History Of Israel Part 3

In part 2 we mentioned the general strike that occurred in 1936 which lasted for 6 complete months in a peaceful protest against Britain's bias treatment against the Arabs when compared to the Jews. The British used force to end the strike. The violence left 195 Palestinians dead.

1937 the British commissioner Earl William Peel published a report suggesting that 1/3 of Palestine to be under Jewish rule, and 2/3 of Palestine goes under East Jordan rule . while a strip between Jaffa and Jerusalem remains under British rule as shown

The Arabs did not agree because part of the report speaks about a complete transfer of the Palestinians from the Jewish rule area to East Jordan in a clear ethnic cleansing idea. This year also witnessed the killing of 1000 Palestinians, 37 British army personnel and 69 Jews which clearly shows the escalation of this conflict. One of the main reasons was the deliberate  British provocation to the Arabs by acts like resolving the Palestinian Arab commission headed by Ameen Al-Hussaini whom escaped to Lebanon. Additionally, some 5 members were deported to the Seychelles islands in an effort to remove all the political representatives of the Arabs.

1938 the Palestinian resistance intensified without political representation to negotiate any cease fire, the resistance was headed by Abdul-Raheem Haji Mohammad who was wanted, yet before any trial his house was razed. The British army increased its personal by 20,000 and the search for weapons continued so did the razing of house when even one bullet was found. This was the year when the first time concentration camps were founded. Where they gathered men aged from 20 to 40 to prevent them from joining the revolution. On the other hand the British armed and trained the Jewish forces under the supervision of the British Zionist Major General Orde Wingate.  He lead the Jewish gangs into raids on Palestinian town killing anybody suspicious of being part of the revolution. This  encouraged the Zionists to carry a multiple terrorist attacks on the Palestinians:

1 – 6 July 1938 exploding two cars in Haifa market

2 – 7 July 1938 exploding a car in Jerusalem market

3 – 8 July 1938 a huge explosion in Jerusalem bus depot

The result was 68 Palestinians deaths

1939 the resistance leader was ambushed and killed along with the Christian Orthodox priest Gregarious Hajjar by the British forces which started a theatrical style trials that lead to the execution of 112 Palestinians. Among them was an 80 year old Farhan Al-Sadi a resistance leader. He was fasting during the month of Ramadan, thus the British succeeded in the termination of the political and resistance leaders of the Palestinians.

WWII broke out and 15,000 Jews joint the British army and were trained to gain war experience in all the military fields and this was the start of the Haganah paramilitary group. The influx of Jews continued with an even greater numbers allowed by the British.

1942 a major shift in the Zionist organization location from Britain to USA as resulted from the conference that took place in the Baltimore Hotel in New York City. They had excellent relations with both the Democrats and Republicans and wanted to use that to ask for Britain to go out of Palestine as they will look after the American interests in Palestine.

1943 the American ex-war secretary General Patrick Hurley wrote to the White house after visiting Palestine and meeting Ben-Gurion " The Zionists has committed itself to an enlarged program which would include:( source, foreign relations of USA near east & Africa page 776-777)

• Sovereign Jewish state which would embrace Palestine and Trans-Jordan
• An eventual transfer of Arab population from Palestine to Iraq.
• Jewish leader for the middle –east in the fields of economic development and control

1944 The Atlanta Zionist conference revealed the need to move Britain out of Palestine publically and the need for an international protection to the Jews

1945 USA emerged after the war as the Western world leader as Britain became an ex-empire. President Harry Truman the first American president after war allowed the immigration of 100,000 Jews to Palestine after the Zionist has donated 2 million dollars to his presidential campaign.

Weizmann asked the Haganah the Jewish paramilitary group recognized and trained by the British to work with the 2 Jewish gangs Stern and Irgun, something which the British did not like and started moving their families back to Britain in February 1946

1946 witnessed further discussions between the Zionists headed by Weizmann and the British headed by the Commissioner Cunningham in March and July that year about the new borders, partitioning Palestine in a way that will ensure its vitality by including Galilee for water supply and the Negev desert and the emphasis was to continuation of the removal of arms from the Arabs.

