Temple linked to Hercules and Alexander the Great discovered in ancient megacity in Iraq

Jennifer Nalewicki
Thu, December 7, 2023 

A digital replica of a temple.
Archaeologists in Iraq have unearthed twin temples built on top of each other. The newer, Hellenistic temple dates to the fourth century B.C. and may have a link to Alexander the Great.

The temple contained a fired brick with an Aramaic and Greek inscription that references "the giver of two brothers" — a possible reference to the Macedonian king, who conquered much of the known world during his 13-year-reign from 336 B.C. to 323 B.C.

Archaeologists from the British Museum in London discovered the older temple while conducting excavations at Girsu, a Sumerian city now known as Tello in southeastern Iraq. The excavations are part of an ongoing venture conducted by the museum known as The Girsu Project that focuses on learning more about the city’s storied history.

Remnants of the older, Sumerian temple were found buried "on the exact same spot" as the newer construction, which was dedicated to the "Greek god Hercules and his Sumerian equivalent, the hero god Ningirsu [also known as Ninurta]," Sebastien Rey, an archaeologist and curator of Ancient Mesopotamia at the British Museum who led the excavation, told Live Science in an email.

The fact that a temple was raised on the same site where one stood 1,500 years earlier was no coincidence, and the site must have held some significance to the people of Mesopotamia, the researchers said.

Related: 2nd-century Alexander the Great statue with lion's-mane hairstyle unearthed in Turkey

"It shows that the inhabitants of Babylonia in the [fourth] century B.C. had a vast knowledge of their history," Rey said. "The legacy of the Sumerians was still very vibrant."

While exploring the dual temple site, archaeologists discovered a silver drachm (an ancient Greek coin) buried beneath an altar or shrine, as well as a brick with the two brothers inscription.

"The inscription is very interesting because it mentions an enigmatic Babylonian name written in Greek and Aramaic," Rey said. "The name 'Adadnadinakhe,' which means 'Adad, the giver of brothers,' was clearly chosen as a ceremonial title on account of its archaizing tone and symbolic connotations. All the evidence points to the fact that the name was extraordinarily rare."

A tablet with an inscription

The inscription itself is a nod to Zeus, the Greek sky god, who is often symbolized by a lightning bolt and an eagle. Both of these symbols can be found on the coin, which would've been struck in Babylon "under Alexander the Great's authority," Rey said. "It shows Hercules in a youthful, clean-shaven portrait that strongly recalls conventional representations of Alexander on one side, with Zeus on the other."

Zeus also "famously acknowledged Alexander as his son through the agency of the Ammon oracle,” Rey said. "He became quite literally the 'giver of brothers' because he affirmed a fraternal bond between Alexander and Heracles."

However, researchers don't yet know whether the Macedonian king actually visited the site.

"But he might have had the opportunity to go there, either during his stay in Babylon, or by taking a detour on the way to [the city of] Susa," he said. "Significantly, he was able to pay his soldiers after taking Babylon because the city's coffers were surrendered to him. This meant that Alexander and his generals had control of the region's wealth, and they presumably used Babylonian silver to mint the many coins that were struck in the city."

RELATED STORIES

—2,300-year-old grave in Israel contains remains of Greek courtesan who may have accompanied Alexander the Great's army

—AI is deciphering a 2,000-year-old 'lost book' describing life after Alexander the Great

—4,500-year-old Sumerian temple dedicated to mighty thunder god discovered in Iraq

In addition to the artifacts, researchers also found offerings normally given after a battle, including clay figurines of soldiers.

"The recovered figurines, which originated in a range of places in the Hellenistic world, must in many instances have been carried to the temple by visitors," he said. "Among these are the Macedonian riders on horseback, which have strong associations with Alexander. However, they could also be associated with a cult of warlike heroism.

"Combined with the clear signs of an Alexandrian presence in the shrine, this raises the intriguing possibility that Alexander was directly and actively instrumental in [the temple's] re-establishment, and (or) that it came to include a memorial to the departed Macedonian after his early death," Rey concluded.

High-profile attacks on Derek Chauvin and Larry Nassar put spotlight on violence in federal prisons

MICHAEL R. SISAK and MICHAEL BALSAMO
Fri, December 8, 2023 

Derek Chauvin was stabbed nearly two dozen times at a federal prison in Arizona. Larry Nassar was knifed repeatedly at a federal penitentiary in Florida.

The recent assaults of two high-profile federal prisoners by fellow inmates have renewed concerns about whether the crisis-plagued federal Bureau of Prisons is capable of keeping inmates safe.

In the shadow of gangster James “Whitey” Bulger’s 2018 beating death and financier Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 suicide, the agency is again under scrutiny for failing to protect high-profile prisoners from harm.

Chauvin, 47, the ex-Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd in 2020, was assaulted Nov. 24 in the law library at a medium-security federal prison in Tucson, Arizona — the same complex where an inmate tried to shoot a visitor last year with a contraband gun.

Chauvin’s suspected attacker, an ex-gang leader, told correctional officers he would have killed him if they hadn’t responded when they did, prosecutors said. He is charged with attempted murder and was moved to a federal penitentiary next door.

Chauvin’s family is “very concerned about the facility’s capacity to protect Derek from further harm,” his lawyer, Gregory Erickson, said.

Nassar, 60, the ex-U.S. women’s gymnastics team doctor who sexually abused athletes, was ambushed in his cell on July 9 at a federal penitentiary in Coleman, Florida. Other inmates stopped his attacker before officers arrived.

The attacks are symptoms of larger problems within the Justice Department’s largest agency that put all 158,000 federal prisoners at risk. They include severe staffing shortages, staff-on-inmate abuse, broken surveillance cameras and crumbling infrastructure.

The violence has challenged a perception that federal prisons are far safer than state prisons. The inmates suspected of attacking Chauvin and Nassar both have violent histories.

“No one’s sentence, regardless of their offense, includes being subjected to violence while they’re in prison," said Daniel Landsman, deputy director of policy at Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a criminal justice advocacy group. “The attack on Chauvin is the latest in a long list of incidents that highlight the urgent need for comprehensive independent oversight of our federal Bureau of Prisons.”

An ongoing Associated Press investigation has uncovered deep problems within the Bureau of Prisons, including rampant sexual abuse and other staff criminal conduct, dozens of escapes, violence, deaths and understaffing that has hampered responses to emergencies, including inmate assaults and suicides.

The agency, with more than 30,000 employees, 122 prison facilities and an annual budget of about $8 billion, has drawn increased oversight from Congress and scrutiny from government watchdogs.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz has cited management failures, flawed policies and incompetence as factors in Bulger’s killing and blamed “negligence, misconduct and outright job performance failures” for Epstein’s suicide as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

The “serious deficiencies” connected to their deaths were "especially concerning given that the BOP would presumably take particular care in handling the custody and care of such inmates," Horowitz wrote.

Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters said lessons learned would be “applied to the broader BOP correctional landscape.” But the agency declined last week to tell the AP what changes have been made, saying it does not “discuss specific security practices.”

Peters also promised a security review after the gun breach last year. Asked for an update, the agency said it “does not comment on matters related to investigations.”

A spokesperson, Benjamin O’Cone, said the agency “takes seriously our duty to protect the individuals entrusted in our custody, as well as maintain the safety of correctional employees and the community.”

