Russian fighter jets are reportedly becoming more aggressive in confronting <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-s-military" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. fighter jets</a> in the skies over the Middle East as tensions between the two world superpowers continue to rise amid Russia&#8217;s war in Ukraine.
Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, who leads Air Forces Central Command, <a href="https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2023/04/russian-warplanes-are-trying-dogfight-us-jets-over-syria-general-says/385736/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that the Russians have become “increasingly bellicose in how they&#8217;re approaching us.”
“They&#8217;re maneuvering aggressively against us when our protocols would say we&#8217;re supposed to stay … several miles apart and just monitor each other,” he said. “They&#8217;re aggressively maneuvering, almost like they&#8217;re trying to dogfight, if you will. That&#8217;s very concerning.”
Grynkewich said that U.S. pilots have been instruct to not &#8220;take the bait.&#8221;
The general’s message to his pilots: “Don&#8217;t take the bait.” “We&#8217;re going to act in a professional manner, and we&#8217;re going to try to de-escalate the situation,” he added.
Grynkewich warned that the Russia Air Force was becoming less disciplined and that while he does not believe that they intend to fire on U.S. fighter jets, their provocations increase &#8220;the risk of miscalculation or someone just making a mistake.&#8221;
Last month, Russian pilots harassed and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/russian-fighter-jet-collides-with-u-s-military-reaper-drone-over-black-sea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">caused</a> the downing of a $32 million unmanned MQ-9 Reaper drone in the Black Sea.
“Two Russian Su-27 aircraft conducted an unsafe and unprofessional intercept with a U.S. Air Force intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance unmanned MQ-9 aircraft operating within international airspace over the Black Sea on March 14, 2023,” U.S. European Command said in a statement. “Russian Su-27s dumped fuel upon and struck the propeller of the MQ-9, causing U.S. forces to have to bring the MQ-9 down in international waters.”
<a class="c-link" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9125">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a> US army published the footage from the drone incident with Russia over the Black Sea <a href="https://t.co/ney41fNjGb">pic.twitter.com/ney41fNjGb</a>
&mdash; Guy Elster (@guyelster) <a href="https://twitter.com/guyelster/status/1636303898267746307?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
A previous statement from U.S. European Command said that the two jets had repeatedly harassed the drone while the drone was “conducting routine operations in international airspace.”
“U.S. and Allied aircraft will continue to operate in international airspace and we call on the Russians to conduct themselves professionally and safely,” said U.S. Air Force Gen. James B. Hecker, commander, U.S. Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa.
The statement said that the incident followed a “pattern of dangerous actions” by Russian pilots while interacting with U.S. and Allied aircraft over international airspace that could “lead to miscalculation and unintended escalation.”

International Military-Technical Forum “Army 2022” in Moscow

Russia Fighter Jets Are ‘Trying To Dogfight’ U.S. Fighter Jets Over Syria: Central Command

Russia Fighter Jets Are 'Trying To Dogfight' U.S. Fighter Jets Over Syria: Central Command

Global Politics

Middle East

Russia

U.S. Military

World

Disaffected members of Iran&#8217;s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) <a href="https://iranwire.com/en/politics/114906-exclusive-irgc-commanders-warn-khamenei-about-implosion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly targeted</a> the residence of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with artillery.
The attempted attack, which appears to have been quickly foiled, is mentioned in a confidential report detailing a January 3 meeting in which IRGC commanders and security officials warned Khamenei about rising tensions in the country.
&#8220;Since the start of the protests, we have had personnel who have defied orders,&#8221; said a speaker identified as Gholamali Rashidi.
He appeared to reference the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/iran-morality-police-abolished-attorney-general-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent protests</a> set off by the death of a woman, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being taken into custody by the morality police for allegedly violating the country’s dress code.
“One incident involved an individual targeting the Supreme Leader’s residence with artillery,&#8221; Rashidi added. &#8220;Thanks to the immediate response of our fellow members in the unit, the perpetrators were identified and apprehended.&#8221;
Leaders convened the meeting to mark the third anniversary of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-iranian-general-revenge-for-soleimani-death-to-happen-within-u-s-no-one-will-forget-what-we-do" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. military killing of Qassem Soleimani</a>, the commander of the IRGC&#8217;s Quds Force, according to IranWire, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/22/iran-wire-mahsa-amini-protest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a website that publishes</a> the work of citizen journalists.
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-397328">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
Commanders reportedly told the supreme leader that significant elements of their forces refused orders to shoot at civilians. They also spoke of a drop in morale and a rise in conflicts among the IRGC ranks.
The IranWire report said decisions were made during the meeting to address the situation, including releasing detainees and boosting budgets. Khamenei instructed commanders to announce them in the following weeks, it added.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

