dead by doctors 'came back to life' after spending five hours in a hospital's morgue refrigerator.

The baby was pronounced dead several hours earlier, after doctors at Western Galilee hospital in northern Israel were forced to abort her mother Faiza Magdoub's pregnancy because of internal bleeding.

Magdoub was in the fifth month of her pregnancy.

The baby, weighing only 600 grams at birth, spent at least five hours inside one of the hospital's morgue refrigerators, before her parents, who had taken her to be buried, began noticing some movement.

"We unwrapped her and felt she was moving. We didn't believe it at first. Then she began holding my mother's hand, and then we saw her open her mouth," the Telegraph quoted Magdoub, as saying.

Hospital deputy director Moshe Daniel said: "We don't know how to explain this, so when we don't know how to explain things in the medical world we call it a miracle, and this is probably what happened."

"We've informed the Health Ministry and I guess they'll appoint a commission of inquiry. The hospital will ask for an external investigation of the case," Daniel added.

Motti Ravid, a professor of internal medicine, told Israel's Channel 10 that the low temperature inside the cooler had slowed down the baby's metabolism and likely helped her survive. (ANI)