“We review safety protocols and implement corrective actions when identified,” O’Cone said.

Chauvin began his incarceration in solitary confinement at a maximum-security Minnesota state prison, “largely for his own protection,” his former lawyer wrote in court papers.

He transferred to FCI Tucson in August 2022 after agreeing to simultaneously serve all his punishment for Floyd’s murder in federal prison — a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights, later reduced by seven months, and a 22½-year state sentence for second-degree murder.

Chauvin’s sentencing judge was optimistic he'd fare better with fewer restrictions in federal prison.

Rather than solitary or protective custody, the Bureau of Prisons placed Chauvin in the “dropout yard” — a housing unit for former police officers, ex-gang members, sexual abusers and other high-risk prisoners.

Though generally thought to be safer for such inmates, those units still see violence, like Nassar’s stabbing in a “dropout yard” unit at the U.S. Penitentiary in Coleman, Florida.

Nassar was attacked after purportedly making a lewd comment while watching women’s tennis on TV. An inmate, identified as Shane McMillan, stabbed him repeatedly before four other inmates pulled him away.

McMillan was convicted of assaulting a Louisiana federal prison officer in 2006 and attempting to kill another inmate at the federal Supermax in Colorado, in 2011. He has yet to be charged with attacking Nassar. Court records didn't list a lawyer for him.

Prior to Chauvin’s stabbing, there were no public reports of violence toward him — but he too was at risk.

John Turscak, a former Mexican Mafia gang leader and one-time FBI informant charged with attacking Chauvin, told investigators he thought about stabbing him before attacking, federal prosecutors said.

Turscak stabbed Chauvin 22 times with an improvised knife, prosecutors said. FCI Tucson has struggled with staffing in the past, but the Bureau of Prisons said nearly every officer position is now filled.

Turscak told the FBI he attacked Chauvin because of his high profile, prosecutors said. Turscak said he chose the day after Thanksgiving — Black Friday — as a symbolic connection to Black Lives Matter and the Mexican Mafia’s “Black Hand” symbol, prosecutors said.

Turscak, 52, led a Mexican Mafia faction in the 1990s. He was due to be released from federal prison in 2026 after serving more than 30 years for racketeering and conspiring to kill a gang rival. Court records didn't list a lawyer for him.

Despite Turscak’s arrest, Erickson said he and his client’s family have more questions — and concerns.

“Why was Derek allowed into the law library without a guard in close enough proximity to stop a possible attack? the lawyer said. “His family continues to wonder.”

POLITICAL PRISONER

RIP

Ex Black Panther who maintained innocence in bombing that killed an officer dies in Nebraska prison

JOSH FUNK
Updated Fri, December 8, 2023 

This undated photo provided by Nebraska Department of Correctional Services shows Ed Poindexter, the second of two former Black Panthers who always maintained their innocence in the 1970 bombing death of a white Omaha police officer, has died Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, in prison. A spokesman for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services said Friday that Poindexter had died a day earlier at the age of 79. 

(Nebraska Department of Correctional Services via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)More

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The second of two former Black Panthers who always maintained their innocence in the 1970 bombing death of a white Omaha police officer has died in prison.

A spokesman for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services said Friday that Ed Poindexter had died a day earlier at the age of 79. David Rice, the other man convicted in the death of Omaha Police Officer Larry Minard, died in prison in 2016.

The pair argued that they were targeted because of their membership in the Black Panthers by an FBI program that undermined radical political groups, and they questioned the legitimacy of crucial testimony that helped convict them. Some of their supporters called them political prisoners.


Poindexter and Rice both doubted the key witness in the case who implicated them in the bombing plot, but they were unsuccessful in numerous appeals. A recording of the phone call that lured Minard to a vacant house before a homemade explosive detonated appeared to have been made by an adult man even though a teen testified he made the call.

And a voice expert who analyzed it years later as part of one of Poindexter's appeals said it was “highly probable” that the recording didn't match the voice of the witness, who was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony. That teen testified that Poindexter and Rice directed him to plant the suitcase loaded with dynamite.

The recording of that police call was never played at trial, and in one of his appeals Poindexter said his lawyers at the time never even requested a copy of it.

But various judges decided the doubts about the recording raised later weren't enough to warrant a new trial, and Poindexter and Rice's life sentences were upheld. The Nebraska Pardons Board also refused to commute their sentences despite pleas from advocates.

The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska, Mindy Rush Chipman, said Poindexter deserved a new trial because of the “credible reports of significant misconduct in the prosecution" of the case.

“Ultimately, you cannot separate this case from the circumstances at the time which continue to this day, namely law enforcement agencies targeting people and groups calling for racial justice,” she said. “Nebraskans can and should acknowledge the tragedy of Larry Minard’s death while also recognizing the haunting possibility that an innocent man just died in prison.”

Poindexter's death will be investigated by a grand jury, as required by state law, though officials said he was being treated for an unnamed medical condition before he died. In an appeal to Nebraska's newly elected governor a year ago, Poindexter's advocates said he had advanced kidney disease and had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
View comments (732)

Clouded leopard: The cat with saber-like teeth that can walk upside down in trees

Megan Shersby
Sat, December 9, 2023 

leopard lies relaxed on the branch of a tree.


Name: Clouded leopard, also known as the mainland clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa)

Where it lives: Southeast Asia

What it eats: Mammals, including ungulates, primates and rodents


Why it's awesome: Unlike lions and cheetahs in Africa, which stalk or race across the open plains in pursuit of prey, clouded leopards have a more arboreal approach to life, having adapted to living in the tropical forests of southeast Asia.

This tree-dwelling lifestyle has pushed them to possess remarkable ankles, which they can rotate by nearly 180 degrees.

Such incredible flexibility in these joints enables them to descend tree trunks headfirst. In captivity, these cats have been observed climbing upside down along horizontal branches and hanging down by their hind feet, enabling them to jump down onto prey below — although scientists believe they mainly hunt on the ground.

Clouded leopards have short, stocky legs, small bodies — between 27 and 42.5 inches (69 to 108 centimeters) long — and long tails, which are the longest of all cats relative to body size, and help them to balance in trees. They can weigh between 25 and 50 pounds (11 to 23 kilograms).

Clouded leopards also have the largest upper canines of all living cats, in proportion to their body size. A study published Oct. 6 in the journal Science Advances noted their teeth proportions are similar to some extinct sabertooth species.

Related: Cats' dazzling eye colors may come from 1 unusual ancestor

When taking down large prey, these big cats don't kill with a bite to the throat, unlike their large feline cousins. Instead, they bite the back of the neck to kill their prey, severing the spinal cord.

RELATED STORIES

—Takins: Strange, mountain-dwelling mammals with mythical golden fleeces

—1st of its kind footage shows guard dogs saving sheep from puma attack on a pitch black mountain

— Cheetahs battle raging river in stunning photo. Did they survive?

In 2006, researchers discovered that clouded leopards are actually two distinct species, with the now-named Sunda clouded leopards (N. diardi) endemic to the Sumatran and Bornean islands.

Both N. diardi and N. nebulosa are considered vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

"The mainland clouded leopard lives in the dense forests across South and Southeast Asia showcasing remarkable adaptations for life in the tree tops," Wai-Ming Wong, director of small cat conservation science for Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization, told Live Science in an email.