IRGC Rebels Tried To Bomb Ayatollah’s Home: Report

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Iran

Protests

Israel’s democratically elected legislature, the Knesset, is in the midst of voting on a series of laws that would scale back the power of the unelected judiciary and place more power in the elected body. Tens of thousands of Israelis along with Israel’s usual detractors are up in arms, calling this &#8220;tyranny&#8221; and the “end of democracy.”
To start, those who continue to push the “end of democracy” narrative are objectively counterfactual, counterproductive, and over-reactionary. When a democratically elected body makes efforts to wrangle back power from those appointed by a committee controlled by the Bar Association and the judiciary itself, it is, in fact, putting more “power” into the hands of the “people.” In simple terms, making the political system more “democratic.”
Democratic governments around the world take many different forms, from constitutional republics, like the United States, to parliamentary systems, like the United Kingdom, and many variations there between. Israel is just shy of 75 years young, and is still in the nascent stages of forming what its democracy will look like. For instance, while its founders set out to form a constitution, none has yet been put in place. The entire process the democratically-elected government is going through is at the very core of democracy.
While it’s hard to see it through the hysterics, Israel’s proposed judicial reforms are, in fact, imperfect in their current state. However, this is the case when most laws are initially proposed. This is why there is a process, in most (or all) democracies in the world, Israel included, that allows for debate, input, discussion, and ultimately amendments. Those opposing the judicial reforms would be better served by pushing for constructive dialogue rather than destructive protests. Calls for the Knesset to change direction simply because of the nightly protests should fall on deaf ears, as a well-functioning government should never cave to what would essentially be mob rule.
Taking a quick step back, the proposed judicial reforms aim to accomplish five things: (1) Changing the process of selecting judges, so as to give the governing coalition of the Knesset a majority in the judicial selection committee; (2) Prohibiting the Supreme Court from making decisions based “on reasonability” rather than on laws passed by the Knesset; (3) Changing legal opinions of general counsels of government departments, appointed by the attorney general, from binding to advisory; (4) Raising the standard for the Supreme Court to strike down a law passed by the Knesset to 11 out of the 15 judges; and (5) Providing the Knesset the capacity to override a decision by the Supreme Court that strikes down a law passed by the Knesset with a majority of the Knesset members. Of course, the proposals are more nuanced than the above-outlined, but these are the general strokes of the proposals.
That judicial reforms are needed is the broad consensus view. The self-elected judiciary has become hyper-political, if not hostile, to the government, to the ultra-Orthodox, and to the conservative majority. The Supreme Court has also unilaterally expanded its own power by granting itself powers of judicial review and making key decisions based on its subjective interpretation of “reasonability,” and general, undefined concepts of dignity and liberty. The impact of the Supreme Court’s rulings is even more far reaching, given that the Israeli Supreme Court is a Court of first instance, in that almost anyone can file claims directly with the Court on a host of issues. At bottom, an unelected branch of government has run amok and the Knesset is looking to rein it in through these reforms.
The only truly controversial or delicate provision in the proposed reforms, in my opinion, is the “override clause.” The fact that the Knesset is seeking to include an override clause is not a problem per se. Given the past relationship between the branches, and the importance given by the elected body to ensuring that those elected by the people have final say on critical issues, the ability to override the Court’s decision makes sense. Israel would not be alone in implementing an express “override clause.” Canada, a country which no one would seriously charge as “non-democratic,” has a similar law, which permits the Parliament to pass a law “notwithstanding” their Court’s having found that law to be unconstitutional.
Still, for purposes of political stability, which is critical for the social and economic well-being of any nation, the issues which should qualify for override should be very limited and an override should only pass with a supermajority of the Knesset. These limitations would all but guarantee that the override would only be used sparingly and could not be abused by any party to satisfy the political whims of the day.
Finally, the governing coalition should learn from the mistakes of the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate in 2013, when they removed the 60-vote filibuster for the president&#8217;s nominees, requiring only a simple majority instead. This was a shrewd move in the short term to get President Obama’s nominees seated, but when control of the Senate shifted back to the Republicans, Democrats quickly regretted that the Republicans could pass through the president&#8217;s nominees without the support of a single Democrat.
In Israel today, it is hard to see when and how the political Left could return to power. But, politics lives on a pendulum, and when (not if) political control inevitably shifts in Israel, those in control of the Knesset today will regret having a law in place which requires only a simple majority to override the Supreme Court.
At the end, the Likud party and its coalition partners should not make any decisions based on the hysterical protests and threats of its detractors. Still, the government shouldn’t rush through the reforms without robust and honest debate about its impact. Particular care should be taken to limit the override clause so as to protect the integrity of the Supreme Court while providing the supermajority of the Knesset the ability to have final say on critical issues that go to the heart of the Jewish and Democratic State of Israel.
Gabriel Groisman is a partner at LSN Partners in Miami, Florida, a Jewish rights leader and the former mayor of Bal Harbour, Florida
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Protests Continue Over Proposed Judicial Overhaul In Israel

Israel Is Reforming Its Judiciary. It’s Not Perfect, It’s Democracy. 