Just a few days after the meeting the Irgun terrorist gang destroyed completely the suit in king David hotel where the British administration resides killing 93

Next was the killing of 6 policemen after the Jewish terrorist attacked police H.Q

1947 The terrorist attacks continued with an explosion in the British officers club killing 16 and then the kidnapping of 2 British soldiers and executing them by hanging, this precise incident drove the British public and politicians wild. The British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill said after the incident "It shocked the world and deeply affected a lot of people like me who were in the past friends to the Jews and always an engineers to their future." These words sums up the disappointment of the British whom gave the Zionists Palestine on a gold platter, but even though the British army had 75,000 soldiers there yet they avoided any retaliation against the Zionist crimes .

In fact the Jewish gangs carried out 500 terrorist attacks between the period 1940-1947 , and only the period between 1946-1947 169 British officers was killed while only 37 Zionists died.

It is worth noting that the Irgun Jewish terrorist organization was headed by Manacheim Begin who was wanted by the British as responsible for many murders

The ironic thing is he became Israel's Prime Minister between 1977 and 1983 and even picked up the Noble prize for peace in 1987.

Under U.S advice the British moved the Palestine file to the UN in 1948.

History Of Israel Part 2

A continuation to where we left of in part one which showed the decline of the Ottoman empire and loss of control over Palestine to the British whom were convinced as I have shown in part 1 that building a Jewish state in Palestine is a necessity for the future, and the secret memo written by the first Jewish Zionist minister in Britain Herbert Samuel saying" it is too early to have an independent Jewish state, we have to encourage the immigration of 3 to 4 million European Jews and plant them between the Mohammadians"

.

1916 witnessed the famous Sayks-Pikot between Britain and France the colonial powers at the time, agreeing on keeping Palestine under allies control in preparation for the new Jewish state. Mark Sykes the British foreign minister at the time had very close ties with Chaim Weizmann the British Zionist chemist whom was in Palestine at the time buying lands of the Palestinian Arabs with Baron Rothschild money, and dictated to him what the Zionist organization needs in the agreement.

1917 witnessed a new British government headed by sir Lloyd George whom was fully aware of the agreements and went to issue a letter promising the land of Palestine to the new Jewish state. Arthur Balfour the new foreign minister wrote and signed it and handed it over to Baron Rothschild a senior member of the Zionist organization. On the 9^th of December 1917 General Edmund Allenby (another high British official with close ties to Weizmann) occupied Jerusalem and accompanied him a small Jewish contingent trained by the British army and that was a recommendation of Sir Winston Churchill the colonies minister at the time, and among this contingent was David Ben-Gurion

                Image 1917 showing personnel wearing the British uniform carrying a flag of the Star of David.

                               David Ben-Gurion in British uniform, latter to become the first Prime Minister of Israel.

 Image shows General Allenby sitting beside Weizmann in a British Army parade (no Palestinian political figures shown although the number of Jews was 5 thousand compared to 500 thousand Palestinians at the time)

1918 witnessed the end of WWI and during the preparations for the peace conference, President Woodrow Wilson of the USA assembled a committee of Henry King and Charles Crane to investigate the situation in the middle –east and they came up with a report called the King-Crane commission report on Palestine, and here are parts of it:

-"Zionists looked forward to a practically complete dispossession of the present non-Jewish inhabitants of Palestine, by various forms of purchase. Nearly 90% of the Palestinian population was emphatically against the entire Zionist program. The wishes of the local population must be taken into account and that there is widespread anti-Zionist feeling in Palestine and Syria, and the holy nature of the land to Christians and Moslems as well as Jews must preclude solely Jewish dominion.

-It also noted that Jews comprised only 10% of the population of Palestine.

-"Syrians were against the formation of a Jewish state.

-"Nor can the erection of such a Jewish State be accomplished without the gravest trespass upon the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine".