"However, deforestation and agricultural expansion threatens much of the available habitat across their range. It is crucial to develop effective conservation management plans that include a range of stakeholders from local communities to government agencies to safeguard the future of this charismatic species," Wong added.

Two baby dinosaurs found in tyrannosaur fossil shed light on changing diet

John Besley, PA
Fri, 8 December 2023 



The remains of two baby dinosaurs have been discovered inside the fossil of a 75-million-year-old tyrannosaur, shedding new light on the changing diet of the ancient predators.

According to a study published in the journal Science Advances, the hind limbs of two small bird-like dinosaurs called citipes were found beneath the rib cage of a juvenile gorgosaurus, a close cousin of the Tyrannosaurus rex.

The researchers behind the study say the discovery suggests juvenile gorgosaurus’ preyed on small, young dinosaurs, while earlier fossil evidence shows the adult gorgosaurus attacked and ate very large plant-eating dinosaurs which lived in herds.


Dr Darla Zelenitsky, one of the lead scientists in the study, told the BBC the discovery is “solid evidence that tyrannosaurs drastically changed their diet as they grew up”.

She said: “We now know that these teenage (tyrannosaurs) hunted small, young dinosaurs.

“These smaller, immature tyrannosaurs were probably not ready to jump into a group of horned dinosaurs, where the adults weighed thousands of kilograms.”

The fossil was originally discovered in Canada’s Alberta Badlands in 2009, but was entombed in rock and took years to be prepared for study.

The initial discovery was made by staff at Alberta’s Royal Tyrell Museum of Palaeontology, who spotted small toe bones protruding from the rib cage.

Dr Francois Therrien, the other lead scientist in the study, told the BBC: “The rock within the ribcage was removed to expose what was hidden inside.

“And lo and behold – the complete hind legs of two baby dinosaurs, both under a year old.”

Time of the sign: Hollywood landmark hits 100


Huw GRIFFITH
Fri, 8 December 2023 

The Hollywood Sign is a centenarian, but like many an ageing superstar in Los Angeles, it looks spectacular (DAVID SWANSON)

The landmark word has loomed over Tinseltown since before movies started talking, becoming a symbol of the entire film industry.

For the first time in decades, the Hollywood sign -- at least a little bit of it -- was illuminated on Friday to celebrate its 100th birthday.

The nine-letter sign is officially a centenarian but, as with many an aging grande dame in Hollywood, looks as fresh as ever.

Like the actors and actresses it looks down on, the sign has been in its fair share of films.

Directors who want to let their audience know a movie is set in Los Angeles have an easy establishing shot, while a filmmaker who wants to signify the destruction of America can set their special effects team loose on the sign.

It has also seen real life tragedy: British-born actress Peg Entwistle took her own life by plunging from the top of the letter H in 1932.

- Hooray for... realtors? -

The sign, a must-see for any film buff or tourist visiting Los Angeles, initially read "HOLLYWOODLAND", having been constructed in 1923 as an advertisement for an upscale real estate development.

During its first decade, it was routinely lit by thousands of bulbs, with "HOLLY", "WOOD" and "LAND" illuminated in turn as a beacon of the desireable homes on offer below.

By the 1940s, the letters were looking a little ragged.

The Los Angeles Times reported vandals or windstorms had damaged the H, before locals decided they had had enough and asked the city to tear it down.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, recognising that they had a blockbuster trademark on their hands, stepped in and offered to fix it up.

But the last four letters had to go -- the sign was to represent the whole town, not just a fashionable property patch, and by 1949, the newly restored sign simply read "HOLLYWOOD".

- Mr Nice Guy -

Three decades of baking sun and occasional storms took their toll on the 50-foot (15-meter)-high wooden letters.

Eventually, the first O reduced to a lower case "u" and the final O toppled down completely.

Enter one Alice Cooper -- the chicken-bothering father of shock rock -- who led a campaign to restore the sign to its former glory, donating $28,000.

Eight others, including actor Gene Autry, Playboy founder Hugh Heffner and singer Andy Williams, kicked in the same, each sponsoring a letter.

(Cooper is the first O, Autry has the second L, Heffner got the Y and Williams snagged the W).

The replacement letters are a tad more compact, just 44 feet high, but made of steel, although they remain characteristically off-kilter.

The Hollywood Sign Trust said last year the repainting it carried out in time for the 100th anniversary used almost 400 gallons (1,500 liters) of paint and primer.

Friday night's lighting was purely symbolic, Hollywood Sign Trust chairman Jeff Zarrinnam said, with just a little stretch of the second L cutting through the gloom.

Unlike most global landmarks, the Hollywood sign is not usually lit up at night, partially because of objections from people who live nearby.

But, said Zarrinnam, it might start shining again.

"What we are working on is a plan to hopefully light the sign on very special occasions," he said.

"We have some very important sporting events that are coming to Los Angeles like the FIFA World Cup, we have the Olympics coming (in 2028) so those are the types of events that we would probably want to light the Hollywood sign in the future."

hg/dhw

Opinion
Sacred Mysteries: ‘Christus vincit’ and the coming of Christmas

Christopher Howse
Sat, 9 December 2023 

IC XC NI KA – detail of a coin of Empress Theodora, 1055 - agefotostock / Alamy

Why were discs of bread that were prepared for the Mass stamped in relief with letters such as IC XC NI KA? That is a question which a once-popular theologian Honorius of Autun attempted to answer in the early 12th century in his commentary on the symbolism of the liturgy.

It was, he suggested, because Christ was the denarius or coin give to the labourers in the vineyard (Matthew, chapter 20). So it was fitting for the host to be stamped with his name just as a coin is stamped with that of the Emperor.

Historically, Honorius got it round the wrong way. Leavened bread prepared for the liturgy in Eastern Christendom had since the 5th century been stamped with those Greek letters, standing for “Jesus Christ Conquers”. This monogram on the bread to be used in the liturgy, was then adopted on coinage. Such coins continued in circulation in the West in areas under Byzantine influence, such as the Norman kingdom of Sicily. In the West, the practice then went full circle, with the monogram copied from coinage and stamped on hosts of unleavened bread.


This scrap of learning from the byways of sigillography appears in a classic study by Ernst Kantorowicz called Laudes Regiae, published in 1946 after delays brought on by the author having to flee the German Nazis. I consulted this book because I was fascinated by the origin of the church chant, Christus vincit. Christus regnat. Christus imperat, “Christ has conquered. Christ reigns. Christ rules.” It is the Latin equivalent of the Greek Iesous Christos Nika expressed as IC XC NIKA.

The Latin chant is used at Easter and at the modern feast of Christ the King, but it also fits the theme of the coming Kingdom of God, which is explored in the present season of Advent. As the Lord’s Prayer says: Adveniat regnum tuum, “Thy kingdom come.”

I had no idea until this year that Christus vincit. Christus regnat. Christus imperat was so old. It was certainly in use before the coronation of Charlemagne, which every schoolboy can tell us was on Christmas Day in the year 800.