Democracy

Israel

Judiciary

The suspected murderers of Elan Ganeles, the American citizen who was recently buried in Ra’anana after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/american-killed-in-west-bank-terror-attack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an attack by Arab terrorists</a> in the northern Dead Sea area, have just been arrested. The murderers of the Yaniv brothers, Hallel and Yagel, shot at point-blank range in Huwara last week, have yet to be apprehended. But one thing is certain: when they are identified, all of them and their families will receive lifelong murder stipends from the Palestinian Authority (PA). 
It is impossible to rationalize the ethical and moral bankruptcy of any “culture” that actually promotes, justifies, glorifies, and rewards the murder of innocents, but we were trained as lawyers, so we will simply talk about the law. The PA and its supporters, as well as supporters of other terrorist organizations, literally invite terrorists through financial incentives to kill Americans and Israelis. We seek criminal and civil remedies for their victims and we believe that in many cases the families of these victims are not without possible redress against those who enable and solicit the crimes. 
While the cold-blooded murders of the recent victims shock the conscience and rend the heart, these crimes were not committed in a vacuum: There are other identifiable perpetrators, who encouraged, solicited, enabled, promoted, and engendered those awful unlawful acts, promising payment for their commission. They are legally, not just morally, culpable for the premeditated murder of American citizens; they should be subject to criminal penalties, and their assets should justly be available as damages.
Some basic definitions are in order. Under U.S. law, one is liable as an accomplice to the crime of another if he or she gave assistance or encouragement … with the intent thereby to promote or facilitate the commission of a crime … Or if they solicit, command, encourage, or request another person to commit the crime. A person who aids, abets, or encourages another to commit a crime need not even be present at the scene to be culpable as an accomplice. One may be guilty of solicitation if he requests or induces another person to commit a crime. A wide range of defendants can be held jointly and severally liable for damages, including, among others, those who knowingly assisted in causing injury and those who incite or aid another to cause injury.
And now some facts:  
The Palestinian Authority makes payments to prisoners convicted of attacks against civilians and to the surviving families of suicide bombers and other deceased terrorists. Over $300,000,000 annually, comprising 7-10% of the annual PA budget, is allocated to terrorists or their families. For example, the family of the murderer of Ari Fuld (an Israel-American hero who was knifed in the back four years ago and managed to incapacitate his own attacker as he died before others could be harmed) received an initial payment within hours of the crime, and were then made eligible to receive a monthly payment of 1,400 shekels. Under PA law, perpetrators of even deadlier attacks would be eligible for even larger sums.
The Palestinian payments to prisoners and surviving families of terrorists are not secret: They have been publicly defended by Palestinian political leaders and even acknowledged by the terrorists as a primary inducement to the commission of their heinous crimes. In 2018, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/03/14/does-the-palestinian-authority-pay-350-million-a-year-to-terrorists-and-their-families/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> the explanation of a would-be terrorist, to the effect that “The important thing is that I will die and they will kill me, so that my children will receive a [PA] allowance and live happily.”   
Murdering an American citizen is a crime. So is inducing a third party to murder an American citizen, by publicizing, and subsequently paying, a monetary reward for commission of that murder. In almost all cases, an additional civil action and remedy will be available and appropriate for the intentional or negligent infliction of physical and emotional damages. And, thinking out of the box, there may even be a class of plaintiffs whose “shared circumstance” is that the perpetrators of the crimes or torts against them were paid by the PA.
Both the U.S. government (through the Taylor Force Act) and the Israeli government (through legislation to withhold funds equivalent to the terrorist-related payments) have tried to stop the pay-for-slay program. But the PA has made it clear that no economic sanction will affect the payment regime, with President Mahmoud Abbas <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-vows-to-continue-stipends-to-terrorists-even-with-pas-last-penny/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a> that they would continue to pay those stipends with their very last penny. The Biden Administration maintains that its restoration of hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the PA does not technically violate the Taylor Force Act, notwithstanding the continued payments to terrorists and the fungibility of money.
There is no question as to the criminal and civil liability of people who made it known to the public that they would pay a bounty of $10,000 to anyone who murders a member of a particular religion in a specific place, thus both encouraging and rewarding the murder. It would be no defense if they later argued, as did Nabil Shaath, the foreign affairs adviser to President Abbas, speaking in his official capacity, that “payments to support the perpetrators or their families are a social responsibility.” (Note that the World Bank has determined that the payments are not based on need and are disproportionate to other welfare type payments.)
In 1990, Congress enacted the Antiterrorism Act (ATA), creating a new federal right of action for any U.S. national “injured in his or her person, property, or business by reason of an act of international terrorism,” defined to include “violent acts or acts dangerous to life” occurring overseas that violate U.S. criminal laws (or would violate such laws if committed in the United States), and performed to intimidate or coerce populations or public policy. Plaintiffs are permitted to pursue relief in a U.S. district court and, if liability is established, to collect treble damages, plus attorneys’ fees. 
Of course, the PA would try and claim that they were outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts because of foreign sovereign immunity — but the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act provides a series of exemptions, including an exception added in 1996 that withholds immunity from state sponsors of terrorism in cases alleging their responsibility for the death or personal injury of U.S. citizens. President Biden’s questionable restoration of Palestinian aid, the conditioning of which, under the ATA, subjects the PA to personal jurisdiction in the U.S., should at the very least be used to overcome that obstacle, which stymied Plaintiffs in recent cases like Sokolow v. the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Moreover, NGOs providing support to the PA would lack even that putative defense. 
There are also other laws that could come into play like the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which makes it unlawful to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity in association with an enterprise. RICO has criminal and civil application, and has been interpreted to include extraterritorial activity, so long as the enterprise has a nexus to the United States. Of course, the PA conducts numerous activities here, including commercial activity raising money, which should satisfy the nexus requirement.
For some reason, the U.S. government has been slow to enforce its laws and hesitant to punish those who have killed innocent American citizens. Take Ahlam Tamimi, the female mastermind of the 2001 Sbarro pizzeria bombing in Jerusalem, who gleefully admitted to murdering innocent men, women, and children, including American citizen Malki Roth. This assassin still lives freely in Jordan despite the U.S. having an extradition treaty with the Kingdom. To date, she has received thousands of dollars in murder stipends from the PA.
Enough is enough. Palestinian terrorists have killed 147 American citizens since 1968, and not one has ever been brought to the United States to stand trial. Senior members of the PA do, however, visit the United States on a regular basis. If the federal government won’t act then states and the private sector should. Where are the bold state attorneys-general who will seek justice for their injured citizens? Where is the plaintiffs’ bar that brought Big Tobacco to its knees?
There have been some sporadic efforts to bring individual tortfeasors to justice, and some damages have been awarded to surviving family members, but this is insufficient. What is required is a multi-state and multi-jurisdictional consortium of attorneys-general, public interest organizations that seek justice for victims, and plaintiffs’ lawyers, dedicated to discovering and pursuing every individual and organization that provides material support to the entities that encourage, incite, and reward violence. Let them spend the money they pay murderers to defend their actions in court. And let us demand that they be financially liable for damages, despite the fact that no compensation will ever restore the losses they have caused.
Gary Epstein recently retired as global chair of Greenberg Traurig’s Corporate and Securities Practice. 
Mark Goldfeder is an international lawyer and Director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center.  
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire. 
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>

Protests Continue into Fourth Day Across Jerusalem and the West Bank

‘Pay For Slay’: Seeking An Effective American Legal Response To Palestinian Terror

'Pay For Slay': Seeking An Effective American Legal Response To Palestinian Terror

