Sanders--Now What He Tries To Sell

The Hypocrisy of Senator Bernie Sanders

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The Hypocrisy of Senator Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders Condemns Anti-Semitism in Iowa Menorah Ceremony

December 30, 2019

The presiding Rabbi Yossi Jacobson at the ceremony asked Sanders why he rarely discussed his Judaism while on the campaign trail and reluctantly participated in the Chanukah Menorah lighting ceremony. Sanders dodged the question and for good reason.

One can only smell a rat in the hypocrisy in Sander’s condemnation of rising Anti-semitism. His own actions belie any genuine concern. Sanders in his role in the Senate has most often taken anti-Israel positions and anti-American positions that contradict  his usual populous meaningless platitudes of supposed Israel support.

What are Bernie Sander’s stands on issues that matter to Jewish voters

At the recent Democratic debate on December 19, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “racist,” and called for a US policy toward Israel that makes space for both Israeli security and a “pro-Palestinian” perspective.

Sanders said, “Israel has — and I say this as somebody who lived in Israel as a kid, proudly Jewish – Israel has the right to exist, not only to exist but to exist in peace and security. But what US foreign policy must be about is not just being pro-Israel. We must be pro-Palestinian as well.” 

“We must understand that right now in Israel we have leadership under Netanyahu, who has recently, as you know, been indicted for bribery, who, in my view, is a racist. 

What we need is a level playing field in terms of the Middle East, which addresses the terrible crisis in Gaza, where 60 percent or 70% of the young people are unemployed,” he added.

Additional Commentary by Jerome S. Kaufman

One must fact check check Sander’s blanket statements along with their crowd pleasing meaningless platitudes. There is absolutely no evidence that Netanyahu is “racist”  He is simply defending a very small portion of the land that was given to the Jewish people by G-d in the first place and, in a far less significant temporal way, the League of Nations and the British Mandate.  

As to Gaza, the mess in Gaza is entirely the problem of Hamas who wrested all the territory away from the Palestinian Authority after Israel PM  Ariel Sharon unilaterally relinquished Israel’s jurisdiction over Gaza in a misguided gesture of “peace” in August 2005. 

Sharon had the Israel Defense  Forces forcibly remove 8600 well established Israeli residents of a thriving community of productive green houses, which the Arabs promptly destroyed when given the land and against their own financial self interests.

It is often said that one can be judged by the company one keeps. In Sander’s case, that concept is an absolute road map.

Sanders has allied with surrogates like Linda Sarsour, a vehement anti- Jewish anti-Israel activist, and Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan congresswoman, who are harshly critical of Israel — not just because of its policies, but of its status as a Jewish state.

He has also enthusiastically  teamed up with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,

the millennial “it girl” of modern progressivism who is he hopes propping up the septuagenarian socialist senator  “This is not just about running for president,” she said in a video announcing her support. “This is about creating a mass movement.” Whatever that means.

Ocasio-Cortez was joined in her endorsement by Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar. “Proud to endorse @SenSanders for President, glad that @AOC and @RashidaTlaib are on board too,” she tweeted. “It’s time.”

You may remember In February, Omar responded to a tweet from journalist Glenn Greenwald, who posted about House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy threatening to punish Omar and another congresswoman for being critical of Israel.

Omar wrote back, “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” a line about $100 bills from a Puff Daddy song. Critics jumped on the tweet and said Omar was calling up a negative and harmful stereotype of Jewish Americans.

In another tweet soon after, Omar named the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, saying it was funding Republican support for Israel, which is another complete lie. This tweet received bipartisan backlash, and Omar was widely accused of anti-Semitic speech.

Rashida Tlaib (MI Rep) also dived into the hate speech There was this headline back in January from a New York Post editorial: “Rashida Tlaib casually dives into anti-Semitism”

The focus of the editorial was Tlaib’s remark in support of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and her criticism of colleagues who supported Israel. Tlaib said: “They forgot what country they represent.” 

