Sunday, December 14, 2014
JPost Editorial: Proportionate response
When someone initiates an attack against you, a proportionate response is said to be one that suffices to prevent further attacks. When critics of Israel’s response to thousands of Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza during Operation Protective Shield accused it of a disproportionate response, they were mainly referring to the fact that fewer Israelis than Gazans died in the conflict, ignoring the fact that such deaths were the unavoidable result of Israel’s attempt to defend itself and to halt terrorist attacks.Gerald Steinberg: On journalists, political conflict and NGOs
The IDF’s counterattacks were undertaken with caution that included efforts to minimize civilian casualties, even warning possible collateral victims before responding to a Hamas barrage. In military terms, the achievement of a more or less binding cease-fire after 50 days of strife is proof that Israel’s response was indeed proportionate: it stopped the violence.
Would that things were so clear-cut in the world media’s treatment of the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians. This is dominated by biased attacks on Israel that reflect another kind of disproportion: one that focuses on Israel’s alleged misdeeds while ignoring far greater crimes against humanity by numerous other nations.
As a critic of human rights NGOs active in the Arab-Israeli conflict, I have often seen this preferential relationship in action. Friedman’s article confirms the intense efforts to keep the research that I and NGO Monitor publish from getting into the media, and into the hands of policy makers. We now know that in 2009, the AP’s Jerusalem bureau chief, Steve Gutkin, issued a formal ban on quoting me and NGO Monitor. According to Friedman (and confirmed by another ex-AP reporter), “In my time as an AP writer moving through the local conflict, with its myriad lunatics, bigots and killers, the only person I ever saw subjected to an interview ban was this professor.”ISIS, the Joker, and Tom Friedman
Highlighting the deep fear of exposing the NGO-media alliance, Friedman’s article was subject to a number of counter-attacks. The Columbia Journalism Review – the bastion of journalism’s power elite – immediately ran a column attacking both Friedman and NGO Monitor, repeating the political labels and false allegations against both of us. This response, and the lack of basic fact checking at CJR, inadvertently provided a blatant example of the problems and failures in media coverage of Israel. The fact that the author, Jared Malsin, worked for the Palestinian wire service Ma’an between 2007 and 2010, was omitted. The editors of CJR also refused to even respond to my submission on the NGO-media alliance. Like the AP’s official ban, and the New York Times in practice, this “prestigious” publication on journalism censored the criticism.
In democracies, journalists enjoy a privileged position as the embodiment of a free press, enabling them to criticize powerful actors, and to help the public make informed decisions. But when the media itself promotes the unchecked power of political groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty, and suppresses criticism of these NGOs, democracy is ill-served.
Thomas Friedman quoted a Batman movie to prove his point, but all Tom proved was that he didn't understand the movie.
“I warn you, he may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot, but don’t let that fool you: He really is an idiot!” — The Joker, Arkham Asylum
A friend drew my attention today to a recent column by New York Times resident joker and professional stuffed shirt Thomas Friedman, in which Friedman cites a scene from Chris Nolan’s The Dark Knight as a metaphor for the fight against Islamic terrorism.
As I read the column, I grew intrigued — because for a brief moment, it seemed as though the generally clueless Friedman had experienced a genuine epiphany. But by the time I reached the end of the column, I realized that it was a false alarm: The metaphor that he cited (which he says was referred to him by Orit Perlov) was indeed strikingly apt, but Friedman himself completely failed to grasp its meaning.
The greatest lie about geopolitics
Let us assume that a miracle happens and there is a sudden viable peace between Israel and the Palestinians.UN Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001)
Will the US and its allies drop one bomb less on IS? Will there be fewer refugees from the Syrian civil war? Will fewer Iraqis die as a result of suicide bombers and other attacks? Will IS or the pro-Iraqi government Shi’ite tribes behead one less person? And, as far as geopolitics go, will Boko Haram kidnap one less person? Will one person less die in Eastern Ukraine? Despite all the evidence that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not a central issue, the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and leading politicians have given a disproportionate amount of attention to the false argument that the conflict in the Holy Land is central in geopolitics and that a solution will bring major salvation to the rest of the Middle East, or even the world.