Palestine

Palestinians

Readers Pass

Terrorism

The devastating earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria last week brought death to more than 40,000 people – a number that continues to rise – and homelessness to at least a million. Rescue and recovery efforts, while hampered by weather and logistical issues, have been ongoing. The United States, European Union, Red Cross, and numerous other countries and organizations have <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-syria-government-turkey-medical-technology-730fb5689d8c92863cdcb8affbd39d2d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sent</a> aid, rescue teams, food, shelter, and other forms of assistance to the region.
The earthquakes also caused severe damage and destruction to roads, buildings, and important historical sites. Among those sites was a nearly 2,000-year-old Roman-era fortress called the Gaziantep Castle, regarded as “one of the most beautiful examples of surviving castles in Turkey.”
<div id="attachment_502248" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-502248" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-502248" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-157614742-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-157614742-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-157614742-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-157614742-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-157614742-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-157614742-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-157614742-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-157614742-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Getty Images</div>
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck last Monday could be <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/at-least-1600-dead-after-massive-earthquakes-rock-the-middle-east" target="_blank" rel="noopener">felt</a> as far as Lebanon, Israel, and Egypt. The quake&#8217;s epicenter was in the southern part of the country, in the Gaziantep province, about 75 miles north of Aleppo, Syria. Nine hours later, another massive quake registering a magnitude of 7.5 struck <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/02/07/earthquake-turkey-syria-causes-damage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">about</a> 60 miles north of the first. As the name suggests, the Gaziantep province – the epicenter – is home to the Gaziantep Castle.
As one of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/10/world/middleeast/earthquake-turkey-syria-toll-aid.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deadliest</a> natural disasters this century, the earthquake caused severe damage and partial destruction to the Gaziantep Castle. Sections of the ancient castle’s iron railings and stone walls have collapsed, and large cracks have been observed in some bastions, according to a <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/gundem/depremde-tarihi-gaziantep-kalesi-de-hasar-gordu/2807373" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> by the state-run Anadolu Agency. The retaining wall has also collapsed. Much of the damage, which came from the south, southeast, and eastern parts of the castle, caused debris to be scattered on the sidewalks and streets below the hilltop the castle is perched on. Before and after pictures paint a dark picture of the state of the historic site.
<div id="attachment_502244" style="width: 778px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-502244" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-502244" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246837159-768x576.jpg" alt="" width="768" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1246837159-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1246837159-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1246837159-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1246837159.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" />Mehmet Akif Parlak/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</div>
While there is no definitive account of when Gaziantep Castle was built, it was likely constructed during the second and third centuries to be used as a Roman watchtower.. Though the mound the castle is built on dates to the Chalcolithic period — also called the copper age — about 6,000 years ago, <a href="https://www.gaziantep.bel.tr/tr/tarihi-ve-kulturel-eserler/gaziantep-kalesi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Gaziantep website. The site has also been <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/historic-sites-damaged-earthquakes-turkey-syria-unesco-rcna69341" target="_blank" rel="noopener">traced</a> back to the ancient Hittite Empire, where it was likely <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/02/06/1154806617/earthquake-turkey-historic-gaziantep-castle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">used</a> as an observation point.
It was Byzantine Emperor Justinian (527-565 A.D.) who greatly <a href="https://www.gaziantep.bel.tr/tr/tarihi-ve-kulturel-eserler/gaziantep-kalesi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expanded</a> the castle in the sixth century A.D., though many repairs and overhauls have occurred since. During Justinian’s fortification, the structure took much of its current form of an irregular circular shape with towers and a surrounding moat. While today there are 12 towers, at one point there may have been up to 36, <a href="https://www.gaziantep.bel.tr/tr/tarihi-ve-kulturel-eserler/gaziantep-kalesi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Ottoman explorer Evliya Çelebi’s travel book. Turkey’s General Directorate for Cultural Assets and Museums <a href="https://kvmgm.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/92065,gaziantep-castlepdf.pdf?0#:~:text=The%20castle%20was%20first%20built,and%20the%20castle%20was%20expanded." target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> the castle’s perimeter is nearly 4,000 feet and has a diameter of about 330 feet. 
While the recent earthquakes caused great damage and destruction to the ancient castle, it had largely remained intact throughout the last 2,000 years, even in the face of conquest and battle, changing hands from empire to empire and dynasty to dynasty. 
<div id="attachment_502250" style="width: 778px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-502250" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-502250" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246837228-768x576.jpg" alt="" width="768" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1246837228-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1246837228-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1246837228-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1246837228.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" />Mehmet Akif Parlak/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</div>
After the Roman Empire <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/turkey-earthquake-historic-gaziantep-castle-destroyed?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=Social_Traffic&amp;utm_content=ap_o1px63glh7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">split</a>, the Byzantines took control of Gaziantep. The reign of Justinian, who was emperor during the first major revitalization of the castle, brought great territorial expansion to the Byzantine empire, and his <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/just/hd_just.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">goal</a> was to return the empire to its ancient glory. Justinian was known for his prowess in architectural production, waging a campaign to remake the ancient capital Byzantium, <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/just/hd_just.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to The Met Museum. 
Being under the Christian control of the Byzantine empire, the castle then <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/turkey-earthquake-historic-gaziantep-castle-destroyed?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=Social_Traffic&amp;utm_content=ap_o1px63glh7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> to the Islamic hands of the Umayyad dynasty in 661 A.D.  After remaining in Islamic hands for the next 300 years, the Byzantines retook Gaziantep in 962. Just over 100 years later, the Seljuk Empire took control of the city. 
Following the Seljuk conquest, the city changed hands multiple times in a period of great uncertainty. Christian Crusaders captured the castle in 1098, and it <a href="https://www.castles.nl/gaziantep-castle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">became</a> part of the Crusader state County of Edessa. After the Crusaders, the city went to numerous groups before 1181, when the Ayyubid dynasty <a href="https://www.castles.nl/gaziantep-castle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">took</a> control. <a href="https://kvmgm.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/92065,gaziantep-castlepdf.pdf?0#:~:text=The%20castle%20was%20first%20built,and%20the%20castle%20was%20expanded" target="_blank" rel="noopener">During</a> the time of the Ayybuids in the 13th century, Malmuks, Dulkadir Principality, and the Ottoman period the castle largely came to resemble what was seen prior to the quakes, according to the Turkish General Directorate for Cultural Assets and Museums. 
Control of Gaziantep flipped frequently between the Ilkhanate, <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Ilkhanate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">part</a> of the Mongol Empire, and the Mamluks leading up to the capture by the Ottoman Empire. The castle <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/02/06/1154806617/earthquake-turkey-historic-gaziantep-castle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lost</a> much of its military significance when the Ottoman Empire took it in 1516. 
In recent years, the castle housed the Gaziantep Defense and Heroism Panoramic Museum, a popular tourist attraction. The site was included in the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage sites <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/06/world/europe/gaziantep-castle-earthquake-damage.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tentative</a> list. 
<div id="attachment_502253" style="width: 778px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-502253" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-502253" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247076758-768x576.jpg" alt="" width="768" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1247076758-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1247076758-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1247076758-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1247076758-2048x1536.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" />The aerial photo taken on Feb. 10, 2023 shows Gaziantep Castle damaged in the devastating earthquakes in Gaziantep, Türkiye. Getty Images.</div>
Beginning in 2020, archeologists with the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality Protection and Implementation Inspection Office began <a href="https://www.dailysabah.com/arts/gaziantep-castles-extensive-historical-tunnels-caves-unearthed/news" target="_blank" rel="noopener">studying</a> over half a mile of underground tunnels and caves to find the source of “fresh-brackish water” that had previously been an urban legend. Two years later, they found the tunnel exits. Additionally, crosses believed to be from the Romans were found throughout the tunnels, Daily Sabah <a href="https://www.dailysabah.com/arts/gaziantep-castles-extensive-historical-tunnels-caves-unearthed/news" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notes</a>. These new discoveries were set to be exhibited to the public sometime near the end of 2022. 
While the total cost of these earthquakes is still unclear, a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/13/turkey-syria-reconstruction-costs-to-come-to-billions-of-dollars-world-bank-says.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the nongovernmental Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation estimates that quakes cost the Turkish economy $84.1 billion. And with Turkey and Syria being well-known for their ancient history, it’s clear that Gaziantep’s iconic castle was not the only major historical site damaged or destroyed. A UNESCO survey notes the organization is “<a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2521" target="_blank" rel="noopener">particularly concerned</a>” for Aleppo, Syria, which was <a href="https://www.apollo-magazine.com/art-news-earthquakes-turkey-syria/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">already</a> on the World Heritage in Danger list due to the ongoing Syrian civil war. The citadel in Aleppo has sustained significant damage, according to the organization. 
UNESCO also <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1488/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mentions</a> the “collapses of several buildings” at the Diyarbakır Fortress and Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape in Turkey, a fortified city and place of importance during various times in history, including the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods. 
At least 1,700 buildings in ten cities in Turkey sustained damage, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/gaziantep-castle-destroyed-turkey-earthquake/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay. But even with the death toll <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/explain/2023/02/14/world/turkey-syria-earthquake" target="_blank" rel="noopener">surpassing</a> 40,000 and severe destruction felt in the region, there are still <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/miracle-baby-newborn-found-alive-under-earthquake-rubble-with-umbilical-cord-still-attached-to-dead-mother" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hopeful stories</a> being reported of rescue – over a week since the disaster.