This drew an immediate rebuke from the Jewish Democratic Council of America and the Anti-Defamation League. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) said this: “This ‘dual loyalty’ canard is a typical anti-Semitic line. BDS isn’t about freedom & equality, it’s about destroying Israel.”

You may also remember the charade Rashida Tlaib pulled pretending to want to visit her aged, sick grandmother in Israel. Her real mission was of course to thickly spread anti-Israel hatred in the country. PM Netanyahu opposed the visit for awhile but then under US administrative pressure okayed it with the proviso that Tlaib could not travel around the country spewing her poison. At that point Tlaib suddenly lost interest in visiting her sick grandmother.

Then there was Sanders confusing equivocal position on BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanction Israel)

Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and James Risch, R-Idaho introduced the first bill to be considered in the Republican-led Senate, consolidating four bills that languished in the last Congress: One codifies into law $38 billion in defense assistance for Israel over 10 years; another protects states that pass laws against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel, including states that ban contracts with Israel boycotters.

Bernie Sanders quickly reacted and blasted the introduction of anti-BDS bill as ‘absurd’

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 – “While I do not support the BDS movement, we must defend every American’s constitutional right to engage in political activity. It is clear to me that this bill would violate Americans’ First Amendment rights.  

Although Sanders has grandstanded his opposition to BDS, especially before Jewish audience, when push came to shove, he voted against the Marco Rubio/James Risch legislation which put teeth into the States ability to act against BDS. Just another example of  Sander’s hypocrisy and sham support of Israel and Jewish causes.  

In summary, those who say you are known by the bedfellows you keep are dead right. A golf buddy savant of mine said it a little differently. He always reminded his daughters that “When you lie down with dogs, you get fleas.”  I guess Sander’s father forgot to remind him of that. Maybe it is time the voters of this beautiful country did?