The chant, known as the Laudes Regiæ, was used at the coronation of William the Conqueror’s wife Matilda as Queen in 1068. It stayed part of the English coronation tradition until the Reformation, and indeed there is an echo of it still in the coronation acclamation “Vivat!” That interpolation in Psalm 122 (“I was glad”) has been made by boys of Westminster School since the coronation of James II. But on the title page of Cranmer’s Bible of 1539, Henry VIII hands the Bible to the Archbishop while the people around cry Vivat Rex! (The captions are all in Latin on this frontispiece of the Bible in English.) That hope or prayer for a long life for the sovereign was present in some medieval texts of the Laudes Regiae. in the form Vita (such as “Gelasius vita!”)

The Laudes Regiae was far more often in use on great feast days such as Easter, Christmas, the Epiphany or the Ascension than at infrequent coronations. Indeed it as been suggested that coronations picked up the use of the hymn because they often took place on holy days such as Christmas or the Epiphany.

IN structure the hymn is a kind of litany. In other words it calls on God to bless the pope, king, bishop and clergy, and sometimes the army, and it calls on the names of a succession of saints to pray for them. Formally the invocations were sung out and a choir responded.

Fundamentally, the hymn, introduced to England by the Normans, praises God as King.

6 million-year-old 'fossil groundwater pool' discovered deep beneath Sicilian mountains

Sascha Pare
Thu, December 7, 2023

A aerial view of the coastline in Sicily.


A large pocket of fresh water that was sucked down into Earth's crust 6 million years ago is still buried deep below a mountain range in Sicily, new research has found.

The fresh water likely became trapped underground during the Messinian salinity crisis, when the Mediterranean Sea dried up after the ocean floor around the Strait of Gibraltar began to rise, isolating the sea. This event likely exposed the seabed to rainwater that then trickled down into Earth's crust, according to a study published Nov. 22 in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

The rainwater accumulated and formed an aquifer that stretched between 2,300 to 8,200 feet (700 to 2,500 meters) deep beneath the Hyblean Mountains in southern Sicily, Italy, and has not budged since.

In the new study, researchers investigated deep groundwater reserves in and around the Gela formation, which is a known oil reservoir and hosts several deep wells, harnessing publicly available data from these wells. They constructed 3D models of the aquifer and estimated it holds 4.2 cubic miles (17.5 cubic kilometers) of water — more than twice as much as is held in Scotland's Loch Ness.

Related: 'Missing' blob of water predicted to be in the Atlantic finally found

The researchers then used the 3D models to turn back the clock and reconstruct the past geology of the study area, which stretched across the Hyblaean Plateau and the Malta Plateau in the central Mediterranean. During the Messinian (7.2 million to 5.3 million years ago), fresh water infiltrated Earth's crust several thousand feet below current sea levels as a result of the salinity crisis, their results showed. The crisis saw sea levels drop about 7,870 feet (2,400 m) below current levels in parts of the Mediterranean.

diagram shows a topographical map of the Hyblaean Mountains in Sicily, with the shape of the newly discovered aquifer imposed over top

This "fossil groundwater pool" then accumulated in a layer of carbonate rocks that acts as "a sort of sponge, where fluids are present within the pores between the rock particles," study lead author Lorenzo Lipparini, a geoscientist at the University of Malta, Roma Tre University and with Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, told Live Science in an email.

But for this explanation to hold, Lipparini and his colleagues needed to find a conduit that would channel meteoric water — water from rain and snowfall — from the Mediterranean seabed to the deeply buried Gela formation. The Malta Escarpment, a 190-mile-long (300 kilometers) submarine cliff extending southward from the eastern margin of Sicily, "is a likely candidate for such a direct connection," the researchers wrote in the study. In other words, the missing conduit is likely within the escarpment.

RELATED STORIES

—Earth's crust swallowed a sea's worth of water and locked it away beneath Pacific seafloor

—Water leaking into Earth's core may have birthed a mysterious layer that churns out crystals

—'Ghost' of ancient river-carved landscape discovered beneath Antarctica

The Messinian salinity crisis, which lasted roughly 700,000 years, ended abruptly with an "extremely rapid" rise in sea levels that may have changed the pressure conditions and "deactivated the whole mechanism," the researchers wrote in the study.

It's also possible that sediments and mineral deposits sealed off the conduit along the Malta Escarpment during the salinity crisis, preventing sea water from mixing with fresh water in the Gela formation in the millions of years that followed, the researchers noted.

The team hopes the fresh water can be pumped up to alleviate water scarcity in Sicily and that the discovery will inspire similar deep groundwater explorations in other parts of the Mediterranean.

Editor's note: A previous version of this article said the Messinian salinity crisis was caused by global cooling. This was corrected on Friday, December 8.

Halley’s Comet Gearing Up for Its Return Journey Toward Earth

Noor Al-Sibai
Thu, December 7, 2023 


Middle Path

It's been nearly 40 years since Halley's comet last flew by Earth — and very soon, it will be headed back our way.

As Universe Today reports, this coming Sunday, December 9, the famed comet will reach its furthest point from the Sun. Known as its "aphelion," this is essentially the middle point in Halley's long elliptical orbit through our Solar System.

Named for English astronomer Edmond Halley, who discovered the famed comet and several others in the 18th century, Halley's comet hasn't visible in the night sky since hair metal was all the rage back in 1986.

As exciting as this date is for skywatchers who are waiting for generations to see this gorgeous fireball to streak through Earthly skies — or since 2003, when the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope captured the grainiest of images of the comet as it cruised through the outer edges of our Solar System — they'll still have to wait for quite a while considering that it won't be back around these parts until 2061.

If you're hoping for another telescopic glance of Halley's comet at its furthest, though, you're unfortunately out of luck.

Although both the Hubble and the James Webb space telescopes would certainly be powerful enough to capture images of the comet as it makes its about-face near Jupiter, a NASA spokesperson told Universe Today that there's nothing on either instrument's schedule indicating plans to check it out now or in the future.
Consolation Prize

While we won't get any glimpses of Halley's comet itself for another few decades, we are able to see remnants of it on Earth in the form of the Eta Aquariids meteor shower.

Every year between late April and early May, our planet passes through debris from the tail of Halley's comet, some of which can leave trails that last for a few seconds or even minutes. While this remnant of the famous fireball is most spectacular in the Southern Hemisphere, those of us up here in the Northern half of the globe aren't completely out of luck — we can see 10 to 20 meteors per hour in the pre-dawn hours of its predicted peak on May 5, 2024.

If you're looking for a skywatching fix before the end of the year, the peak of the Geminids meteor shower is slated for December 13 and 14. In an interview with Space.com, NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke said the viewing conditions for it this year are supposed to be exceptional.

More on star stuff: Scientists Discover Star System So Perfect It Seems Like Art

A Gigantic Hole Just Opened Up in the Sun

Victor Tangermann
Thu, December 7, 2023 


Solar Hole

A massive hole opened up in the Sun's atmosphere over the weekend, measuring more than 60 times the diameter of the Earth across at its peak.

Coronal holes like this one, imaged by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, occur when the Sun's magnetic field suddenly allows a huge stream of the star's upper atmosphere to pour out in the form of solar wind.

Over a short period of time, these highly energized particles can eventually make their way to us and — if powerful enough — wreak havoc on satellites in the Earth's orbit. In rare instances, they can even mess with the electrical grid back on the ground.