Gaziantep Castle

Empires And Conquests: The History Of A Roman-Era Castle Partially Destroyed In The Devastating Turkey-Syria Earthquake 

earthquake

History

Syria

Turkey

A top U.S. official said Monday that a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew near sensitive U.S. military bases in the Middle East last fall but stayed far enough away that the military decided to not shoot them down.
The balloon originated in or close to China, a senior U.S. official told The New York Times, and traveled against prevailing winds, meaning that it had its own propulsion system.
The military tracked the balloon&#8217;s journey from Asia to the Middle East.
The report noted that the top American air commander in the Middle East, Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, appeared to make reference to the incident during a meeting with reporters this week but would not give details about it because it was classified.
“It never got to the point where it was a high enough concern,” he said. “We just monitored it.”
The news comes after the U.S. military has shot down several objects over the last two weeks, including a Chinese spy balloon on the first Saturday of the month, an unidentified object over Alaska on Friday, an unidentified object over Canada on Saturday, and an unidentified object over Lake Huron on Sunday.
Following the incident at the start of the week over Lake Huron, U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck, the commander who oversees North American airspace, did not rule out aliens when asked about the incident.
When asked if the U.S. military had ruled out an extraterrestrial origin for the unidentified objects, VanHerck responded: “I’ll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. I haven’t ruled out anything.”
“At this point we continue to assess every threat or potential threat, unknown, that approaches North America with an attempt to identify it,” VanHerck continued.
A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jet shot down the unidentified &#8220;octagonal&#8221; object over Lake Huron using a Sidewinder missile.
An anonymous U.S. defense official later told Reuters, “No indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent take downs.”
VanHerck said that U.S. officials seemed confident that the objects were not balloons.
“I’m not going to categorize them as balloons. We’re calling them objects for a reason,” VanHerck said. “I’m not able to categorize how they stay aloft. It could be a gaseous type of balloon inside a structure or it could be some type of a propulsion system. But clearly, they’re — they’re able to stay aloft.”
VenHerck said that U.S. officials considered trying to use the fighter jet’s machine guns to shoot down the objects so that the objects would be better preserved after they were shot down.
“We assessed taking a gunshot yesterday in that event, as well as today, and the pilots in each situation felt that that was really unachievable because of the size, especially yesterday in the altitude and also because of the challenge to acquire it visually because it’s so small,” VanHerck said.
“We have taken extreme caution to ensure that we limit potential collateral damage, so today, we worked closely with the FAA to clear out the airspace,” he added. “I gave direction specifically to the pilots to use their visual acuity to check for mariners on the ground, airplanes in the air to clear with their radars as well. And when they were comfortable, that we can minimize collateral damage, they selected the best weapon today that was the AIM 9x (missile). And they took the shot.”

PHILIPPINES-US-MARITIME-CHINA-DIPLOMACY

A Suspected Chinese Spy Balloon Flew Near U.S. Military Bases Last Fall: Report

China

Military

United States

A newborn baby girl was found alive underneath a collapsed building in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/syria" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Syria</a> after devastating earthquakes rocked the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/middle-east" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Middle East</a> Monday. Her umbilical cord was still attached to her mother, who died during the natural disaster.
Relatives of the baby and a doctor <a href="https://apnews.com/article/newborn-rescued-earthquake-syria-899ba2d62631d3f5c77761b935f9f7e9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the Associated Press that it appeared the girl’s mother, Afraa Abu Hadiya, gave birth under the rubble before she died. The newborn was the only member of her immediate family to survive the earthquake, according to a relative. 
“We heard a voice while we were digging,” cousin Khalil al-Suwadi told the AFP, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/turkey-syria-earthquake-updates-2-7-23-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. “We cleared the dust and found the baby with the umbilical cord (intact), so we cut it and my cousin took her to [the] hospital.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Pregnant woman gives birth while buried under rubble in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Syria?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Syria</a>. Newborn baby is rescued,but the mother &#39;tragically loses her life&#39; following devastating <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/earthquake?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#earthquake</a> <a href="https://t.co/RAXOUL9m4Y">pic.twitter.com/RAXOUL9m4Y</a>
&mdash; Smriti Sharma (@SmritiSharma_) <a href="https://twitter.com/SmritiSharma_/status/1622920896196521986?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
The baby girl is being treated at a hospital in Afrin, Syria, and is in stable condition after sustaining bruises, lacerations, and hypothermia. The baby’s body temperature reportedly dropped to 95 degrees after her mother gave birth to her. Dr. Hani Maarouf, who treated the baby, estimated that she was found just hours after being born and would not have survived much longer in the cold temperatures. 
“Had the girl been left for an hour more, she would have died,” he said, according to the AP. 
The baby’s parents and four siblings reportedly attempted to flee the building as the earthquake hit the northwest Syrian town, but all were crushed and died under the rubble. Their bodies were found near the building’s entrance, according to a relative. 
More than <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/02/05/world/turkey-earthquake" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4,000</a> people have died following the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked parts of Syria and Turkey early Monday morning. A 7.5-magnitude aftershock followed later that afternoon. Around 1,500 have been found dead in Syria, and nearly 3,000 more are dead in Turkey as rescue workers continue to search for survivors following the worst natural disaster to hit the region since the 1939 Erzincan earthquake that killed more than 30,000 people.
The region is situated on major fault lines. In the area affected by the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/turkey-syria-earthquake-death-toll-surpasses-3600" target="_blank" rel="noopener">earthquake</a>, the dire situation is compounded by the presence of millions of refugees displaced by years-long civil war in Syria, who were taking refuge on both sides of Turkey and Syria’s border.
The U.S. promised aid to the devastated countries. 
“My Administration has been working closely with our NATO Ally Turkiye, and I authorized an immediate U.S. response. At my direction, senior American officials reached out immediately to their Turkish counterparts to coordinate any and all needed assistance,” President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/06/u-s-response-blinken-turkey-syria-earthquake-00081307" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Monday. “Our teams are deploying quickly to begin to support Turkish search and rescue efforts and address the needs of those injured and displaced by the earthquake. U.S.-supported humanitarian partners are also responding to the destruction in Syria.”
Daniel Chaitin contributed to this report.