Jerome S. Kaufman, Publisher/Editor Sande 

To Islam, There Is NO Other Legitimate Religion

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The Islamization of History by Uzay Bulut July 30, 2017 at 5:00 am https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10641/history-islamization Share452   Comment Not only does no other religion in Turkey, other than Islam, have the power, influence or financing of the Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet) -- whose budget even surpasses that of most ministries; other religions are either not officially recognized (as in the cases of Alevism and Yazidism), or are on the verge of complete governmental elimination -- as in the cases of Judaism, Greek Orthodoxy, Assyrian (Syriac) and Armenian Christianity. "...[S]ince the creation of the world there is only one religion and it is the religion of Islam.... therefore, when Islam was not in that area before Mohammed came to it, it should have been there....So any place like this had to be freed, not to be conquered...And therefore, there is no Islamic occupation. If somebody occupies anything, it will always be somebody else, not the Muslims. So, there is no Islamic occupation. There is only Islamic liberation." -- Moshe Sharon, Professor Emeritus of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem To be effective, however, policies safeguarding religious liberty must include conducting an honest and open discussion of the history and doctrine of Islam, as well as its contemporary iteration, not as a "religion of peace" -- which, in Islam, is to occur only after the entire world has accepted Allah, as well as Islamic law, Sharia -- but as one of war and terror. The debate over whether Islam has been hijacked by fundamentalists -- or whether the religion itself preaches the kind of hatred that leads to terrorism -- has been raging since the 9/11/2001 attacks on the United States. Although this issue has not been resolved, one thing is clear: in the Muslim world, the demonization of Jews and Christians is commonplace. Take Turkey, for example, where anti-Semitism has been exhibited publicly for decades by prominent members of government, the religious establishment and the media. In June this year, the head of the government's Religious Affairs Directorate -- the "Diyanet" -- joined the chorus. In a speech he delivered in Gaziantep -- a transcript of which was posted on the Diyanet's official Twitter account -- Prof. Dr. Mehmet Görmez announced that Islam was brought to the world by Allah to correct the "distortions" of Judaism and Christianity. At the center of Judaism, he said, was "material, money and wealth." Christianity, he asserted, took the opposite, albeit equally "wrong," interpretation of the divine, as it "came up with an understanding that denigrated the world and deemed property and wealth almost forbidden [haram]." Mehmet Görmez, President of Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), announced in June that Islam was brought to the world by Allah to correct the "distortions" of Judaism and Christianity. (Image source: Tezkiretul/Wikimedia Commons) The Diyanet was established in 1924 by the founding government of Turkey, under the Republican People's Party, after the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate, as a successor to Sheikh ul-Islam, the previous religious-affairs authority. It has many departments, chief among them the High Board of Religious Affairs, whose duties include: "[M]ak[ing] decisions, shar[ing] views and answer[ing] questions on religious matters by taking into consideration the fundamental source texts and methodology, and historical experience of the Islamic religion as well as current demands and needs." Not only does no other religion in Turkey, other than Islam, have the power, influence or financing of the Diyanet -- whose budget surpasses that of most ministries; other religions are either not officially recognized (as in the cases of Alevism and Yazidism), or are on the verge of complete governmental elimination -- as in the cases of Judaism, Greek Orthodoxy, and Assyrian (Syriac) and Armenian Christianity. Turkey is not alone in this practice, which brings us back to the question of why "Muslims hate Jews so much." According to Andrew Bostom, author of The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History, the answer lies in the Koran, whose "central anti-Jewish motif... is found in verse 2:61 , repeated at verse 3:112." They have been put under humiliation [by Allah] wherever they are overtaken, except for a covenant from Allah and a rope from the Muslims. And they have drawn upon themselves anger from Allah and have been put under destitution. That is because they disbelieved in the verses of Allah and killed the prophets without right. That is because they disobeyed and [habitually] transgressed. (3:112) SAHIH INTERNATIONAL In a 2008 interview, Bostom says: "This is where the Jews are accused of slaying the Prophets and transgressing against the will of Allah, and so they are condemned and cursed eternally. Verse 2.61 says 'shame and misery' are 'stamped upon them.' And this verse is coupled to verses like 5:60, and other verses about the Jews being transformed into apes and pigs, which is part of their curse. Verse 5:78 describes the curse upon the Jews by David and Jesus, Mary's son. There is a related verse, 5:64, which accuses the Jews of being spreaders of war and corruption, a sort of ancient antecedent of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. (Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas cited this verse during a diatribe against the Jews of Israel, in 2007.) More generally, the Koran's overall discussion of the Jews is marked by a litany of their sins and punishments, as if part of a divine indictment, conviction, and punishment process." Taking this beyond the Koran, Moshe Sharon, Professor Emeritus of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, explains that the "basic attitude is that all history is in fact Islamic history...that all major figures of history basically are Muslim − from Adam down to our own time. So, if the Jews or Christians are demanding something and basing it on the fact that there was a king called Solomon or a king called David, or a prophet called Moses or Jesus, they say something which is not true or, in fact, they don't know that all these figures were basically Muslim figures." Sharon continues: "In fact, since the creation of the world there is only one religion and it is the religion of Islam. So, if anybody says 'Look, there is a place connected with Solomon and that is the place where the Temple of Solomon stood,' a true Muslim would tell you: 'Yes, you're absolutely right. But don't forget that Solomon was a Muslim and David was a Muslim. And Abraham was a Muslim. And Isaac was a Muslim, and Jesus was a Muslim.' This is what they mean by the Islamization of history." Sharon says that through this "Islamization of history," there is also an "Islamization of geography," such that, "Anywhere which was connected with these people or with these prophets who were all Muslims becomes a Muslim territory. And therefore, when Islam was not in that area before Mohammed came to it, it should have been there. By that area, I mean the Middle East or other parts outside of the Middle East which are now Muslim. So any place like this had to be freed, not to be conquered. They had to be liberated. So, Islam appeared in history in the time of Mohammed -- or reappeared in history from their point of view -- as a liberator. And therefore, there is no Islamic occupation. If somebody occupies anything, it will always be somebody else, not the Muslims. So, there is no Islamic occupation. There is only Islamic liberation." This combination of hate-filled Koranic verses, as highlighted by Bostom, and revisionist Islamist history, as illustrated by Sharon, have created a monster in the form of an existential threat to the Judeo-Christian world. To counter it, the West needs to implement unapologetic policies to safeguard the religious liberty of both non-Muslims and non-extremist Muslims, wherever they reside. To be effective, however, these policies must include conducting an honest and open discussion of the history and doctrine of Islam, as well as its contemporary iteration, not as a "religion of peace" – which, in Islam, is to occur only after the entire world has accepted Allah as well as Islamic law, Sharia -- but as one of war and terror. Uzay Bulut, a journalist born and raised a Muslim in Turkey, is currently based in Washington D.C. She is a writing fellow of the Middle East Forum. Follow Uzay Bulut on Twitter © 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