Fortunately, in the case of the latest hole, scientists aren't expecting any major disruptions earlier this week beyond minor to moderate geomagnetic storms, as well as the associated auroras borealis in the night sky, according to SpaceWeather.com.
Weather Men

The appearance of the hole in and of itself isn't entirely unexpected. The Sun will soon reach the peak of its 11-year cycle known as the solar maximum, ushering in a particularly turbulent period of activity.

This activity ranges from simple solar flares to massive outbursts of solar wind called coronal mass ejections.

Coronal holes are only visible in ultraviolet wavelengths, appearing as dark patches of relatively cool particles in our observations. They're less likely to actually fling solar wind outwards as they're simply an opening, allowing for these photons and electrons to escape.

The last time scientists spotted a large coronal hole was in March, causing powerful streams of solar wind to hit the Earth's atmosphere.

Scientists have found that the Sun's solar activity is already stronger than expected this time, meaning that we'll likely see more awe-inspiring events there in the near future.

More on the Sun: Professor Warns That the Sun Is Angry and It Could Knock Out the Internet

Holocaust comparisons are overused -- but in the case of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel they may reflect more than just the emotional response of a traumatized people

Avinoam Patt, University of Connecticut 

Liat Steir-Livny, Sapir Academic College
Thu, December 7, 2023 

On Oct. 12, a sign in Tel Aviv says in Hebrew, 'No more words,' near candles lit both in memory of those killed in the Hamas massacres and for the hostages taken to the Gaza Strip. Amir Levy/Getty Images


Many observers have referred to the massacre of Israelis by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, as the deadliest attack against the Jewish people in a single day “since the Holocaust.”

As scholars who have spent decades studying the history of Israel’s relationship with the Holocaust, we have argued that the Holocaust should remain unique and not be compared with other atrocities. We have written against simplistic Holocaust analogies, like comparing mask and vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic to the Nazi persecution of the Jews, or the practice of labeling political opponents “Nazis.” Both seem to trivialize the memory of what is known as the Shoah, the Hebrew word for “catastrophe.”

But the Oct. 7 massacres perpetrated by Hamas changed our thinking.
Israeli identity and the Holocaust


Over the past 75 years, the collective memory of the Shoah has assumed a central place in Israeli national identity. The memory of the Holocaust has increasingly become the prism through which Israelis understand both their past and their present relationships with the Arab and Muslim world.

Israelis saw the Holocaust’s threat of annihilation echoed in many situations. In 1967, there was the waiting period before the Six-Day War, when the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser threatened to “wipe Israel off the map.” It was there in the trauma of the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and the unexpected, simultaneous attacks by Egypt and Syria. When Israel destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981, Prime Minister Menachem Begin justified it with the explanation that “there won’t be another Holocaust in history.”

This association has only strengthened in the past 40 years with the 1982 Lebanon war, two Palestinian uprisings, known as intifadas, and with the present threat posed by a nuclear Iran.

All these events evoke the memory of the Holocaust and are understood within the collective memory of threats of annihilation. This phenomenon represents, for many Israelis, an inability to separate their current situation from the vulnerability of the diaspora Jewish past. And this conflation of past and present continues to play a central role in Israeli politics, foreign policy and public discourse.

The frequent comparisons between the Oct. 7 massacres and the Shoah are more, we believe, than just the default associations of a people submerged in Holocaust postmemory, which refers to inherited and imagined memories of subsequent generations who did not personally experience the trauma. In seeking to describe the depths of evil they witnessed on Oct. 7, Israelis were making more than just an emotional connection between the Holocaust and the Oct. 7 massacres.

A protester holds a placard during a demonstration on Oct. 9 in London, outside of the prime minister’s residence. Photo by Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

To help explain the logic of that connection, specific and reasonable comparisons can be made to better understand Hamas’ traumatic and devastating massacre of Israelis. Below are a few of the many parallels:

1. Ideology and identification

Just as the Nazis aimed to annihilate the Jews, Hamas and affiliated terrorist organizations share the same objective: the destruction of Jews. The 1988 Hamas charter refers to “Jews” and not “Israelis” when calling for the destruction of these people.

While the 2017 Hamas covenant states that Hamas does not seek war with the Jews, but instead “wages a struggle against the Zionists who occupy Palestine,” the slaughter of Jews – many of whom were peace activists – in October has proven otherwise.

The national struggle of Hamas is predicated upon the conquest of land and elimination of the Jews. Hamas officials have subsequently promised to repeat Oct. 7 again and again until Israel is annihilated.

2. Indoctrination

While the racial antisemitism of the Nazi regime differs from the antisemitism employed in the fundamentalist Islamic version of Hamas, antisemitism is a key part of the struggle for both ideologies. Indoctrination from an early age aimed at the dehumanization of the Jews is a key part of both how Nazis taught young German students during the Third Reich and in how Hamas educates children in Gaza.

3. Methods of killing and survival

The horrors of Oct. 7 echo the brutal tactics Nazis used during the Holocaust, including not only murder but cruel humiliation of the victims. The testimonies of Oct. 7 survivors reveal the torture of parents and children, sometimes in front of each other, including rape and sexual violence, mocking and lingering in the murder process as the terrorists relished the atrocities they committed.

When the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto realized that the end was near, they worked for months to prepare hiding places for themselves in their homes and created improvised bunkers, doing whatever they could to avoid capture and deportation. They did not imagine that the Nazis would come to eliminate the ghetto in a different way, entering the ghetto with flamethrowers and burning down one building after another. Some Jews were burned alive, while others fled outside and fell into the hands of the Nazis.

On Oct. 7, victims in the kibbutzim and communities near Gaza hid in fortified safe rooms designed to protect them from rocket attacks. Hamas terrorists went from house to house, burning one after the other so that inhabitants would be forced to flee from their protected shelters. Others were burned in their homes.

Two hooded demonstrators burn a flag of Israel on the bridge linking Spain and France on Nov. 11, 2023. Javi Julio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
4. Using Jews in the killing process

On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists took a hostage from Nahal Oz, one of the kibbutzim in the south, and forced him to go from house to house to knock on doors and lure his neighbors outside. Afterward, they murdered him. Holocaust scholars have described such episodes from World War II in which Jews were forced to cooperate as “choiceless choices.”

5. Terminology

The word Shoah is used in the Bible to describe danger from neighboring nations, signifying distress, pain, torment, calamity and a “day of destruction.” While it later came to define the total Nazi extermination of Jews in the 1940s, multiple testimonies collected from survivors of the Oct. 7 massacres use the term once again today, echoing the biblical definition, to signal a day of desolation, darkness, destruction and gloom.

The words used to describe events are often loaded with emotional associations; the power and meaning of words that attempt to convey the depths of traumatic experiences cannot be discounted.

Not the same

There is a difference between pointing out similarities and creating shallow comparisons. We are aware of the tendency, especially in the political sphere, to resort to simplistic, symbolic and performative comparisons to the Holocaust – such as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, donning a yellow star with the words “Never Again” on Oct. 31.

Oct. 7 is not the same as the Holocaust. Even so, we can use the study of the Holocaust to understand the traumatic and devastating encounters between Hamas terrorists and their victims on Oct. 7.

