Free Republic

The structure in which shattered jugs were found during the summer 2017 Israel Antiquities Authority dig, attesting to the destruction. (Eliyahu Yanai, Courtesy of the City of David Archive) On the eve of the Hebrew commemoration of the destruction of the Temples, archaeologists discover remnants of a blaze indicating the city was grander than thought New finds in the City of David confirm the veracity of the biblical account of the Babylonian capture and conquest of First Temple period Jerusalem. The event is commemorated next Tuesday on the Hebrew date Tisha B’av (August 1) in a day of fasting and...

Scientists have created a keypad lock a single molecule in size. This lock only activates when exposed to the correct password, a sequence of chemicals and light. Researchers suggest their device could in the future lead to a new level of safeguards for secret information. This lock might also serve to recognize when certain sequences of chemicals are released in the body--for instance, after exposure to Sarin or another deadly chemical or biological weapon. Organic chemist Abraham Shanzer and his colleagues at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovat, Israel, began with a molecule named FLIP. At its core is...

“DESPITE VIRTUAL round-the-clock coverage of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, one important aspect remains poorly understood: the reaction of the "Arab street." Turn on any Arab television channel, though, and you can't miss the rage and widespread support for Hezbollah and Hamas: streets roiling with protesters, callers to talk programs denouncing Israel and the United States, and clerics defending Hezbollah and calling for holy war. Five years after 9/11, the West still struggles to understand the rage that pushes Arab masses to view radical groups as heroic forces of resistance. On one extreme, there are those who indict Islam...

Although the mainstream press likes to portray our President as ‘not too bright’, I would submit that he understands what the civilized world is facing, and what must be done to save it, better than any journalist or academic does, and that his rationales for a pre-emptive strike into Iraq continue to make excellent geo-political sense – even as we struggle to contain the violence that is endemic to the entire region.

A number of valuable historic documents stolen from some of Israel's leading research institutions, including the Weizmann and Jabotinsky institutes, are being offered for sale in the United States, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Antiquities expert John Reznikoff, who owns and operates University Archives, an antiquities dealership in Westport, Connecticut, told the Post on Monday that "all the major archives in Israel are being looted, and the items are ending up here in the US. Jewish culture is being sold for pennies on the dollar, and there's a general malaise at the institutions in Israel about the situation. "I'm very...