The truth is taboo for many. Criminality driven by religion, and other forms of extreme violence in the Muslim world, are the main current geopolitical problems and should be exposed as such. Not much courage is needed to forecast that also in the coming decade, problems in the Muslim world will likely dominate geopolitics. At some point the world’s leaders will be forced to acknowledge that the main threat to the world does not come from Israel but from other actors in the area.
It is also the same dread of the inconvenient truth that has led the blind world to make up, as Ms. Glick further states in that debate, “imaginary international laws” that “require” it to sanction Jewish projects on Jewish land in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem.PM: Palestinian State will Lead Islamists to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem
George Orwell (“1984″) would laugh to see his thoughts reflected in the behavior of the International organization founded to promote peaceful resolution to international problems choosing to redefine everything to appease the world’s bullies, equating Jews trying to live in peace, building homes, with terrorists murderers launching 1000’s of rockets to kill Jewish civilians — In Orwell’s words that apply to our reality today “war is peace” “freedom is slavery” and Jews wanted to pray quietly at their holiest place on the planet is “aggression”.
The dilemma is, why do we spend millions of dollars each year supporting an organization that passes Resolutions but never takes the time to implement them yet makes up imaginary laws and spends millions of dollars on enforcing them?
I think I know the answer. I believe you, the readers, know it too.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed US Secretary of State John Kerry's upcoming talks in Rome on Sunday, during opening remarks for his weekly Cabinet meeting.Kerry: US seeks unified path to resuming peace process
"Tomorrow I will leave for Rome to meet with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and US Secretary of State John Kerry," he said. "I will tell them that Israel, to a large degree, stands as a solitary island against the waves of Islamic extremism that are washing over the entire Middle East."
"Until now we have successfully withstood and repelled these attacks and now we also stand against the possibility of a diplomatic assault, i.e. an attempt to compel us – by means of UN decisions – to withdraw to the 1967 lines within two years," Netanyahu continued. "This will lead to Islamic extremists to the suburbs of Tel Aviv and to the heart of Jerusalem."
"We will not allow this," he vowed. "We will strongly and responsibly rebuff this. Let there be no doubt, this will be rejected."
The US is holding a series of urgent meetings in Rome in an effort to reduce Israeli- Palestinian tensions and find a unified alternative to a Palestinian push for a United Nations Security Council resolution on the conflict.Little headway in UN push for Palestinian resolution
Secretary of State John Kerry plans to hold separate face-to-face conversations in Rome on Monday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“We’re trying to figure out a way to help defuse the tensions and reduce the potential for more conflict and we’re exploring various possibilities to that end, which is why I’m also meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu,” Kerry told reporters in Bogota, Colombia, on Friday.
US Secretary of State John Kerry is heading to Rome on Sunday for a key meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss initiatives at the United Nations.Palestinian official bashes ‘dictatorial’ Abbas
Jordan last month circulated a draft Palestinian text to the Security Council setting November 2016 as a deadline for the end of the Israeli occupation.
But the text ran into opposition from the United States, which has veto power, and other countries that felt it lacked balance, diplomats said. It was never put to a vote.
France stepped in last month to try to cobble together along with Britain and Germany a resolution that would win consensus at the 15-member council.
The text would call for a return to negotiations with a view to achieving a two-state solution by which Israel and a Palestinian state would coexist.
A senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization has accused Mahmoud Abbas of intentionally undermining the Palestinian Authority’s UN bid to set a timetable for an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, dubbing the PA president’s political conduct “dictatorial.”UN Security Council condemns attack on Israeli embassy in Athens
The minutes of a meeting between Yasser Abed Rabbo, a former negotiator and the secretary of the PLO’s Executive Committee, and committee member Hanna Amira on November 26, were leaked Saturday by the Gaza-based news agency Safa. The meeting revealed the animosity between Abbas and Abbed Rabbo, who was reportedly relieved of his duties by the Palestinian Authority president earlier this month.
According to Abed Rabbo, Abbas is rushing to bring a Palestinian draft resolution to the UN Security Council without even securing the nine votes necessary for its adoption, thereby rendering an American veto unnecessary. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Sunday that the Palestinian proposal would be submitted to the UN on Monday.