UNESCO Dismisses The Legitimacy Of Israel And Proves It Is A Dishonest Dealer

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More Lies from the UN by Maria Polizoidou May 8, 2017 at 4:00 am https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10312/un-lies Share108 Comment If the UN honestly wants peace, then it must accept that the modern Jewish state is the tugboat that will pull the whole Middle East into the 21st century. Rejecting the historic Jewish legitimacy in Jerusalem, is rejecting the quintessence of peace. In historical terms, the modern Jewish state has greater historical legitimacy than most modern European states – and far more than at least the five Middle Eastern states artificially created out of the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement: the newborn countries of Greater Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. In Europe, what we now call Germany and France only appeared in the historical space of the Western world in the 3rd Century AD. Or could it be that secretly the United Nations does not want "peace" but instead the obliteration of Israel and its replacement by another Islamist state? You can run away from history, but you cannot hide from it. History does not care about your religious beliefs, your political beliefs or your political correctness. History records facts, regardless of how you feel about them. UNESCO's latest resolution about Jerusalem, which denies the Jews' and Israel's legacy over its historical capital, Jerusalem, is yet another proof of the UN's corrupt decline. It not only offends the historical truth and archeology of the Jewish people. It also offends the Greek people, and all Christians, who for thousands of years have also had ties with the area and the nation of Jews. As it also offends the foundations of Greek Orthodox Christianity, the Greek government -- to is honor -- voted against this hallucinatory UNESCO resolution. Here are more facts: The King of Sparta, Arius I, who lived between 309-267 B.C., sent a letter to Onias the First, the High Priest of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem: "The King of Sparta, Arius, sends greetings to the High Priest, Onias. It is written about the relations between the Jews and the Spartans that they are brotherly nations and that they originate from Abraham. Now that we have discovered this, tell us how your prosperity is. We write to you that your possessions and your animals are ours and our own possessions and animals are yours". The king of Sparta, Arius, not only accepted that the relationship between Spartans and Jews are much older than his reign, but also that there was (as we would call it today) a federation. King Arius further established the cultural privilege and right between Greeks and Jews to be called brothers. What the King Arius was really saying here is that two states with different religions -- without common economic interests, without a common border and without even the same geographical area -- can interact in a political and cultural way. It is an important lesson for modern politicians. It also shows that for millennia, the cultural and historical depth of the Jewish people is undeniable, as well as the foundation for friendship among the Middle East nations. The problem of interacting with other people, as we can even see throughout Europe today, is on the Muslim side, not on the other side. During the Hellenic years of Alexander the Great's descendants, many events were documented, in addition to recognition from the Greek overlords of that era, to prove the Jews' sovereignty in the city of Jerusalem. The priests of the Jewish Second Temple were treated as the political authority of the Jewish people. Jewish soldiers were treated as equals of the Greeks on the battlefields in the civil wars between the Hellenistic kingdoms of the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. An aerial view of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and much of Jerusalem's Old City. (Image source: Andrew Shiva / Wikipedia) Judaism was also a living religion for the Greek Queen, Helen of Adiavinis who embraced it in the middle of the First Century, after Jesus tried to save Jerusalem from famine. In historical terms, the modern Jewish state has greater historical legitimacy than most modern European states -- and far more than at least the five Middle Eastern states artificially created out of the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement: the newborn countries of Greater Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. In Europe, what we now call Germany and France only appeared in the historical space of the Western world in the 3rd Century AD. The oldest Jewish community in Europe is registered in Greece. The first Greek Jew known by name was "Moschos, son of Moschion the Jew", a slave identified in an inscription dated approximately 300-250 B.C. and found in Oropos, a small coastal town 40 km from Athens. The apostle Paul could not have spread Christianity to Europe if there were no Jewish synagogues in Greece. His letters to the Greek Christian communities are considered by the church to be the foundations of the Christian doctrine. For the ancient Greeks of that time, and also for us now, the city of Jerusalem is totally identified with Jewish sovereignty and its world heritage. In Jerusalem, we saw the Greek philosophy and the Greek world of our ancestors being supplemented by the monotheism and the wisdom of the Jewish prophets. In Jerusalem, we saw what the ancient king of Sparta, Arius, saw in the High Priest, Onias: a profound relationship between these two worlds that permeates centuries. Does the United Nations truly believe that peace can be made in the Middle East by ignoring historical facts, historical identity and the continuity of Jewishness in the region? If the UN believes that, it is making a big mistake. If the UN honestly wants peace, it must accept that the modern Jewish state is the tugboat that will pull the whole Middle East into the 21st century. Rejecting the historic Jewish legitimacy in Jerusalem, is rejecting the quintessence of peace, which is friendly coexistence and interaction between different people. With insults and fake history, you cannot build peace, only the next conflict. Or could it be that secretly the United Nations does not want "peace" but instead the obliteration of Israel and its replacement by another Islamist state? Maria Polizoidou, a reporter, broadcast journalist, and consultant on international and foreign affairs, is based in Greece. © 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

