More about NY Times and the 17th Day of Tammuz - Biblical Archeology

 

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Please refer to the Times article  Batya Medad has posted in her blog in order to really see what we are up against.  To get it online you needed to be a registered member of the Times (for free).

 

http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2006/07/ny-times-off-target-again.html entiled "Once Again, Gazans are Displaced by Israeli Occupiers". by Steven Erlanger.

 

The article focuses on the poor displaced Palestinians due to the recent Israeli incursion with tanks and armored bulldozers and artillery disturbing their sleep and forcing them into shelters and causing a humanitarian crisis of food shortages including baby formula etc.

 

The Times sees no reason at all to focus on the displaced Jews from Gaza. 

 

The New York Sun's article by Benny Avni, Staff Reporter of the Sun "Israeli Action in Gaza Scrutinized by U.N. Humanitarian Official" on the other hand wrote

 

"Israeli officials told the Sun yesterday that the army closed the Karmi Crossing only after receiving "specific" terrorist threats.  Last April, Colonel Peres noted, a car bomb exploded in the Karni Crossing, Tunnels said to be used by terrorists were recently found near the crossing.

 

Israel, he added has offered to open up an alternative entry for the use of humanitarian trucks through the southern Gaza Kerem Shalom crossing.  The Palestinian Arabs balked for political reasons, he said."

 

Today, the 17th Day of Tammuz I received the Mishpacha Magazine.  The Cover Page Article "Challenge -  The Quest to Eradicate Our Connection and Claim to The Temple Mount" by Rachel Ginsberg.   The article was about the truckloads of ancient dirt illegally scooped out from under the Temple Mount and retrieved from the City Dump.  There is an additional side boxed article about Dr. Eilat Mazar who believes she has discovered King David's Palace.  "More than ten years ago, Mazar proposed a solid thesis as to the location of the palace but despite her sound hypothesis and impeccable credentials, she couldn't find any financial backers for her proposed dig, as if no one in the academic world really wanted to find David's palace.  It's no wonder, when even mainstream archaeologists are inclined to play down funds which might be considered too highly charged with Biblical or historical accuracy.  Another example is Adam Zertal who in 1983 discovered an enormous sacrificial alter on Mount Ebal on the very mountain where Joshua's alter was built after the Jews crossed the Jordan River. The alter he found contained tools dating to the twelfth century BCE the time the Jewish people entered the Land, and its construction matched the descriptions of Joshua's alter in both Biblical and rabbinic texts. ... The more vocal accused Zertal, a secular Jew raised on a kibbutz, of being politically motivated to support Jewish settlement in the area around Shechem where Mount Ebal is located.  (p.s these are communities scheduled for next wave of expulsions like Itamar)  David Hazony of the Shalem Center, an academic think tank in Jerusalem sponsored Mazar. He is quoted as saying "We didn't want to see this shunted to the side like Zertal's discovery.  The message he got from his colleagues was, 'It's bad for business to find things from the Bible these days.  It makes us look like unsophisticated messianic fanatics.' 

 

This insert article concludes by saying "Unfortunately, academia has done much to undermine the Jews' capacity to say where we came from and what our past is all about."

 

Our focus until now has been defensive.  Today President Bush was asked how he felt about Israel's attack in Lebanon he said "It's pathetic but Israel has the right to defend itself". The understanding of that statement is that if Israel isn't attacked then the Convergence Plan and Roadmap are legitimate solutions to the Middle East instability. 

 

I would like to see a change in our focus.   I like the analogy of the Jews being the violinist and the Land of Israel is the precious violin and the Torah is the proper notes.  In order to create beautiful music you need a talented violinist, the precious violin and the right notes.    We are a proud Nation.  Blessings for the entire World can only come through us.  This is not the time to be humble.  Let us not be afraid to be like "unsophisticated messianic fanatics" and promote Biblical and historical accuracy.

 

Robin