Baby/Syria Earthquake

Miracle Baby: Newborn Found Alive Under Earthquake Rubble With Umbilical Cord Still Attached To Dead Mother

Newborn Baby Found Alive Under Earthquake Rubble With Umbilical Cord Still Attached To Dead Mother

baby

Natural Disaster

Some of the unknowns regarding the concoctions and processes used by ancient Egyptian embalmers are now more clear after researchers studied the contents of a previously discovered embalming workshop, according to a study <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05663-4?utm_medium=affiliate&amp;utm_source=commission_junction&amp;utm_campaign=CONR_PF018_ECOM_GL_PHSS_ALWYS_DEEPLINK&amp;utm_content=textlink&amp;utm_term=PID100052172&amp;CJEVENT=def83094a26011ed81b901810a82b820#Sec7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> in Nature Wednesday.
An archeologist made the rare <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/01/africa/ancient-egypt-mummy-embalming-workshop-scn/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discovery</a> in 2016: an embalming workshop where Egyptians prepared their dead. The chamber dates to the 26th dynasty, between 664 and 525 BC. Inside the workshop, which is located near the pyramid of King Unas, were 121 beakers and bowls that contained residue that researchers have now been able to identify.
“I was fascinated with this chemical knowledge of ancient Egyptians,” Phillip Stockhammer, a professor of prehistoric archeology at the Max Planck Institute and senior author of the study, <a href="https://www.popsci.com/science/ancient-egyptians-mummification-chemistry/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “They knew immediately they needed antibacterial, antifungal substances to keep the skin preserved, and this is without having any microbiology background.”
Stockhammer <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/secrets-mummy-making-revealed-residues-ancient-urns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notes</a> that researchers have largely had to make their best guesses on what the Egyptians used in the mummification process, until now. Much of the pottery in the workshop was labeled with instructions and ingredients, including “to put on his head” and “bandage or embalm with it.” From the find, researchers chose 22 bowls and nine beakers with the most legible labels to examine through an “organic residue analysis.”
Some of the materials identified include animal fats, beeswax, resin from pistachio trees, and cedar, cypress, and juniper oils. Researchers discovered that some of the mixtures of contents had been <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04400-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carefully</a> distilled or heated. Juniper and cypress in the form of oil or tar were most common, identified in 21 of the 31 vessels. The second most common material was cedar oil or tar, found in 19 of the vessels, according to the study. A bowl that contained animal fat and elemi, which hails from the canarium tree, was intended to &#8220;make his odor pleasant,&#8221; while other materials <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04400-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> had microbial properties.
The majority of the ingredients used came from lands far away from Egypt, and the study states that this meant there was “an almost global network” of trade with the Egyptians, helping further explain the exchange of goods and the trade networks used during that time. The study explains that while trade networks in the Mediterranean basin were already well known, “the Saqqara workshop provides additional evidence for long-distance trade networks via the vivid Indo-Mediterranean trade routes, which seem to have existed since the 2nd millennium BC.”
While scientists have been able to study and examine various materials used by embalmers through historical texts and mummies in the past, this is <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/secrets-mummy-making-revealed-residues-ancient-urns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> the first time they’ve had the opportunity to look at the materials found in the place where the mummification process occurred. With that information, actually linking the previously known information on the embalming process had been the difficult part, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04400-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Nature. The new breakthrough allows researchers to match contents with labels and intended use.
“You might have the name of something, but you don’t know what the hell it is, except the hieroglyphics suggesting it’s an oil or a resin,” Salim Ikram, a mummy specialist at American University in Cairo, told the journal “This is the first time you’ve got jars with labels of the contents.”

Egyptian Mummification Secrets Revealed Following Discovery Of Embalming Workshop

Africa

Archaeology

Egypt

The historic Pool of Siloam — the nearly three millennia-old public pool in the City of David in which Jewish pilgrims would purify themselves before journeying on to the Temple and which the New Testament records as the site where Jesus healed a blind man — is to be fully excavated and opened to modern-day pilgrims in the coming months, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced Tuesday.
&#8220;Due to its great significance, over the past 150 years the Pool of Siloam has been an attraction for archaeologists and researchers from all over the world,&#8221; the IAA said Tuesday in a joint <a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/travel/article/rkt6v4uti" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> with the City of David Foundation and the Nature and Parks Authority. “Now it is expected to be fully exposed for the first time and to be open to the general public.&#8221;
The mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion, said the long-awaited opening will further enrich visitors to the holy city.
&#8220;After many years of anticipation, we will soon merit being able to uncover this important site and make it accessible to the millions of visitors visiting Jerusalem each year,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-725901">said</a>.
The historically and religiously significant pool is believed to have been constructed around 2,700 years ago, during the reign of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hezekiah">King Hezekiah</a> (late 8th century B.C.), one of the most venerated kings of Judah described as having done “what was right in the eyes of the LORD” in his religious reformations and who led Israel during the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem.
By the time of Jesus, the Pool of Siloam was a place in which Jewish pilgrims would regularly come to immerse themselves for ritualistic cleansing before journeying up to the Holy Temple, and it was at this pool Jesus is believed to have miraculously given sight to a blind man, as recorded in the Gospel of John:
<blockquote>As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. (John 9:1-7, NIV)</blockquote>
<div id="attachment_481496" style="width: 807px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-481496" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-481496 size-large" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Jesus-Heals-a-Blind-Man-797x576.jpg" alt="A painting of Jesus healing a blind man" width="797" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/Jesus-Heals-a-Blind-Man-797x576.jpg 797w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/Jesus-Heals-a-Blind-Man-300x217.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/Jesus-Heals-a-Blind-Man-768x555.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/Jesus-Heals-a-Blind-Man-1536x1111.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/Jesus-Heals-a-Blind-Man.jpg 2000w" sizes="(max-width: 797px) 100vw, 797px" />Bible Art Library/Getty Images</div>
During the <a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/travel/article/rkt6v4uti">initial phase</a> of the new tourism project, visitors will be able to observe the excavation process taking place in the City of David, the original settlement location of Jerusalem, which lies just south of the Temple Mount. Within a few months, the City of David Foundation will expand public access to include the entirety of the pool as part of a tour of the historic route to the Holy Temple.
While the first excavations of the site began back in 1880, it was not until 2004 when archaeologists announced that they were “100 percent” confident that they had discovered the precise location of the pool.
&#8220;The moment that we revealed and discovered this four months ago, we were 100 percent sure it was the Siloam Pool,&#8221; said archaeologist Eli Shukron, who along with Ronny Reich uncovered stone steps leading from the pool to the Temple, as reported by <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6750670">NBC News</a> at the time. &#8220;We know today that the Siloam Pool is connected to the Temple Mount. There is a road that connects the two elements. The entire system is clearer today.”
<div id="attachment_481499" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-481499" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-481499 size-large" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Pool-of-Siloam-864x576.jpg" alt="Historic pool of Siloam where Hezekiah's tunnel ends, Jerusalem, Israel" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/Pool-of-Siloam-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/Pool-of-Siloam-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/Pool-of-Siloam-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/Pool-of-Siloam-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/Pool-of-Siloam-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/Pool-of-Siloam-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/Pool-of-Siloam-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Jacek Sopotnicki/Getty Images</div>
Shukron and Reich, working with the IAA at the time, were able to confirm the location of the pool after finding pottery shards and biblical-era coins marked with ancient Jewish writing at the site.
Biblical scholar Stephen Pean stressed the significance of the purity of the water of the pool, which was originally fed by the Gihon Spring.
&#8220;The whole point is that people will not only be healed physically but also healed spiritually,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This discovery helps bring the Gospel alive in the context of Jewish practice.&#8221;