The UN Security Council on Saturday condemned the night-time gun attack on the Israeli embassy in Athens and stressed the need to catch the perpetrators.Father of Har Nof Terrorist: I Would Have Left Him for Dead in Pit’
In a unanimous statement, the 15-member council “condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack against the Embassy of Israel in Athens, Greece, on 12 December, involving dozens of shots fired at the Embassy building, and underlined the need to bring its perpetrators to justice.”
Greek police have said a far-left group was likely responsible for Friday’s attack, which saw the building sprayed with gunfire but no one hurt.
The father of one of the two terrorists who brutally murdered four Jewish while they were praying said Sunday he would have dug a hole for his son and left him there.IDF arrests two Palestinians carrying M-16
“I am a man of peace, said Mohammed Abu Jamal to Army Radio.
“I would have dug a hole for him, throw him there and then close the hole,” he added.
The timing of his statement is a bit ironic since Jews all over the world this past Sabbath read the Torah portion describing the brother of Yosef (Joseph) throwing their younger brother into a pit to die before cooler heads prevailed and persuaded them to let a band of salve traders rescue him and sell him in Egypt.
The father’s comments were in stark contrast to those of his wife. Both mothers of the terrorist Uday and Ghassan Abu Jamal, who were cousins, demanded that Israel return their sons; bodies after they carried out the gruesome murders that shocked the world, except for the Palestinian Authority.
Border Police officers arrested two Palestinians Saturday evening after a search of their vehicle yielded a concealed M-16 rifle.Bereaved kin slam decision to decline prosecuting director who alleged Jenin massacre
The two Palestinian men, both in their 20s from the town of al-Bira, outside Ramallah, were searched at the Tapuah Junction checkpoint The policemen found a bullet beneath the rear seat, Ynet reported, and one of the two men attempted to flee the scene.
After warning shots were fired in the air, the man was apprehended. The two were taking in for questioning.
Representatives of bereaved families criticized the attorney general on Sunday for denying their request to launch a criminal investigation against an Israeli-Arab filmmaker who alleged in one of his movies that the IDF committed a massacre of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank town of Jenin.Ya’alon: ‘Palestinians need security cooperation more than we do’
Mohammed Bakri's controversial Jenin, Jenin ignited a firestorm upon its release 12 years ago due to the depiction of a massacre allegedly carried out by IDF troops during Operation Defensive Shield.
Israeli authorities banned the screening of the film only to have the Supreme Court overturn the ruling on free speech grounds.
The attorney general, Yehuda Weinstein, was asked to reconsider the decisions made by his predecessors Elyakim Rubinstein and Menachem Mazuz, both of whom ruled that there was no legal recourse to bring criminal charges against Bakri.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Friday that threats by the Palestinian Authority to end security cooperation with Israel, in the wake of the death of a senior Palestinian official on Wednesday, did not faze the Israeli establishment.PA leadership postpones meeting due to 'international pressure'
Ya’alon told Channel 2 that such a measure would “hurt them more than us,” and that Israel could “manage without it.”
His remarks came just two days after he said the cooperation between Israel and the PA was important and would continue.
The Palestinian leadership postponed a meeting set to take place over the weekend until Sunday due to "international pressure" amid fears the death last week of Palestinian Authority official Ziad Abu Ein would lead to a security escalation.IAF Syria Raid Last Week was ‘the Biggest to Date’
The scheduled meeting is intended to deal with, among other things, the Palestinian Authority's diplomatic plans in the international arena. After Abu Ein's death, the PA announced it was stopping all security cooperation with Israel, but this has not in fact been put into effect.
The Israeli air raid on Hezbollah weapons in Syria last Sunday was the most extensive yet, in terms of the number of targets hit, according to a report on Al Monitor. IAF warplanes targeted military sites in Dimas, 25 kilometers northwest of Damascus, as well as Damascus International Airport, 25 kilometers east of the capital, according to a statement issued by the Syrian armed forces.Air force control center undergoes nuclear upgrade
The IAF has carried out at least four strikes on targets in Syria since the civil war there began, in order to prevent weapons from being moved from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The warplanes targeted a Syrian military airport in the Dimas area, according to a Syrian pro-government journalist who covers Syrian army operations in the capital and who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity.