-"Not only you as president but the American people as a whole should realize that if the American government decided to support the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, they are committing the American people to the use of force in that area, since only by force can a Jewish state in Palestine be established or maintained." 

The report was totally ignored by the Americans as they sat down with the rest of the world in Paris and listened to the Zionist demand which is summarized by the piece of land shown on this map.

 King Faisal Bin-Al Hussein of Hejaz after meeting the British PM, General Allenby and Weizmann agreed on one condition that all the Arabic countries under the Saykes-Picot agreement take their independence, and the real engineer behind this agreement was Edward T. Lawrence also known as Lawrence of Arabia .

1919 witnessed the first Zionist intelligence service that used the second generation Jews whom speaks Arabic to spy on the Palestinian's public opinion, unfriendly planed acts against the settlements and if there are more lands for sale.

In1920 the British commissioner over Palestine was appointed and it was none other than Herbert Samuel, he went on to implement the secret memo he wrote to the government 5 years ago and the first thing he did was to make Arabic, Hebrew and English as the official languages and made sure it all included Eretz Yisrael", א״י Aleph-Yod land of Israel between brackets as shown in the image below

He also allowed the Zionists to have their own education system and their own army also.

1921 With the Palestinians realizing what is happening they started to move politically even though their numbers are few due to poor education, they managed to reach London to complain but they had a big problem which was that you cannot keep Britain as a friend and the Zionists as the enemy, simply because both of them are on the same side, so all their efforts went in vain.

1925 In this year Britain sent the first report to the league of nations regarding the achievements, and in it was 5 important points:

1 – The immigration of the Jews from Europe reached 33,801 all were given the Palestinian nationality.

2 – the establishment of 13 settlements

3 – Tel-Aviv was given autonomy

4 – Established the workers union and headed by a Jew named David Ben-Gurion

5 – The official opening of the Hebrew university by Governor Herbert Samuel, General Allenby, and Weizmann

1930 with more immigrants incoming, the Palestinians demonstrated for several days and the leaders of the demonstrations were 3 Arab Palestinians caught and executed in June 1930 even with pleas from Arab countries. The number of immigrants reached 175,000 that year.

1931  In a dinner organized by the Zionist organization headed by Weizmann to honor Lloyd George PM said jokingly " it has been 16 years since Weizmann has recruited me in the Zionist organization" in my opinion even if it was a joke but being a PM it speaks volumes  about justice in ruling between Arabs and Zionists in Palestine.

    Graph that shows the increasing number of immigrants which reached 62,000 in 1935 

1935 The first revolt by the Palestinians came on the hands of Izeldyeen Al-Quassam a well known religious figure whom was ambushed by British forces and the airforce killed him in 1936 which sent anger waves throughout the land

1936 saw a general strike throughout the land by the Arabs, which shock the British whom immediately started group punishments by apprehension and whoever is suspected to assist the revolution was executed and his house razed. 200 houses were destroyed in Jaffa only and to the British this was justified

During all this period thousands of Palestinian Arabs were moved out of the newly bought lands, so Ben-Gurion suggested to the new British high commissioner Arthur Wauchope if it possible to deport these people to east Jordan, the commissioner replied what an excellent idea.

We will continue the timeline in part 3

                            

Israel's History part 1

When we write about history our own feelings should be kept aside and we have to carry the facts and sources of events as they were to the reader to have accurate information about any historical event. The founding of the new Israel is no different I will put the facts and for the reader to analyze it on his own.

The first to think about moving the Jews of the world to Palestine was the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte it came after his failure to occupy Acre. In 20^th March 1799 and for a month and a half siege Napoleon failed to occupy Acre due to the strong resistance. the British cut the sea supply line and the British arming the Ottomans with new cannons, but Napoleon did not give up and published a statement in the French newspaper Le Moniteur Universel in 22^nd May 1799, and it says " Bonaparte has published a proclamation in which he invites all the Jews in Asia and Africa to gather under his flag in order to re-establish the ancient Jerusalem"

 exploding the view

This move was a very clear indication of his failure to capture Acre which means that he lost the security of the sea commercial route between Egypt and Syria.