The Story Of Medina And The Jews. Not Pretty

BRUTAL Meme Reveals HARD TRUTH About Islam and Refugees

November 23, 2015 By Steve Straub 606 Comments

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Here’s a short history lesson on Muhammad and his entrance into Islam’s now holy city of Medina as a refugee via Eretz Yisrael:

Although the fact is little publicized, more than one historian has affirmed at the Arab world’s second holiest city, Medina, was one of the allegedly “purely Arab” cities that actually was first settled by Jewish tribes.1

And like the 16th Century English Protestants who financed their endeavors through the plunder of Catholic monasteries in England, the roots of Islamic anti-Semitism might be found in the initial plunder of Jewish settlements, and the imposition of a “poll tax” to fund Arab campaigns.

Bernard Lewis writes:

The city of Medina, some 280 miles north of Mecca, had originally been settled by Jewish tribes from the north, especially the Banu Nadir and Banu Quraiza. The comparative richness of the town attracted an infiltration of pagan Arabs who came at first as clients of the Jews and ultimately succeeded in dominating them. Medina, or, as it was known before Islam, Yathrib, had no form of stable government at all. The town was tom by the feuds of the rival Arab tribes of Aus and Khazraj, with the Jews maintaining an uneasy balance of power. The latter, engaged mainly in agriculture and handicrafts, were economically and culturally superior to the Arabs, and were consequently disliked…. as soon as the Arabs had attained unity through the agency of Muhammad they attacked and ultimately eliminated the Jews.2

In the last half of the fifth century, many Persian Jews fled from persecution to Arabia, swelling the Jewish population there.3 But around  the sixth century, Christian writers reported of the continuing importance of the Jewish community that remained in the Holy Land. For the dispersed Arabian Jewish settlers, Tiberias in Judea was central. In the Kingdom of Himyar on the Red Sea’s east coast in Arabia, “conversion to Judaism of influential circles” was popular, and the Kingdom’s rule stretched across “considerable portions of South Arabia.”

