1,500-year-old church, elaborate mosaic found in south
Archaeologists announce the uncovering of an impressive Byzantine structure in the south; site open to public for two days
January 22, 2014, 4:24 pm
0-The times of Israel
A 1,500-year-old church with an
impressive mosaic and five inscriptions was uncovered in a town in the
south of Israel, the Israel Antiquities Authorities announced Wednesday.“An
impressive basilica building was discovered at the site, 22 meters long
and 12 meters wide,” said Daniel Varga, one of the two archaeologists
directing the excavations, which were funded by the Israel Land
Authority and located near Kiryat Gat. “The building consists of a
central hall with two side aisles divided by marble pillars. At the
front of the building is a wide open courtyard (atrium) paved with a
white mosaic floor, and with a cistern. Leading off the courtyard is a
rectangular transverse hall (narthex) with a fine mosaic floor decorated
with colored geometric designs; at its center, opposite the entrance to
the main hall, is a twelve-row dedicatory inscription in Greek
containing the names Mary and Jesus, and the name of the person who
funded the mosaic’s construction.”The mosaic in the nave, or main hall, was
especially striking, with 40 medallions depicting a zebra, leopard,
turtle, wild boar, birds, and various geometrical designs. The
medallions also contain dedicatory inscriptions in honor of two local
church figures, Demetrios and Herakles. Two narrow halls to side of the
nave also featured colored mosaic floors.Archaeologists uncovered evidence of a
flourishing local Byzantine culture at the site, including a pottery
workshop and glass vessels.
The region, near Israel’s southern coastal plain, was home to an
important Byzantine settlement. Archaeologists believe that residents
produced and sold wine that found its way across the Mediterranean
region. The church itself, which served the surrounding towns, sat on
the road between Ashkelon and Jerusalem, where archaeologists have
uncovered other Byzantine settlements.
This, however, is the first Byzantine church found in the area.The site, at Moshav Aluma. will be open to the public Thursday and Friday of this week, before it is covered again.IAA said it will cover over again the remains
of the church itself, but it plans on removing the mosaic and putting it
on display in a local museum or visitors’ center.
Dept. Foreign Minister Tells EU Envoy to End 'Double-Standards'
In meeting with EU Ambassador, Elkin gives documents showing PA incitement and EU hypocrisy in different conflict zones.-By Ari Yashar-First Publish: 1/22/2014, 5:19 PM-Israelnationalnews
Ze'ev Elkin and Lars Andersen-Noa Arad, Foreign Ministry
Jerusalem: Poison on Scene 'the Highest Level Ever Recorded'
Fire
commander tells Arutz Sheva that poison found in Givat Mordechai
apartment which killed two infants was at record-breaking levels.-By Tova Dvorin-First Publish: 1/22/2014, 5:27 PM-Israelnationalnews
Fire brigade, medics at Jerusalem poisoning scene-Flash90
"Jerusalem residents have suffered a difficult week," he continued. "I advise everyone to be careful."
Basson is referring to this week's double tragedy: Wednesday's poisoning of a Givat Mordechai family, which killed a 2 year-old and a 4 year-old and left two older children hospitalized in serious condition, and Sunday's gas explosion in Gilo, which killed a young couple and their infant son. Wednesday's tragedy occurred after an exterminator left highly toxic materials - the same agents used in Syria's chemical weapons - in the apartment's enclosed security room, also known as the "Mamad" or bomb shelter.Apparently, the security room's seal was less effective than the storage requirements for the chemical require, and the poison spread throughout the apartment over several days. The exterminator has been arrested and an investigation has been launched.The family's youngest children, ages 2 and 4, died from the poison Wednesday. The rest of the family has been recovering - albeit slowly - as no medication exists to treat the poison, according to hospital staff. It has also been released that the family visited a Terem medical center Tuesday after complaining of symptoms similar to a stomach virus from the poisoning. The family was told to take paracetamol and prescribed medication for morning sickness to take the next morning.
After Gaza strike, defense minister warns Hamas of ‘heavy price’
‘We will not hesitate to continue to act with force,’ Ya’alon says hours after Israeli planes take out terror chief
January 22, 2014, 10:37 am
4
Hours after Israel assassinated a
senior Gaza terrorist, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon warned the
Strip’s ruling Hamas organization that it would “pay a heavy price” for
rocket fire on Israel.“If
[Hamas] doesn’t know how to impose its authority on terrorist
organizations operating from its territory we will continue to act to
make it, and those who are active in terror and fire at Israel, pay a
heavy price,” Ya’alon said in a statement released by his ministry on
Wednesday.The Israeli Air Force launched an airstrike in
the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun early Wednesday morning,
killing two men, said by Israel to be terrorists behind some of the
missile attacks on southern Israeli towns and communities. The air force
said it carried out the strike to stop an imminent attack.Strikes on high profile targets often draw
responses from Gazan rocket launchers. The eight-day Operation Pillar of
Defense began in November 2012 with the assassination of Hamas chief
Ahmed Jabari.While Hamas is not seen as behind the latest rocket attacks, Ya’alon said Israel still held it responsible.“We will not hesitate to continue to act with
force in order to hit those who are threatening our security, and we
will do that with all the methods and tools at our disposal,” he warned.
President Shimon Peres said that while Israel wants things to be quiet, it won’t refrain from responding when provoked.“It is important to stress that if it is not
quiet on one side then it won’t be quiet on both sides,” Peres said.
