#temple mount

Israel is the greatest decolonization story the world has ever known.

I saw in Arabic sites that the Waqf said that 1,732 Jews has ascended to the Temple Mount on Tuesday. When I Googled "1,732 Temple Mount," Google AI rephrased a Hamas news site, Palestine Information Center, saying that "approximately 1,732 Jewish settlers defiled the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Occupied Jerusalem during the third day of the Passover holiday. These settlers, with police escort, entered the mosque through the Maghariba Gate and provocatively toured its courtyards, receiving lectures and performing Talmudic prayers. "

This is above the search results, so the first thing visible is a Hamas propaganda site, promoted by Google. 

Saying that this "Generative AI" is "experimental" is not an excuse to parrot the lies of a Hamas website as if it is a news site. AI modified the PIC article slightly to call it the Temple Mount.

The good news is, 1,732 Jews proudly visited their holiest site on Tuesday. 

Police said Sunday that they arrested 21 people suspected of trying to bring a sacrificial goat up to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday.

It was the second time in as many months that a group was arrested for attempting to perform a traditional sacrifice at the historical site of Judaism’s two ancient holy temples. While the temples have not existed and Jews have not performed such sacrifices for nearly 2,000 years, small groups ascend the mount perennially to try to revive the ritual, without success.

2,000-Year-Old ‘Redemption of Zion’ Coin Found in Israel

Bronze coin minted in the fourth year of the Jewish Great Revolt against the Romans found by archaeologists excavating next to the Temple Mount.

A bronze coin minted in the fourth year of the Jewish Great Revolt against the Romans has been uncovered near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Thursday. The small artifact offers a glimpse into the final, dramatic months that preceded the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, when the rebels already sensed their downfall was imminent.

The coin was found earlier this month during excavations in the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden – Davidson Center, conducted by the IAA in collaboration with the City of David and Jewish Quarter Reconstruction and Development Company.

The obverse of the coin features a goblet alongside the inscription “For the Redemption of Zion.” On the reverse appear a lulav and two etrogim (palm fronds and citrons used ceremonially on the festival of Sukkot), accompanied by the words “Year Four.”

“What’s unique about the coins minted in that final year is the shift in language,” Yanniv David Levy, a researcher and curator in the IAA Coin Department, told The Times of Israel over the phone.

“In earlier years, the inscription read ‘For the Freedom of Zion,’” he explained. “This change suggests a shift in the atmosphere in Jerusalem. Although the Romans had not yet taken the city, it’s likely that people already sensed the end was near.”

According to Levy, having realized that freedom was no longer within reach, the rebels turned their hopes toward divine intervention.

“Freedom is something people can strive for through their own human actions,” he said. “But a plea for redemption suggests they were no longer relying on themselves — it was a cry for divine intervention.”

The inscription isn’t the only notable change found on coins minted during the fourth year of the revolt — the period between the Hebrew month of Nissan (March–April) 69 CE and Adar (February–March) 70 CE.

“The bronze coins produced at that time were noticeably larger than those from earlier years,” Levy said. “We don’t have a definitive explanation for this change, but it might have been a way for Shimon Bar Giora, who headed the Revolt in its final phase, to assert his leadership.”

Levy emphasized that in those days, the significance of minting coins extended far beyond their economic function.

“We shouldn’t think of coins just as money, but as a form of mass communication — like a newspaper or a social media feed,” he said. “To sustain a rebellion, the first step is to convey your message, both to your own people and to your enemy. These coins declared the cause of the Revolt and projected an image of strength.”

He noted that the last time coins had been minted by a Jewish sovereign in the Land of Israel was during the Hasmonean dynasty, about a century earlier.

Minting their own currency also had practical implications.

“By producing coins, the rebels could operate an economy independent of Roman currency in the areas they controlled,” Levy said.

He said it’s likely the coin was minted on the Temple Mount or in its immediate vicinity.

“Only some 400 of these coins have been found across Israel, which for bronze coins is quite a small number,” Levy said. “Most of the coins were found in Jerusalem, but some have also been unearthed in Masada, which testify to another part of the story, that of the refugees who fled the city after it was destroyed.”

Levy discovered the Year Four coin while surveying the excavation site with a metal detector.

“I found it about two weeks ago,” he said. “It was covered in dirt, and only after cleaning it in the lab were we able to identify what it really was.”

“Uncovering a coin like this right next to the Temple Mount, and so close to Tisha B’Av, the day we mourn the destruction of the Temple, was incredibly moving,” he added.

By Rosella Tercatin.