The commoners as well as the royal family adopted Judaism, and one writer ports that “Jewish priests (presumably rabbis) from Tiberias … formed part the suite of King Du Noas and served as his envoys in negotiations with Christian cities.”4

According to Guillaume,

At the dawn of Islam the Jews dominated the economic life of the Hijaz [Arabia]. They held all the best land … ; at Medina they must have formed at least half of the population. There was also a Jewish settlement to the north of the Gulf of Aqaba…. What is important is to note that the Jews of the Hijaz made many proselytes [or converts] among the Arab tribesmen.5

The first “Palestinian” or Judean refugees — the Jews — had resettled to become prosperous, influential Arabian settlers.

The prosperity of the Jews was due to their superior knowledge of agriculture and irrigation and their energy and industry. Homeless [Jewish] refugees in the course of a few generations became large landowners in the country, [the refugees who had come to the Hijaz when the Romans conquered Palestine] controllers of its finance and trade…. Thus it can readily be seen that Jewish prosperity was a challenge to the Arabs, particularly the Quraysh at Mecca and … [other Arab tribes] at Medina.

The Prophet Muhammad himself was a member of the Quraysh tribe, which coveted the Jews’ bounty, and

when the Muslims took up arms they treated the Jews with much greater severity than the Christians, who, until the end of the purely Arab Caliphate, were not badly treated.6

One of the reasons for “this discrimination” against the Jews is what Guillaurne called “the Quran’s scornful words” regarding the Jews7 The Jews’ development of land and culture was a prime source of booty in the Arabian desert peninsula. Beginning at the time of the Prophet Muhammad and Islam8from the expulsions, depredations, extortion, forced conversions or murder of Jewish Arabians settled in Medina to the mass slaughter of Jews at Khaibar — the precedent was established among Arab-Muslims to expropriate that which belonged to the Jews. Relations between the Prophet Muhammad and the Jews were “never … easy”:

Destroyed Jonah's Tomb Yields Another Discovery

ISIS Destruction of Jonah's Tomb Incredibly Reveals Ancient Palace of Biblical King Sennacherib

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz February 28, 2017 , 1:30 pm

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“Should not I have pity on Ninveh that great city wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand and also much cattle?’” Jonah 4:11 (The Israel Bible™)

image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/tomb-jonah.png

The Tomb of Jonah in Mosul after it was blown up by ISIS. (Video screenshot)

The palace of the Biblical King Sennacherib, long buried underneath the tomb of the prophet Jonah in the Biblical city of Nineveh, has incredibly been discovered by Iraqi archaeologists as a result of efforts by the Islamic State (ISIS) to destroy the site and loot its priceless antiquities.

The shrine is, according to tradition, built on the burial site of Jonah, known as Nabi Yunis in the Koran. Located in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the structure was destroyed by ISIS in July 2014. When the city was liberated by Iraqi troops a few weeks ago, archaeologist were dismayed to find that not only had ISIS used dynamite to destroy the shrine, but the terror group had tunneled underneath and carried away hundreds of artifacts to sell on the black market.

However, the tunnels revealed a completely unexpected treasure: the 2,300-year-old palace of King Sennacherib, mentioned in the Bible. During Sennacherib‘s reign, Nineveh was one of the richest cities in the world. His military campaign against the Kingdom of Judah is described in the Bible.

After these things, and this faithfulness, Sancheriv king of Ashur came, and entered into Yehudah, and encamped against the fortified cities, and thought to make a breach therein for himself. II Chronicles 32:1

The palace, built by Sennacherib, who ruled Assyria from 705 BCE to 681 BCE, was later expanded by his son, Esarhaddon (681-669 BC). The palace was partly destroyed during the Sack of Nineveh in 612 BCE.