In 1840 the Ottoman Sultan Mohammad Ali wanted to unify Egypt and Syria an idea which the British did not like because this would mean the unification of the Arabs from Iraq through Syria, Palestine and Egypt so the best idea they came with is the revival of Napoleon's theory of migrating the Jews to Palestine thus implanting a strange entity in the middle, so Viscount Henry Palmerston secretary of state for foreign affairs(Viscount Henry Palemerston (1784-1865) later became a prime minister (1859-1865))  wrote to his ambassador in Istanbul saying" I instruct you to strongly recommend to the Turkish government to encourage the Jews of Europe to return to Palestine"

He also wrote to his Prime Minister Lord John Russell describing the Ottoman Empire as "a sick and dying body", meaning it is time to take the initiative.

The European Jews accepted the British idea and amongst the first to donate was the rich French Baron Edmond Rothschild whom donated 14 million Francs to build 30 settlements after he visited Palestine 4 times. One of the most famous settlements was Rishon LeZion founded 1882 and raised the present Israeli flag in 1885 while still under the Ottoman rule. In the same year in Austria the word Zionism was first used by the law student Nathan Birnbaum years before Theodor Herzl whom established the world Zionist organization, then published a book in German under the name of the Jewish state (JUDENSTAAT) and had the first Zionist congress meeting in Basel Switzerland August 1897 which laid the basis to establishing the Jewish state in Palestine and how to collect the donations from the whole world and receive support from European countries.

The first to support this idea was Britain, and its Prime Minister at the time Henry Campbell-Bannerman formed a committee and came up with a conclusion that Israel is a necessity according to the committee finding which was:

"There are people (the Arabs) who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources. They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions. These people have one faith, one language, one history and the same aspirations. No natural barriers can isolate these people from one another ... if, per chance, this nation were to be unified into one state; it would then take the fate of the world into its hands and would separate Europe from the rest of the world. Taking these considerations seriously, a foreign body should be planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never-ending wars. It could also serve as a springboard for the West to gain its coveted objects."From the Campbell-Bannerman Report, 1907

Also in 1907 Chaim Weizmann ( in 1953 he became the first president of Israel) a PhD. British chemist member of the Zionist congress arrived in Palestine to establish a company that will prepare for building in Jaffa sponsored by the Rothschild family, their main purpose was to buy Palestinian lands in a very organized way. In 3 years an important deal was concluded, the Zionist monetary fund managed to due 200 thousand acres in Marj Bani Amer north of Palestine in 1910, and the new buyers insisted that all the peasants working there are to leave, 60 thousand Palestinians had to evacuate in a clear indication that the Zionists wanted to clear the land for the coming Jews from Europe and if there is a shortage, Yemeni Jews would fill the space.

The first group to hold weapons was called the Hashomer or the guards to protect the new lands bought by the Zionists, and in 1911 was the first demonstration by the Jewish demanding that the Hebrew language to be used even still under Ottoman rule.  This shows clearly that they are advancing on their targets slowly but surely. The Palestinians started to realize the Zionist plan and the first to establish a newspaper was Najeeb Nassar under the name of Al-Karmil, to educate the population of the Zionist threat by saying his famous sentence "the Jewish state will be a poisonous dagger in the Arabic body" he was latter prosecuted by the Ottomans.

WWI started in 1914 and the British were having their eyes on Palestine for so many reasons but mainly its nearness to the Suez Canal and they can deal with the Zionists to control the whole of Palestine. In 1915 the first Zionist British minister Herbert Samuel wrote to the government in a secret memo that a British protectorate be established which would allow for increased Jewish settlement ,in time the future Jewish majority would enjoy a considerable degree of autonomy. Herbert believed that the creation of a Jewish center would flourish spiritually and intellectually, resulting in the character improvement of Jews all over the world. At that time, however, Prime Minister Asquith was not interested in pursuing such an option, and no action was taken. Yet significant groundwork had been accomplished, and it was on the basis of Samuel's work that the Balfour Declaration was later written.