Jerusalem

One Of Most Sacred Sites For Jews & Christians To Be Fully Opened To Public: ‘Miracle’ Pool Of Siloam

Religion

A journalist from a far-left news organization published the latest installment of &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Twitter Files</a>&#8221; Tuesday afternoon and sought to portray the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-s-military" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. Military</a> in a negative light with the information that was released.
The Intercept&#8217;s Lee Fang called his release of &#8220;The Twitter Files,&#8221; the eighth release in the series, &#8220;How Twitter Quietly Aided the Pentagon’s Covert Online PsyOp Campaign.&#8221;
The files showed that the U.S. Department of Defense created fake non-English-speaking accounts that it used to promote information in only foreign countries, mostly in the Middle East, to counter America&#8217;s enemies in the region, like Iran.
Twitter assisted the Pentagon&#8217;s efforts by giving the network of accounts special protections so they would not get flagged as spam accounts and removed from the platform.
&#8220;The Pentagon has used this network, which includes U.S. government-generated news portals and memes, in an effort to shape opinion in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, [and] Kuwait,&#8221; Fang noted, adding that the network &#8220;relentlessly pushed narratives against Russia, China, and other foreign countries.&#8221;
Nothing in the report gave even the slightest indication that the Pentagon&#8217;s efforts ever targeted Americans or anyone in the U.S. as all the evidence that was presented said that only foreign adversaries overseas were targeted.
Perhaps the one concern that the report found was that the U.S. did not do a good job of making the accounts appear authentic, as officials from social media companies apparently warned the Pentagon that if they could detect inauthentic accounts then foreign adversaries likely could as well.
Research from social media companies has <a href="https://www.axios.com/2021/06/01/facebook-disinformation-campaigns-globally" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found</a> that the U.S. is by far the #1 target of foreign disinformation campaigns online, with Russia and Iran being the biggest culprits on Facebook.
Journalist Yashar Ali responded to one of Fang&#8217;s tweets that claimed that the U.S. Military&#8217;s accounts &#8220;tweeted frequently about U.S. military priorities in the Middle East, including promoting anti-Iran messages,&#8221; by noting that is not what the messages said.
&#8220;To be clear they’re not anti-Iran messages,&#8221; said Ali, whose family is from Iran. “They’re anti-Islamic Republic messages.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
To be clear they’re not anti-Iran messages. 
They’re anti-Islamic Republic messages. <a href="https://t.co/Z8mBHGvYHi">https://t.co/Z8mBHGvYHi</a>
&mdash; Yashar Ali 🐘 یاشار (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1605300168399630337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Rebeccah Heinrichs, a foreign policy expert who was a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump&#8217;s foreign policy agenda, responded to the thread by noting: &#8220;This isn’t obviously bad and might be very good.&#8221;
&#8220;One advantage the CCP has over the US is that the entire nation, from its &#8216;influencers&#8217; to its businesses, to its academics, all serve the CCP in international relations. US media and influencers, in contrast, tend to aid narratives that undermine US interests,&#8221; Heinrichs tweeted. &#8220;The U.S. is in a vicious info war with adversaries ranging from the CCP to Russia to Iran, etc. So if a major news platform like twitter is willing to cooperate w/ the Pentagon trying to shape and bend info to serve US interests? I certainly hope they are.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The U.S. is in a vicious info war with adversaries ranging from the CCP to Russia to Iran, etc. So if a major news platform like twitter is willing to cooperate w/ the Pentagon trying to shape and bend info to serve US interests? I certainly hope they are.
&mdash; Rebeccah Heinrichs (@RLHeinrichs) <a href="https://twitter.com/RLHeinrichs/status/1605316190238232578?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Foreign policy columnist Jason Willick responded, &#8220;This seems to be the one Twitter file that shows Twitter *supporting* the U.S., rather than subverting its constitutional principles. What’s the problem?&#8221;
&#8220;Put differently, it shows Twitter acting like an *American* company, for once,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Good.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Put differently, it shows Twitter acting like an *American* company, for once. Good.
&mdash; Jason Willick (@jawillick) <a href="https://twitter.com/jawillick/status/1605318237540864000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

In this photo illustration, a Twitter logo is displayed on a

New ‘Twitter Files’ Shows Company Helped The Military Battle Foreign Adversaries Trying To Hurt U.S.

New 'Twitter Files' Shows Company Helped The Military Battle Foreign Adversaries Trying To Hurt U.S.