A Syrian soldier who serves in Dimas confirmed that the targets were arms destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Air Force’s operational command bunker in Tel Aviv — commonly known as “the pit” — is nearing the end of a multi-million dollar upgrade, funded by the United States.Syrian Beats Out Arab-Israeli for 'Arab Idol' Title
The pit, at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, will be protected from nuclear and biological attack, Ynet reported.
The project began more than three years ago, and is scheduled to be completed in the coming months.
The new pit is being constructed over the current one, with dozens of underground command and control centers. The communication and coordination between the various branches of the air force, including intelligence, pilots, and headquarters, are expected to improve significantly as a result of the new state-of-the-art command center.
An Israeli-Arab from the Galilee who was one of three finalists in the “Arab Idol” singing contest lost on Saturday to a singer from Syria.Most Gazan Citizens Have Had Enough of Hamas -Mudar Zahran (h/t Daphne Anson)
24-year-old Haitham Khalailah is from the village of Majd al-Krum, an Arab town located in the Upper Galilee about 16 kilometers (10 miles) east of Akko. He participated in the show as a “Palestinian” and represented the Palestinian Authority (PA).
He lost to Syria’s Hazem Sharif who, according to Al Arabiya, also beat a third finalist, Majid Al Madani from Saudi Arabia.
Judges Ahlam, from the United Arab Emirates, Lebanese singers Nancy Ajram and Wael Kfouri and Hassan Al Shafe’ei, an Egyptian music production expert, all cheered as Sharif accepted the award, the third to be given since the popular contest came to television screens in 2011.
On Friday, the contestants sang one last time at the Beirut studio staging the MBC program, scrambling for votes from audiences across the region.
Jets scrambled after Hamas launches drone over Gaza
Hamas’s military wing on Sunday launched a locally manufactured drone at a Gaza City march in honor of the founding of the group, prompting the Israel Air Force to raise its alertness level.'Hamas will liberate West Bank, just like Gaza'
The drone activity led the air force to summon jets to the area, but no shots were fired at the unmanned aircraft, Channel 2 reported.
The drone demonstration was held at the terror group’s 27th anniversary march, with thousands in attendance, including senior members, as the Gaza terror group ramped up its rhetoric against Israel.
Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar over the weekend revealed the Palestinian terrorist organization's true intentions in Judea and Samaria.Hamas shows second video 'taken from IDF computers'
In a speech marking the 27th anniversary of the group's creation, al-Zahar said, "Just as we liberated Gaza, just as we established a real national government there, just as we built a victorious army, just as we built a protective police force, and just as we have created security apparatuses with which to fight the enemy, we will repeat the same steps in the West Bank as preparation for our arrival in all of Palestine."
Until now, Hamas had denied reports it was seeking control of Judea and Samaria. Last week al-Zahar accused Fatah of "treating Hamas like an enemy instead of as a political rival."
In a statement issued on his behalf, al-Zahar blamed Fatah for the siege imposed on Gaza, and he accused the PA of preventing construction materials from entering Gaza while Israel was allowing such goods to cross the border. Al-Zahar also condemned security cooperation between Israel and the PA, calling it a "national disgrace."
In what appears to be another embarrassing security leak for the Israel Defense Forces, Hamas on Saturday published another video showing footage from Operation Protective Edge, which the terrorist group claims was taken from the army's computers.Former Jordanian Minister in Friday Sermon Quotes Hitler: The Jews Corrupt the Youth
On Thursday, a Palestinian website uploaded a leaked classified Israeli military report on a Hamas naval commando attack during Operation Protective Edge, which included previously omitted information about the attack and specifics on the weapon systems the IDF used to foil it.
The most recent video shows an incident that took place on July 19, in which terrorists infiltrated Israel in the area of the Be'eri Forest and attacked an army jeep from the 188th Brigade. Maj. (res.) Amotz Greenberg, 45, from Hod Hasharon and Sgt. Adar Barsano, 20, from Nahariya were killed in the attack, and two other soldiers were wounded.