A new era started with the British ruling Palestine instead of the Ottomans in 1917, we will continue the founding of Israel in part 2.

HISTORY OF KUWAIT

The 17^th century seen the movement of the Bani-Khalid an Arabic tribe from Al-Hasa region to the north of the Gulf seeking a dry weather, they settled and built a small fort, which became the name of the new land they settled. (Fort in Arabic is Kut, and the diminutive of it is Kuwait, so Kuwait means a small fort).In mid 17^th century a drought happened in Najd plateau  which drove clans of the Arabic tribe Anezeh out east towards Qatar, those clans dubbed collectively as the Utub where they picked up skill as seafarers. And slowly the Utub moved north into Kuwait, and settled using the sea as there source of income from trade fishing and also pearl fishing.

In 1722 Bani-Khalid became embroiled in internal struggles for succession, the Utub exploited the occasion to augment their local independence. They managed to make Kuwait an important port, linking Iraq and Syria with India and expanded their commercial fleet to compete with that of Oman, and started ships building on a big scale especially the water tankers which brought water from Shat Al-Arab which is the joining of the Tigris and Euphrates in Basrah south Iraq today, and that was the main obstacle at the time that is water shortage but they overcame it brilliantly

  A water tanker arriving from Basrah and water is filled in pouches and distributed on donkeys to the houses

Amongst the Utub were 3 families Al-Sabah, Al-Jalahma and Al-Khalifa, the first dominated and eventually ruled Kuwait to date, Al-Jalahma went to Khorfacan today's UAE and Al-Khalifa went to Bahrain and ruled up to date.

By 1760 Kuwait was a walled city and had established its autonomy by Al-Sabah family against the waning Bani-Khalid whom had their hands full battling the Wahabis who are the followers of Mohammad Bin Abdul-Wahab that came up with new religious ideas making almost everybody not following him an infidel that must be killed, they allied with the newly risen family of Al-Saud also a clan of Anezeh.

By the beginning of the 19^th century Kuwait was enlarged due to the successful trading routes and the old wall was removed to accommodate the expansion of Kuwait which now has shops of gunsmiths, weavers, brass makers and so on necessities of the new status. This expansion started drawing more and more skilled people from neighboring places and the trade was growing and slowly it became prosperous due to the important port. All this was going on under the watchful eyes of the Ottomans ruling nearby Basrah. Who were trying to convince their allies the Bani – Khalid to use their power to over muscle the Al- Sabah. Especially with the Ottomans defeating the Wahabis in Al-Hasa, the ruler of Kuwait at the time was Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah (1896-1915)also called Mubarak the great, realized what is going on and moved swiftly into talks with Britain which in turn could not miss such a golden opportunity knowing that the Ottomans were a German ally. The idea of building a rail road from Berlin to the Gulf could not be accepted by the British. So in January 23^rd 1899 Kuwait signed a treaty with Britain making it a British protectorate which drove the Ottomans away and vanquished their dreams.

Stanley Mylrea the main architect of the Arabian mission in Kuwait wrote about Sheikh Mubarak saying "a man of long vision and great ability, under him was good government, order and tranquility were the order of the day and of the night. Mubarak's influence extended far out into the desert. He was a real tribal Sheikh and my memory still lingers over Mubarak with great admiration"

Kuwait continued to expand with success until 1936 when oil was found with vast quantities, and with the help of the British the first shipment of oil was in 1946, and the Kuwaiti –British continues till today even that Kuwait took its independence in 1961 and published its constitution in 1962.

ASSYRIA VS KINGDOMS OF GOD

This is a record of the events that occurred in the kingdoms of Judah and Israel during the rule of Assyria, the source of info. Is  from the Christian scholar Mr. Bruce Gore, the kingdom of prophet Solomon was split in 911BC and 2 states emerged during the Neo-Assyrian empire Israel and Judah.