“The Gaza ruler-ship needs to decide what it wants – exchanges of fire
or existence. Israel is interested in things being quiet, but if the
quiet is disturbed we will respond with forcefully.”The IDF identified the target of the strike
as Ahmad Zaanin, 21, a commander Gaza-based Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine’s military wing, responsible for recent rocket
fire against Israel. It said he fired the rockets that targeted Israel after the funeral for prime minister Ariel Sharon ended last Monday. A second man, said to be his relative and a member of Islamic Jihad, was also killed.The Palestinian Ma’an News Agency identified the second man as Mahmoud Yousef Zaanin, 23.The men were reportedly sitting in a parked
car when it was hit by an IAF missile, residents told Reuters.
Unconfirmed photos which claimed to show Ahmad Zaanin circulated on social media shortly after the airstrike.The IDF said the airstrike prevented an imminent rocket attack against Israel.“Since 2009 Zaanin, with the cooperation of
other terror bodies in the Gaza Strip, has endorsed numerous attacks
such as sniping attacks and detonating explosive devices against IDF
soldiers,” the IDF said in a statement.“In his earlier days Zaanin was affiliated
with the Islamic Palestinian Jihad, during which the terrorist operated
towards the execution of terror attacks, most of which were rocket
attacks, against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers,” the military said.The airstrike
came amid increased violence along the Israel-Gaza border. Since
January 1, several dozen rockets fired from the Gaza Strip have exploded
in Israel, the first escalation of its kind since the ceasefire that
ended November 2012′s Operation Pillar of Defense.Earlier this week, three rockets from the Gaza
Strip were fired at the western Negev shortly before midnight on
Monday. On Tuesday morning, an explosive device detonated near an army
patrol along the border fence. There were no injuries.Earlier
Monday evening, two Grad rockets were fired from the Sinai at the Red
Sea resort town of Eilat, striking an open area close to the city.Israel has also taken several defensive
measures lately, moving an Iron Dome anti-missile battery to Beersheba
and canceling school for some Ashdod students.
If the Palestinian president could be gracious, 'I would hope that a member of the Israeli Knesset could'
Canadians ‘taken aback’ at Arab MKs’ heckling of Harper
Canada’s parliament wouldn’t disrupt the speech of a visiting foreign leader, says PM’s ministerial colleague Jason Kenney
January 21, 2014, 9:51 pm
28-The times of israel
Many members of Canadian Prime
Minister Stephen Harper’s delegation were “surprised” and “taken aback”
that he was heckled by two Arab MKs during his address to the Knesset on
Monday, a minister who is traveling with Harper said.“A
lot of us were a bit taken aback that members of a national parliament
would heckle a visiting foreign leader,” Jason Kenney, Canada’s minister
of employment and social development, told The Times of Israel Tuesday.Kenney added that the Arab MKs’ conduct
contrasted strikingly with the attitude of Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas, who hosted Harper earlier on Monday in
Ramallah. “I attended our meetings with President Abbas earlier in the
day,” said Kenney. Abbas “was extremely gracious, offered nothing but
warm words of welcome and partnership, expressed gratitude for Canada’s
constructive role that we’re playing here.”Abbas was also “asked by Canadian media to
criticize us,” but “refrained from doing so,” added Kenney. “I mean if
the president of the Palestinian Authority could do that, I would hope
that a member of the Israeli Knesset could.”Kenney was referring to heckling midway through Harper’s stirringly pro-Israel address to the Knesset on
Monday evening. Two Arab MKs, Ahmad Tibi and Taleb Abu Arar, who had
also heckled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) and opposition
leader Isaac Herzog (Labor) when they spoke prior to Harper, shouted
interruptions and then got up and left after the Canadian prime minister
castigated those who sought to brand Israel an Apartheid state.“Most disgracefully of all, some openly call
Israel an apartheid state,” Harper said. “Think about that. Think about
the twisted logic and outright malice behind that: A state, based on
freedom, democracy and the rule of law, that was founded so Jews can
flourish, as Jews, and seek shelter from the shadow of the worst racist
experiment in history, that is condemned, and that condemnation is
masked in the language of anti-racism. It is nothing short of
sickening.”The two Arab MKs shouted that Israeli Arabs
faced apartheid, citing the situation of Bedouin in the Negev, and Tibi
said Harper “should be sitting there, with the Likud,” and pointed to
the relevant benches in the chamber. The pair then got up and left.After the walkout, and before Harper resumed
his speech, much of the Knesset rose to its feet, led by Netanyahu, and
gave the Canadian leader a standing ovation.Tibi had earlier heckled Netanyahu, claiming
that his colleague Abu Arar, a Bedouin MK from Ar’arat in the Negev, did
not have water or electricity in his home, because of Israeli
discrimination. “There’s no water or electricity in his village,” Tibi
shouted at Netanyahu. “No water, no electricity. Give him water and
electricity and he’ll stop shouting.” In fact, Channel 2 News showed on
Tuesday, Abu Arar, a former school teacher and head of his local
council, lives in a three-story home with water, electricity,
air-conditioning and a satellite dish, and his street is well lit by
street lamps. Tibi acknowledged this in the Knesset on Tuesday, but said
he had been speaking more generally about alleged discrimination
against Negev Bedouin.Kenney said Harper “was prepared” for possible
interruptions, “because he saw what was happening with the prime
minister’s [Netanyahu's] speech.” He noted, too, that Harper had plenty
of experience with heckling, since “our House of Commons is as
boisterous as the Knesset… Everyone here thinks you’ve got the wildest
show in town” but a quick YouTube search can show “how rancorous our
Question Time can be.”Nonetheless,
Canada’s parliament wouldn’t heckle a visiting foreign leader, Kenney
stressed. “It only happened once, in the 1980s, when a Socialist [member
of parliament] heckled Ronald Reagan. But that was really an
exception.”The interruptions did “prove a point,” however, Kenney noted. “This is the only parliament in the Middle East where that could possibly happen. I think that’s fair to say.”(The Times of Israel’s full interview with Kenney will appear on Wednesday. The full text of Harper’s Knesset speech is here.)