Business

Social Media

Twitter

Two millennia ago, the people of <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/israel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Judea</a> visited the Jordan River in droves as the voice of John the Baptist cried to them from the wilderness about the arrival of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jesus-christ" target="_blank" rel="no opener noopener">Jesus Christ</a>. Today, that wilderness from which Jesus began his ministry could become the home of souvenir shops, botanical gardens, and boutique hotels.
King Abdullah II of Jordan recently heard a proposal to pour as much as $300 million into a “tourist city” adjacent to the site where Jesus was believed to have been baptized, according to a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/jordan-eyes-tourism-bonanza-expansion-jesus-baptism-site-2022-12-14/">report</a> from Reuters. The attraction could eventually quintuple the number of pilgrims who visit the location to one million per year.
Planners would attempt to maintain the idyllic location, which is 30 miles west of Amman, the capital of Jordan and the Islamic nation’s largest city. &#8220;We are talking about rustic stones and pebbles in architectural designs that preserve the place&#8217;s pristine nature and ensure that the sanctity and spirituality that existed 2,000 years ago are not trampled on by any development,&#8221; architect Kamel Mahadin told Reuters.
In recent years, various churches and organizations have raced to construct houses of worship near the site, where John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, as recorded in the Gospel of John. According to the New Testament, the baptism of Jesus marked the beginning of his three-year earthly ministry.
The project would mark the first revenue-generating Christian holy site operated by the Jordanian government, which plans to solicit funding for the initiative from churches, donors, and private investors. &#8220;This is an attempt to usurp religious spirit,” Jordanian Baptist Evangelical researcher Philip Madanat told Reuters. “It is unprecedented to have such a Christian holy site used for this purpose in Jordan.”
The most popular religious pilgrimage destination in the Holy Land is the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the last remaining portion of the retaining wall surrounding the courtyard of the Temple Mount, according to a <a href="https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/worlds-most-visited-sacred-sites" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> from Travel and Leisure. The most frequented Christian location in the region is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which some believe commemorates the site of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Other sites visited by millions of Christian pilgrims include the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth and the Mount of Beatitudes in Galilee.
Tourism constitutes nearly 20% of the Jordanian economy, according to a <a href="https://www.moin.gov.jo/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Sector-Profile-Tourism-Final-Apr-2018-2.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the nation’s government. King Abdullah, who has reigned over the country since 1999, has been widely regarded as tolerant toward Christians.
Though Christians in Jordan face a relatively lower degree of persecution than believers in other Middle Eastern countries, the state “exerts pressure” by monitoring all Christian communities, especially unrecognized churches that publicly evangelize, according to a <a href="https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/jordan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from Open Doors. Converts from Islam face a high degree of pressure from their families; some have been beaten or killed for professing faith in Jesus.
Beyond preserving the dwindling Christian population in the Middle East, clerics in Jordan expressed hope that the tourist attraction will generate revenue for the nation’s struggling economy. &#8220;It will lead to prosperity when tourists who come and buy souvenirs and get services, help the local community and the country at large,&#8221; Father Ibrahim Dabbour, the general secretary of the Assembly of Christian leaders of Jordan, told Reuters.
One would be remiss, however, to forget Jesus&#8217; words of rebuke to those who turned the Temple into a place to buy and sell animals for sacrifice: &#8220;It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

The Jordan River Baptismal site

Site Of Jesus’ Baptism Could Become Home To $300 Million Tourist Village

Jordanian Government Could Turn Site Of Jesus' Baptism Into Tourist Destination

Christianity

Jesus Christ

The brother of U.S. journalist Grant Wahl believes that his death in Qatar while covering the World Cup was not an accident.
CBS News <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/grant-wahl-renowned-american-soccer-journalist-dies-at-age-48/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Wahl “suffered a heart attack” while in the press box of Lusail Stadium in Doha.
Wahl generated international headlines during the World Cup in November after he wore LGBT gear in support of members of that community who live in fear of criminal prosecution in Qatar. Wahl was detained for wearing the shirt and was told to change his shirt because it was not allowed. He was released after roughly half an hour.
Eric Wahl says that he believes that his brother was killed because he was a healthy person.
&#8220;My name is Eric Wahl. I live in Seattle, Washington. I am Grant Wahl&#8217;s brother,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;m gay, I&#8217;m the reason he wore the rainbow shirt to the World Cup.&#8221;
&#8220;My brother was healthy. He told me he received death threats. I do not believe my brother just died,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;I believe he was killed and I just beg for any help.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This is a video posted to the Instagram account of Eric Wahl, saying that he is Grant Wahl’s brother.
In the video, he said he is the reason Grant wore the rainbow shirt to the World Cup &amp; that he believes Grant was killed. (Instagram: <a href="https://twitter.com/eewahl?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@eewahl</a>) <a href="https://t.co/krOoXuSjVc">pic.twitter.com/krOoXuSjVc</a>
&mdash; Jeanna Trotman (@JeannaTrotmanTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeannaTrotmanTV/status/1601414091205390337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
On Monday, Wahl <a href="https://www.wcvb.com/article/american-journalist-grant-wahl-dies-while-covering-world-cup/42204330">wrote</a> on his website that he went to a medical facility to receive treatment because he was not feeling well.
“My body finally broke down on me. Three weeks of little sleep, high stress and lots of work can do that to you,” Wahl wrote. “What had been a cold over the last 10 days turned into something more severe on the night of the USA-Netherlands game, and I could feel my upper chest take on a new level of pressure and discomfort.”
“I didn’t have Covid (I test regularly here), but I went into the medical clinic at the main media center today, and they said I probably have bronchitis,” he added. “They gave me a course of antibiotics and some heavy-duty cough syrup, and I’m already feeling a bit better just a few hours later. But still: No bueno.”
Wahl <a href="https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/35221443/american-soccer-journalist-grant-wahl-dies-49-qatar">said</a> on a Thursday podcast that he was not feeling well again went back to the clinic for treatment.
“I basically canceled everything on this Thursday that I had, and napped and I’m doing slightly better that you can probably tell in my voice that I’m not at it at 100 percent here,” he said.
“The only thing that’s surprising to me actually is there isn’t that much COVID here. I thought there might be a real issue with that,” he continued.
Wahl’s wife released a statement upon learning of her husband&#8217;s death, saying that she was “in complete shock.”
“I am so thankful for the support of my husband @GrantWahl ‘s soccer family &amp; of so many friends who’ve reached out tonight,” she said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I am so thankful for the support of my husband <a href="https://twitter.com/GrantWahl?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GrantWahl</a>&#39;s soccer family &amp; of so many friends who&#39;ve reached out tonight.
I&#39;m in complete shock. <a href="https://t.co/OB3IzOxGlE">https://t.co/OB3IzOxGlE</a>
&mdash; Céline Gounder, MD, ScM, FIDSA 🇺🇦 (@celinegounder) <a href="https://twitter.com/celinegounder/status/1601404727014879232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

AIPS FIFA Journalists Award Ceremony – FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

Brother Of U.S. Journalist Grant Wahl, Who Collapsed And Died At World Cup: ‘I Believe He Was Killed’

Brother Of U.S. Journalist Grant Wahl, Who Collapsed And Died At World Cup: 'I Believe He Was Killed'

Media

Qatar

World Cup

Menu