This map will help the reader keep track of the locations mentioned.

In the reign of SHALMANESER III (858-824 BC)

Israel: was ruled by king Ahab (874-853 BC) whom married a pagan from Phoenicia named Jezebel. The king was killed by the Syrian king Bin-Haddad as prophesized by Elijah, then his son Ahaziah ruled 853-852 BC) at the time when the prophet Elijah ascends to heaven by the chariot of fire, he ruled for one year then his son Joram rules from (852-841 BC).

 Judah: ruled by king Jehoshaphat (870 – 848 BC) and he was a good king until his son Jehoram marries the daughter of Jezebel, whom kills his brother pushed to do that by his wife and ruled from 848 till 841BC. During his rule had to face the Arabs, and the Philistines in the year 845 BC  and the fulfillment of the prophecies of Joel and Obadiah, finally  he dies from a disease as written in (2 Chr.21).in 841 BC Ahaziah rules for one year

In 841 BC Ahaziah, Joram and the king of Syria joins forces to face the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III. During the battle Joram is injured and returns to the tent. Ahaziah arrives and while both in the tent Jehu a military leader in Israel comes in the tent and kills both kings, his instructions from prophet Elisha is to kill Joram only, in any case Jehu becomes the ruler and goes back to Israel to kill Jezebel and all her sons. Jehu ends up paying tributes to the Assyrian king and shown in the black obelisk.

No Assyrian records of the following kings

Shalmaneser IV (782-773 BC)

Ashur-Dan III (772 – 755 BC)

Ashur – Nirari V (754 – 745 BC)

Prophets commissioned after Elisha died (2 Ki. – 13):

Jonah 780 BC, Jonah 1:1 the Lord told him to go to Nineveh, so imagine yourself going to the capital of the superpower with its great walls and gardens(as portrayed by the artist depending on their text-below) and its multi - ethnic  multi – religions population , whom their goddess Ishtar the goddess of war  and you preach peace!!!

Amos 760 BC whom was a sheep herder and preached against easy life

Hosea 755 BC preached against unfaithful Israel

During the period Jonah starts preaching in Nineveh, we have no records from 3 consecutive Assyrian kings which indicates a weak period others say it is the Jonah effect of preaching.

During this period

Judah: Joash ruled (835 – 796 BC) , followed by Amaziah ( 796 – 767 BC) whom was defeated in 2 battles by Edom and Jehoash of Israel, followed by Uzziah (767 – 740 BC) whom was a good king until he thought much of himself and tried to appoint himself a priest which is not allowed by Jewish law and died from leprosy after being isolated for some time, his son ruled then Jotham (750 – 735 BC) 

Israel : Jehoash (789 – 782 BC) ruled and was successful in defeating the king of Syria , followed by probably the best king in the old history named Jeroboam II(782 753BC) during his period there was peace and prosperity and the people had a very easy life which prophet Amos warned against. He was followed by Zechariah whom ruled for only 6 months then followed by Menahem (753 – 742 BC).

In the reign of the reformer king Tiglath – Pileser III (745 – 727 BC) Biblical name PUL

Prophet Isaiah was commissioned 740 BC

Judah: ruled by the wicked king Ahaz ( 735 – 715 BC ) whom when was asked by the kings of Israel and Syria to join forces against Tiglath- Pileser he declined and instead allied with the Assyrian king and paid tributes  without listening to prophet Isaiah whom told his not to worry or sweat it ( Isa. 7) and even asked him for a sign but Ahaz had already made up his mind and was checking on the water supply on case he falls under siege which happened as predicted ( 2 Ki.16) but was saved by the Assyrian king whom resided at the time in Damascus and Ahaz visited him there and liked the alter there and asked the one in Jerusalem which goes all the way back to Mosses days to be replaced with a similar one of the Assyrians.