It might be a trivialization of the Holocaust to simply label Hamas as the “new Nazis,” but our analysis reveals that recognizing their eliminationist antisemitism means there can be no return to the pre-Oct. 7 status quo, when Israel’s policy was to accommodate Hamas’ control of the Gaza strip.

Despite the natural tendency to turn away from the most shocking and the most horrific manifestations of human evil, there are times when gazes must not be averted, when horror must be confronted in order to understand the motivations of the perpetrators and the responses of the victims and the survivors.

In this case, at what point do we ignore analogies that seem deliberate and intentional? As Holocaust scholars, we recognize why Israelis are stuck – and struck – by the traumatic nature of Oct. 7.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and analysis to help you make sense of our complex world.

It was written by: Avinoam Patt, University of Connecticut and Liat Steir-Livny, Sapir Academic College.

Read more:


Deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust spurs a crisis of confidence in the idea of Israel – and its possible renewal


Jewish response to Hamas war criticism comes from deep sense of trauma, active grief and fea


How new reports reveal Israeli intelligence underestimated Hamas and other key weaknesses

John Joseph Chin, Carnegie Mellon University

Haleigh Bartos, Carnegie Mellon University

Thu, December 7, 2023 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, meets with his security cabinet on Oct. 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas attack. Haim Zach (GPO) / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images


After the surprise Hamas terrorist attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, many observers were puzzled about how Israel could have been caught completely off-guard.

We were among those puzzled, and proposed three possible reasons:

Israeli leaders may have underestimated Hamas’ capabilities and misunderstood its intentions.


Israeli intelligence may have been tricked by Hamas’ secrecy, missing signs that it was planning and training.


Israeli intelligence leaders may have been so wedded to their prior conclusion that Hamas was not a major threat that they dismissed mounting evidence that it was preparing for war.

New revelations from recent media coverage have shed additional light on what happened, which mostly confirm the role of faulty threat assessments, Hamas’ improved operational security, and confirmation bias.
An official assessment

On Oct. 29, The New York Times reported that since May 2021, Israel’s military intelligence leaders and National Security Council had officially assessed that “Hamas had no interest in launching an attack from Gaza that might invite a devastating response from Israel.”

As a result, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and security leaders diverted attention and resources away from Hamas and toward what they saw as more existential threats: Iran and Hezbollah. For instance, in 2021, the Israeli military cut personnel and funding for Unit 8200, a key military surveillance unit watching Gaza. In 2022, the unit stopped listening in on Hamas militants’ radio communications, though it apparently gathered other intelligence.

The U.S. made a similar shift, focusing on the Islamic State group and other militants, leaving intelligence gathering on Hamas to Israel.
Revealing surveillance

Within days of Oct. 7, Egypt revealed that it had shared with Israel high-level warnings of impending Hamas violence – “something big.”

A Guardian report in early November revealed that Hamas leaders who had planned the attack took special measures to avoid being detected by Israeli intelligence, including passing orders only by word of mouth, rather than by radio or internet communication. But Hamas’ planning did not totally escape detection.

The Times of Israel reported in late October that Israeli troops of the Combat Intelligence Corps surveilling the Israel-Gaza border months before Oct. 7 saw Hamas militants digging holes, placing explosives, training frequently and even practicing blowing up a mock fence. Their warnings were ignored. The Financial Times reported in early November that Israeli security leaders had also ignored specific alerts of Hamas training exercises from civilian volunteers in southern Israel who eavesdropped on Hamas communications.

The Financial Times also reported that weeks before the Hamas attack, Israeli border guards sent a classified warning to the top military intelligence officer in the southern command. They had detected a high-ranking Hamas military commander overseeing rehearsals of hostage-taking and warned that Hamas was training to imminently “blow up border posts at several locations, enter Israeli territory and take over kibbutzim.” The officer who received the message dismissed it as an “imaginary scenario.” Other leaders considered the warning unremarkable.
A detailed plan

On Nov. 30, The New York Times reported that Israeli intelligence obtained a detailed Hamas plan of attack more than a year before Oct. 7. The plan ran to 40 pages and included specifics that actually were part of the attack, including an opening rocket barrage, drones knocking out security cameras and automated weapons at the border, and gunmen crossing into Israel in paragliders as well as on foot and by motorcycle.

The newspaper also reported that in July 2023, a Unit 8200 analyst observed Hamas training activities that lined up with the Hamas plan, which was code-named “Jericho Wall” by Israeli officials. The analyst determined that Hamas was preparing an attack designed to provoke a war with Israel. Superior officers dismissed her assessment, saying the “Jericho Wall” plan was only aspirational primarily because they thought Hamas lacked the capacity to carry it out.

Israel’s defenses include stations like this guard tower in the West Bank, with robotic weapons that can fire tear gas, stun grenades and sponge-tipped bullets, using artificial intelligence to track targets. AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean
A reflection on the Israeli intelligence community

These recent reports make clear that Israeli officials had enough intelligence to step up security. The fact that they did not suggests they may have dismissed all that evidence in favor of other information they had, which suggested Hamas was not interested in or capable of going to war with Israel.

But that may not have been the only problem. Recent studies point to increasing fissures in civil-military relations in Israel. For example, populist right-wing Israeli politicians in recent years have viewed senior intelligence officials with skepticism as potential leftist rivals, which could have led Netanyahu’s Likud government to be hostile to alternative viewpoints and various intelligence warnings on Hamas.

Although we cannot observe the extent of politicization among the senior Israeli intelligence ranks, the behavior of intelligence leaders who dismissed warnings prior to Oct. 7 is consistent with groupthink, a phenomenon that experts say may occur when social pressure, a leader’s influential position or self-censorship leads groups to express homogeneous views and make uniform – and usually poorer – decisions.

The fact that superiors ignored warnings from the Unit 8200 analyst and the Border Defense Corps is consistent with the idea that groupthink about Hamas’ capabilities and intentions led to confirmation bias dismissing Hamas as an imminent threat.

Some of the ignored intelligence analysts were young women, who have said they believe sexism could have been a reason male superiors ignored their warnings.

Another form of prejudice may also have been at play. Israel has focused intensely on its technological advantages over its enemies, assigning large numbers of personnel to electronic and cyber warfare units. Perhaps technological optimism, faith in what the Financial Times described as “aerial drones that eavesdrop on Gaza and the sensor-equipped fence that surrounds the strip,” won out. Maybe a reliance on technology led to a false sense of security, and even the dismissal of other forms of intelligence that, it turned out, had uncovered Hamas’ real plans.
A turn toward the future

In the wake of the Hamas attacks, Israel’s security apparatus will need to investigate these weaknesses further and undertake reforms. So far, it remains unclear how many people, and at what levels of the Israeli government, received the various warnings in advance of Oct. 7. Therefore, it’s not yet clear what specific changes in Israel might prevent a similar failure in the future.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and analysis to help you make sense of our complex world.

It was written by: John Joseph Chin, Carnegie Mellon University and Haleigh Bartos, Carnegie Mellon University.

Read more:


Hamas assault echoes 1973 Arab-Israeli war – a shock attack and questions of political, intelligence culpability


Reflections on hope during unprecedented violence in the Israel-Hamas war


'Concerned and afraid': Jews celebrate Hanukkah amid rise in hate

KIARA ALFONSECA

GMA
Thu, December 7, 2023

Hanukkah has taken on a new meaning this year for many in the Jewish community after Israel was attacked by terrorist group Hamas on Oct. 7.