After Salaita: How professors can better protect their Jewish students
Long before his anti-Semitic statements on Twitter cost him a tenured job at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, Salaita wrote the BDS how-to playbook for boycotting Israel’s entire system of higher education. And ever since his Illinois job offer was withdrawn four months ago, he’s been backing a boycott of that university too.BDS Monitoring Temperature Of Hell For Word On When To Boycott Syria (satire)
Now that the Fall semester is over, the Illinois faculty are taking stock of the damage done to their university by this unjustified collective punishment — the same kind of indiscriminate blacklisting that Salaita and his BDS supporters think Israel’s academic institutions deserve.
In a recent letter addressed to Timothy Killeen, the university’s newly appointed president, thirty-four department chairs and program directors describe how thousands of academics are refusing to visit the Urbana-Champaign campus, resulting in the cancelation of dozens of previously scheduled guest speaker events, colloquium series, and conferences. Faculty searches have been jeopardized, as promising candidates aren’t even bothering to send in their applications. And graduate students are frightened that their own job prospects are being compromised.
Opponents of Syria’s Assad regime expressed disappointment. “We thought, given the unprecedented alignment of interests between Israel and surrounding countries in fighting Islamist movements, combined with Israel selling gas to Egypt and Jordan, plus the continued movement of wounded Syrians into Israeli hospitals for treatment, that Hell was in fact freezing over as we speak, which would mean the BDS activists would begin protesting the Syrian government’s behavior and call for economic, academic, and political pressure on Assad,” said Wadda Lodov-Biyess of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. “Unfortunately, the temperature in Hades has remained as high as ever, so that’s frustrating.”BBC’s Knell at Abu Ein funeral: all the rumour not worth reporting
Activists opposing regimes far more brutal and destructive than Israel have conducted their own monitoring efforts to determine the prospects of BDS focusing on their plight instead of, or at least in addition to, Israel. “The BDS people have succeeded in making a lot of noise and gaining attention where our activists have not,” said Free Tibet activist Lasa Layars. “If that sanctimony and righteous indignation could be mustered toward causes that actually deserve the world’s attention, can you imagine the good that would result?”
Layars said a number of his comrades had succumbed to asphyxiation in recent months as a result of holding their breath in anticipation of the BDS activists gaining a sense of moral consistency. “There were signs that things were changing in the world, but that apparently had no bearing on the temperature of Hell.”
BDS activists were approached for comment, but their words were inaudible over the sound of Iran’s leaders laughing all the way to the bank.
The fact that (as can be seen in filmed footage of the incident) Abu Ein engaged in physical and verbal provocation of the security forces goes unmentioned in Knell’s account of events. Likewise, she inaccurately tells audiences that Abu Ein “fell to the ground” when he actually sat down of his own accord and implies that happened immediately after the altercation with the Border Police officer, whilst in fact Abu Ein managed to give an interview to the media between the two events. Knell also fails to mention that an Israeli paramedic tried to treat Abu Ein, but that he was instead quickly evacuated by a Palestinian ambulance and died on the way to hospital.BBC News website’s written reports on Abu Ein continue to spread rumour
Knell misrepresents the results of the autopsy, presenting the fact that Abu Ein was already suffering from ischemic heart disease as an Israeli claim only. She both amplifies Palestinian conspiracy theories herself and provides an unchallenged platform for Saeb Erekat to further embroider the tale.
As we see in both these written reports the BBC has promoted a plethora of varied and often contradictory ‘witness accounts’ of the events surrounding Ziad Abu Ein’s death. Those accounts, along with the BBC’s own descriptions of events, include “complications related to tear gas exposure”, “hit and shoved by soldiers”, “hit in the chest by a tear-gas canister”, “struck by a hand on the neck”, “hit in the chest”, “suffocated and beaten”, “grabbed by the throat”, “pushed by his throat” and “killed in cold blood”.Guardian editorial condemning CIA torture curiously includes image of a Jewish menorah
Clearly the sheer number of different versions of the story alone should have been enough to prompt some serious fact-checking before these two articles were published. Instead, the BBC simply published whatever rumour and second-hand hearsay came its way, once again failing to provide audiences with anything which can be described as a reliable, informative, evidence-based account of events.