Archaeologists are working desperately to save whatever they can, as the tunnels are unstable.

“I can only imagine how much Daesh (ISIS) discovered down there before we got here,” Iraqi archaeologist Layla Salih, who is supervising the team carrying out the emergency exploration, told the Telegraph. “We believe they took many of the artifacts, such as pottery and smaller pieces, away to sell. But what they left will be studied and will add a lot to our knowledge of the period.”

image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/useful_banner_manager_banners/320-Store-menorah-necklace-600wide.jpg

The destructive efforts did bring some benefit to archaeologists. The site was largely unexplored, and though two previous efforts at excavation were carried out, the most recently in the 1950s, archaeologists had never reached as far as the palace.

“The objects don’t match descriptions of what we thought was down there, so [ISIS’s] destruction has actually led us to a fantastic find,” Salih said.

Archaeologists have discovered in the palace a rare cuneiform slab they believe was made during Sennacherib’s reign.

In another part of the tunnel they discovered Assyrian stone sculptures of an Assyrian demi-goddess, depicted sprinkling the “water of life” to protect humans in her care.  

“There’s a huge amount of history down there, not just ornamental stones,” Salih said. “It is an opportunity to finally map the treasure-house of the world’s first great empire, from the period of its greatest success.”

After ISIS destroyed the structure, archaeologists discovered the Muslim shrine had been built on the ruins of a church, originally called The Monastery of Jonah, dating back from the fourth century Christian Syriac denomination. According to tradition, the church contained a piece of Noah’s Ark. The Shrine of Jonah was closed to Christians in 1902.

It is unclear why ISIS destroyed the mosque of a prophet venerated by Islam. It is believed that ISIS, as part of the Salafi movement, rejects the concept of worshipping at shrines and therefore destroyed it to prevent Muslims from worshipping there. Some have speculated that the destruction of the site was intended to wipe out vestiges of Christianity and Judaism, even those connected to Islam.

Even within Islam, the site is not universally accepted as the Biblical prophet’s burial place. In the Jewish tradition, Jonah returned to his hometown of Gath-Hepher in the Galilee after his mission to Nineveh and was buried there. Another Islamic shrine in Halhul near Hebron is claimed by the Muslims to be the Jewish prophet’s burial site.

Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/84367/palace-biblical-king-sennacherib-discovered-beneath-isis-destruction-jonahs-tomb/#d8BkZ0HyOY4CRhup.99ddess, depicted sprinkling the “water of life” to protect humans in her care.  

“There’s a huge amount of history down there, not just ornamental stones,” Salih said. “It is an opportunity to finally map the treasure-house of the world’s first great empire, from the period of its greatest success.”

After ISIS destroyed the structure, archaeologists discovered the Muslim shrine had been built on the ruins of a church, originally called The Monastery of Jonah, dating back from the fourth century Christian Syriac denomination. According to tradition, the church contained a piece of Noah’s Ark. The Shrine of Jonah was closed to Christians in 1902.

It is unclear why ISIS destroyed the mosque of a prophet venerated by Islam. It is believed that ISIS, as part of the Salafi movement, rejects the concept of worshipping at shrines and therefore destroyed it to prevent Muslims from worshipping there. Some have speculated that the destruction of the site was intended to wipe out vestiges of Christianity and Judaism, even those connected to Islam.

Even within Islam, the site is not universally accepted as the Biblical prophet’s burial place. In the Jewish tradition, Jonah returned to his hometown of Gath-Hepher in the Galilee after his mission to Nineveh and was buried there. Another Islamic shrine in Halhul near Hebron is claimed by the Muslims to be the Jewish prophet’s burial site.

Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/84367/palace-biblical-king-sennacherib-discovered-beneath-isis-destruction-jonahs-tomb/#d8BkZ0HyOY4CRhup.99