More than 1,200 people in Israel were killed, and 6,900 others injured, according to Israeli officials. An estimated 236 people are said to have been taken hostage in the attack.

Israel has retaliated in a siege on Gaza, killing more than 15,900 people in Gaza and injuring 42,000 more, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health and the Hamas government media office.

Hanukkah, which translates to "dedication" and begins on Dec. 7 this year, is about a recommitment to the ideals of Judaism, according to New York City rabbi Diana Fersko. It honors the Jewish fighters who fought against Syrian armies to defend their religious beliefs in 164 BCE.

"Hanukkah is a story of survival against great odds," said Fersko, author of "We Need to Talk About Antisemitism." "It's about the Jewish people persevering even when our detractors seem overwhelming.

This year, Hanukkah will be celebrated amid a backdrop of growing tensions in the U.S. related to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

PHOTO: NYPD Officers respond to a bomb threat after a man called and stated he placed two backpacks filled with pipe bombs inside of the occupied Central Synagogue, Nov. 11, 2023, in New York. (Theodore Parisienne/NY Daily News via Getty Images)

Communities whose identities are tied to the conflict overseas -- Jews and Muslims, Israelis and Arabs -- have become targets of hate here in the United States.

Federal and local authorities are sounding the alarm about a rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia.

Jewish leaders say the holiday's history is an apt reminder of the ongoing effort to combat antisemitism and stand proud of their Jewish identity.

MORE: Harvard, NYC schools added to DOE probe on antisemitism, Islamophobia

While members of the community may feel cautious about putting menorahs in their windows or publicly celebrating this Hanukkah, Jewish Federations of North America President Eric Fingerhut says that embracing their Jewish heritage is "an act of strength and determination" in the face of hate.

"Our hope is that the Hanukkah lights will do for us what they've done in ancient times, that they will bring some light into this darkness and point us towards an end to this period and towards a brighter period," said Fingerhut. JFNA is an umbrella group of Jewish communal organizations around the United States.

PHOTO: A member of the New York Police Department patrols in front of a synagogue, Oct. 13, 2023, in New York. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

The threat of hate

The Jewish community has seen an increase in vandalism, threats, violence and other crimes across the country.

The growing number of incidents come with a backdrop of the longstanding warning from officials in recent years about a rise in antisemitic sentiment in the mainstream.

The Department of Homeland Security earlier urged Jewish leaders to be cautious of individuals who have been "incited to violence by an ideology of hate."

Authorities have not identified any specific plots linked to Hanukkah, but have also warned of "renewed calls for attacks against Jewish individuals and targets" by foreign terror groups and domestic violent extremists, according to a recent threat assessment obtained by ABC News.

Jewish organizations and institutions say they will heed these warnings, but that security precautions have long been in place to protect their communities. Antisemitism has been a constant threat that's been appearing to grow in the mainstream in recent years, according to federal officials.

The ongoing conflict has only led groups to further escalate their security needs.

Experts at the Jewish security organization Secure Community Network said in a Dec. 5 hearing that people are "concerned and afraid."

In an online briefing, they urged community leaders to coordinate with local law enforcement for large events and public gatherings, as well as create plans in anticipation of any potential problems that may arise.

This can look like limiting access to events through ticketing, conducting pre-event surveys of the location regarding best exit procedures, radio dispatches with private security guards, and more.

MORE: The Israel-Hamas war has college campuses on edge. How some are tackling the issue.

Tough conversations this holiday season

As families gather to celebrate, conversations about the conflict, Israel's response to the Hamas attack, and its impact on antisemitism in the U.S. may arise. But community leaders say Jewish institutions are no stranger to difficult conversations.

Some groups like the Jewish Federations of North America say they stand with Israel's actions "to restore the safety and security of its boundaries, of its borders" following the attack, Fingerhut said.

"Of course, there are disagreements as there always are, but I've actually never seen the Jewish community more united," Fingerhut said, pointing to the March for Israel that he says garnered almost 300,000 attendees.

PHOTO: In an undated stock photo, a couple is seen lighting a menorah. (STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images)

Others, like Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow, are calling for a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian territories and an end to what they say are oppressive Israeli policies against Palestinian people that have caused a humanitarian crisis.

Stefanie Fox, executive director of the progressive anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace, said that when she lights her candles on the menorah with her family, she too is aware of the increase in violence against the many groups connected to the conflict.

"As I do that with my son, I'm going to be talking about how we are both proudly displaying our Jewish heritage and also proudly displaying our commitment to fighting for a world where everybody is safe in their home," said Fox.

Community leaders say that communities have been having many tough conversations about the conflict and the aftermath since it began.

Fox urges community members to connect with others across lines of disagreements and differences, and to "start from a place of shared values and see if you can build toward a vision of a very different future than the bloodshed we're seeing today."

Fersko calls synagogues "a place of urgent moral conversation," a reputation expected to hold up amid Hanukkah celebrations.

"I think the Jewish community is actually very strong in having open dialogue with each other and being there for each other and strategizing together," Fersko said.

She continued, "There is this sense that we're celebrating Hanukkah with a spirit of defiance."

ABC News' Aaron Katersky and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.

'Concerned and afraid': Jews celebrate Hanukkah amid rise in hate originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

Unraveling Palestine: Understanding Its Location and the Palestinian Identity
Taija Perry Cook
Fri, December 8, 2023 

Getty Images

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas launched an attack on Israeli communities outside of Gaza, killing 1,200 civilians and soldiers and taking about 240 people hostage. In response, Israel has killed more than 16,000 Palestinians, as of this writing. A Hamas spokesperson told Al Jazeera that the attack was in response to "all the atrocities the Palestinians have faced over the decades," and that the international community needed to "stop atrocities in Gaza, against Palestinian people, [and] our holy sites like Al-Aqsa. All these things are the reason behind starting this battle." Given the complex history and confusion often surrounding the topic of Palestine, we've answered a few basic questions below. As always, we appreciate our readers' participation and feedback.

The Palestinian Territories, located in the Levant region of the Middle East, consist of the West Bank and Gaza, including East Jerusalem, and have historically included present-day Israel. Before Israel's statehood, Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Palestinians lived across the region for generations.

Prior to 1948, Palestine was held under a British mandate after England seized the region from the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Throughout the British Mandate, which officially lasted from 1920 to 1947, Jewish immigration to Palestine surged as the brutality of the Holocaust forced Jews across Europe to seek refuge.

The land of Palestine has been diminished dramatically since 1948, when armed Zionist militias – with the help of Great Britain – forcibly claimed the homes and possessions of approximately 750,000 Palestinians in an event known in Arabic as the Nakba, or “catastrophe.” Israel considers this same event, which took place on May 15, 1948, to be Israel’s Day of Independence.

Following the Nakba, Palestinians across present-day Israel were made refugees, with many seeking safety in the West Bank and Gaza. However, many more fled beyond historic Palestine and into neighboring Arab countries, such as Jordan, Syria, Egypt and beyond. Today, approximately 7 million Palestinians live across the diaspora outside of historic Palestine.


( Getty Images)

The West Bank, surrounded by present-day Israel and bordering Jordan, is home to nearly 3 million Palestinians. They live alongside the more than 700,000 Israelis who have broken international law – as per the Fourth Geneva Convention – by settling in the West Bank.