Whilst there’s nothing especially noteworthy in the editorial itself, which condemned “America’s most senior leaders, from former president George W Bush down”, for directing and condoning “the use of abhorrent illegal techniques against terrorism suspects that plainly amounted to torture”, the photo editors chose to accompany the piece is quite curious.UK foreign aid millions helped Iran hang 3,000... including women and children: Shocking report reveals how drugs war cash funded reign of terror
Guardian editors chose the photo of Bush in front of a menorah (from a 2008 White House Hanukkah ceremony) despite the absence of any references to Jews in the text, and the fact that the media group no doubt has countless other photos of the former president – which don’t include eye-catching symbols evoking one particular religion which isn’t the focus of the editorial – that they could have used instead.
No, we’re not accusing the Guardian of antisemitism, just extremely poor editorial judgment.
British aid has assisted the brutal execution of nearly 3,000 people accused of drug smuggling in Iran, according to a report to be released this week. The campaign group Reprieve says millions of pounds from British taxpayers can be linked to ‘control’ operations and hangings carried out by the hard-line Islamic regime.Turkish police raid media offices of Erdogan rival
Those killed – often in public, suspended from cranes after forced confessions, torture and secret trials – include women, children and political dissidents. Human rights groups say the deaths are designed to spread fear rather than curb the drug trade.
Reprieve’s research reveals Britain channelled more money to Iran than the rest of Europe combined, in an effort to fight the drugs trade.
Yet Iran has the world’s highest per capita execution rate, despite the UK’s public stance of seeking the death penalty’s abolition around the globe. Britain’s support was quietly stopped amid outrage that it was boosting Iran’s security machine, but Reprieve believes scores more people sentenced to death still face execution thanks to British aid already received.
The operation came just two days after Erdogan signaled a new crackdown against the supporters of Gulen, who Erdogan blamed for orchestrating a corruption probe almost exactly a year ago against members of his inner circle.Israel finds more gas – but will it be extracted?
Counter-terror police conducted early morning raids in 13 cities across Turkey, including Istanbul, and detained at least 14 people including a top executive, producers and directors of a television channel close to Gulen, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.
Arrest warrants were issued for a total of 32 people, including Ekrem Dumanli, the chief editor of Zaman, the country’s top selling newspaper
To Israel’s growing family of offshore gas fields, add the Royee field. In a statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Sunday, Ratio Oil and Israel Opportunity Energy Resources announced that a seismic survey of the Royee field indicated that it contained about 3 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas that could be extracted.Remains of Neolithic ‘Atlantis’ found off Haifa coast
However, said economists, the Royee gas may not be extracted in the near future because there is so much gas in the “veteran” Leviathan and Tamar fields.
The survey indicated that Royee has between between 1.9 and 5 tcf, with 3.2 tcf its best estimate. Ratio holds a 70% stake in the field, and Israel Opportunity has 10%. The balance is held by Italian power company Edison. The field is located about 150 kilometers (93 miles’ off Israel’s shores, close to the international maritime border with Cyprus and Egypt.
If those figures pan out, the Royee field would be Israel’s third largest, after the Leviathan field, with 22 tcf, and the Tamar field, at 11 tcf. It should be noted that the estimated size of both fields has been raised several times, as further exploration indicated that there was more gas available than originally predicted.
It may not be the actual mythical city of Atlantis, but it’s still pretty astonishing. Archaeologists recently explored the remains of a 7,700-year-old sunken village off the coast of Haifa and found what may be the world’s oldest known wooden structure. The site might also help shed light on the nature of global warming and climate change.
A team headed by University of Haifa archaeologists Dr. Ehud Galili and Dr. Deborah Cvikel, and Dr. Jonathan Benjamin of Flinders University of Adelaide, in October found a well belonging to a Neolithic village at a site known as Kfar Samir. What’s exceptional about it is that unlike most archaeological sites in Israel, the village is about 200 meters (218 yards) offshore and located about 16 feet underwater.
Kfar Samir was first surveyed in 1991 and yielded the oldest evidence of olive oil production, and some of the oldest wooden artifacts in the world. The water well was built of wooden branches and stones and may be one of the oldest known wooden structures.
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