Gaza, a narrow strip of land on the Mediterranean coast, is one of the most densely populated areas of the world with nearly 2.2 million inhabitants, almost half of whom are children. About 78% of the Gazan population are refugees or descendants of refugees.

While the majority of nations today recognize Israel as a legitimate state, others continue to refer to the entirety of historic Palestine as “Palestine,” and not Israel. As of 2012, Palestine has a non-member observer state status in the U.N.; it is only one of two states with such status along with the Vatican City. While non-member observer states are able to speak at General Assembly meetings, they are not able to vote on resolutions.

Palestinians are a diverse and complex group indigenous to the land of Palestine; a community that carries with it a rich legacy of cultural, linguistic, and symbolic identity. Palestinian national identity has been shaped in many ways by Israeli occupation.


Palestinian mother and child, 1920. Photo by Khalil Raad. (Image via Wikimedia Commons.)

The majority of Palestinians are Muslim, although a significant Christian minority exists alongside other religious minorities.

Within present-day Israel, at least 20% of the population identifies as Palestinian or Arab, the majority of whose families were not killed or forced to flee their homes in 1948. While these citizens of Israel maintain the right to vote, Palestinians within Israel have long expressed that their existence is one of second-class citizenship within a web of systemic discrimination.
Sources:

‘Chapter 3: Israeli Settlements and International Law’. Amnesty International, 30 Jan. 2019, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2019/01/chapter-3-israeli-settlements-and-international-law/.

‘Demographics of Historic Palestine Prior to 1948’. CJPME - English, https://www.cjpme.org/fs_007. Accessed 7 Dec. 2023.

Did Israel Start the Six Day War? | ADL. https://www.adl.org/resources/fact-sheet/did-israel-start-six-day-war. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.

Dpr 3. ‘History of the Question of Palestine’. Question of Palestine, 12 Dec. 2023, https://www.un.org/unispal/history/.

Dpr 3. ‘In Facts and Figures’. Question of Palestine, 12 Dec. 2023, https://www.un.org/unispal/in-facts-and-figures/.

Election - Executive, Voting, Process | Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/election-political-science/Executive-elections. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.

Emery, David. ‘What Is Sharia Law?’ Snopes, 19 June 2017, https://www.snopes.com/news/2017/06/19/what-is-sharia-law/.

Experience. https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/d0f8132285e74a73b5c1d6d1ac4f655c/?draft=true&org=x-maps. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.

‘Gaza Strip Explained: Who Controls It and What to Know’. NBC News, 9 Oct. 2023, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/gaza-strip-controls-s-know-rcna119405.

Haddad, Mohammed. ‘Nakba Day: What Happened in Palestine in 1948?’ Al Jazeera, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/15/nakba-mapping-palestinian-villages-destroyed-by-israel-in-1948. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.

Heaney, Christopher. ‘Human Rights Council Hears That 700,000 Israeli Settlers Are Living Illegally in the Occupied West Bank - Meeting Summary (Excerpts)’. Question of Palestine, https://www.un.org/unispal/document/human-rights-council-hears-that-700000-israeli-settlers-are-living-illegally-in-the-occupied-west-bank-meeting-summary-excerpts/. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.

Ibrahim, Nur. ‘People Claim a Majority of Palestinians in Gaza Elected Hamas — Here’s Why It Isn’t That Simple’. Snopes, 1 Nov. 2023, https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/11/01/majority-palestinians-gaza-elect-hamas/.

‘International Law and Israeli Settlements’. Wikipedia, 5 Dec. 2023. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=International_law_and_Israeli_settlements&oldid=1188398824.

Israel: Discriminatory Land Policies Hem in Palestinians | Human Rights Watch. 12 May 2020, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/12/israel-discriminatory-land-policies-hem-palestinians.

‘Israeli-Occupied Territories’. Wikipedia, 5 Dec. 2023. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Israeli-occupied_territories&oldid=1188460539.

‘Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians’. Amnesty International, 1 Feb. 2022, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-system-of-apartheid/.

Jamal, Amaney A., and Michael Robbins. ‘What Palestinians Really Think of Hamas’. Foreign Affairs, 25 Oct. 2023. Foreign Affairs, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/what-palestinians-really-think-hamas?check_logged_in=1&utm_medium=promo_email&utm_source=lo_flows&utm_campaign=registered_user_welcome&utm_term=email_1&utm_content=20231029.

‘Maps: Loss of Land’. Palestine Portal, 16 Jan. 2017, https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-loss-of-land/.

N, et al. ‘Hamas Seizes Control of Gaza’. NPR, 15 June 2007. NPR, https://www.npr.org/2007/06/15/11107933/hamas-seizes-control-of-gaza.

Nations, United. ‘Non-Member-States’. United Nations, https://www.un.org/en/about-us/non-member-states. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.

‘Netanyahu Urges World to Say “No” to New Palestinian Government’. Haaretz. Haaretz, https://www.haaretz.com/2014-06-01/ty-article/.premium/netanyahu-to-world-say-no-to-fatah-hamas-govt/0000017f-e66b-d97e-a37f-f76f58380000. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.

‘Observer Status’. Wikipedia, 25 Aug. 2023. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Observer_status&oldid=1172212778.

OCHA oPt | Humanitarian Atlas 2019. https://www.ochaopt.org/atlas2019/allmenu.html. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.

‘Palestinian Jews’. Wikipedia, 4 Nov. 2023. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Palestinian_Jews&oldid=1183543049.

PerryCook, Taija. ‘Timeline: The Oct. 7 Hamas Attack and Israel’s Retaliatory War on Gaza’. Snopes, 20 Nov. 2023, https://www.snopes.com/articles/465623/oct-7-hamas-attack-and-israeli-retaliation/.

Rami Hamdallah | Biography & Facts | Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rami-Hamdallah. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.

‘Right of Return of the Palestinian People - CEIRPP, SUPR Study’. Question of Palestine, https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-210170/. Accessed 7 Dec. 2023.

Statistics on House / Structure Demolitions - November 1947-2022 - ICAHD. 7 Jan. 2023, https://web.archive.org/web/20230107224655/https://icahd.org/2021/04/26/statistics-on-house-structure-demolitions-november-1947-2022/.

Tétrault-Farber, Gabrielle. ‘Despite Biden’s Doubts, Humanitarian Agencies Consider Gaza Toll Reliable’. Reuters, 27 Oct. 2023. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/despite-bidens-doubts-humanitarian-agencies-consider-gaza-toll-reliable-2023-10-27/.

‘The Palestinian Basic Law’. The Palestinian Basic Law, https://www.palestinianbasiclaw.org/. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.

‘What Is Hamas?’ Council on Foreign Relations, https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-hamas. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.

‘What Is Hamas? The Group That Rules the Gaza Strip Has Fought Several Rounds of War with Israel’. AP News, 9 Oct. 2023, https://apnews.com/article/hamas-gaza-palestinian-authority-israel-war-ed7018dbaae09b81513daf3bda38109a.

Wrona, Aleksandra. ‘Were 50% of People in Palestine Children, as of Mid-2023?’ Snopes, 16 Oct. 2023, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/50-percent-of-palestinians-children/.