Israel: king Menahem was assassinated by Pekakiah in 742 BC and ruled for 2 years until he was assassinated by Pekah ( 742 – 733 BC), he had good relations with the Syrian king Reizen and both planned a strike to the Assyrians and tried to convince the king of Judah to join them and when he refused they attacked Judah only to find the forces of Tiglath- Pileser Judah's ally whom killed both kings and both Israel and Syria fell.

In the reign of Sargon II (722 – 705 BC) had a lot of rebellions on his hand, and the worst could have been by the native Chaldean Merodach Baladan whom seized Babylon in 722 BC (Isa. 39) till 712 BC so Babylon was out of Assyrian control for 10 years. After retaking Babylon he continued South to the Gulf and retook all the cities there, and as he was heading back north he was cut by the Elamites and Babylonians and a lot of his soldiers died, in his fury he returns back assemble a huge army and destroy Babylon and Elam which is the worst thing since Babylon was also a spiritual city to Assyria, he was hated for that and later killed by his 2 sons, whom later fought a civil war between them.

Judah:  ruled by Hezekiah (715 – 686 BC) continued to pay tributes to the Assyrians but changed his father's ways by restoring worship and returning the old alter (Isa. 18) he later refused to join the Egyptian's quest to defy the Assyrians (Isa. 20) as he had ideas of his own rebellion but had to finish the water tunnel under Jerusalem to withstand the Assyrians siege, and he finished it in 710 BC the same year Egypt fell to the Assyrians.

In the reign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib (705-681 BC)

Judah: Hezekiah after years of preparation rebelled 705 BC as it was accustomed to rebel at the time of kingship replacement, but becomes ill (Isa. 38) but the Lord gives him another 15 years to live . Sennacherib, meanwhile, started his campaign by suppressing the revolts in Syria and Phoenicia and headed south of Jerusalem to siege Lachish (see map) in order to prevent any assistance from Egypt( which revolted too) thus driving a wedge between them. Lachish eventually fell and the army hung a lot of people as shown in this Assyrian annal

                                 And to spread fear they devastated the city as shown here

They took Lebnah next and were ready to enter Jerusalem so they send an emissary whom threatened the king as in (Isa. 37 &38) they did not answer him. But something happened that could not be explained, 187,000 soldiers perished and king Sennacherib heads back home. (2 Ki. 18). 

In the reign of Esarhaddon (681-669 BC) The youngest son of Sargon II, so to correct his father's mistake he rebuilds Babylon (2 Ki.19)(Ezra 4:2)

JERIMIAH THE PROPHET WAS COMISSIONED 627 BC, at the time of the end  year of the last great kings of Assyria Ashurbanipal's (reigned 669-627BC)

THE EMPIRE WAS ENDING VERY QUICKLEY TILL NINEVEH FELL TO BABYLON AND THE MEEDS IN 614 BC.

THE FIRST SUPERPOWER, ASSYRIA

Still in Mesopotamian civilizations and the last to discuss is the Assyrian civilization the first super power in history, which started in today's North Iraq and conquered the known world at the time. Sometimes referred to as the war machine in reference to the number of wars and battles they started and the number of lands they occupied, and if you look into the you tube or the majority of books you will find them discussing the war effort which is a major part of their civilization. But, behind this fighting might there must be knowledge in both war art and administrating the vast empire. W e will try to concentrate on one period and also their relations with Israel and Judah for the people learning the Bible, also their amazing sculpture and wall figures art.

The 3 periods of this empire are:

1)      The early empire 1813 – 1755 BC

2)      Middle empire 1500 – 1350 BC

3)      Neo-Assyrian empire 911- 612 BC

We will concentrate at the neo-Assyrian period, but not to forget what the previous periods established. The early Assyrians founded the city of Ashur named after the father god and his wife goddess Ishtar of war and might. This city will remain important to them throughout their different empires along with other 5 cities are the heart of the Assyrian empire and their spiritual centers, Harran,Calah,Ninevah, Dur- shrunken, Arbela and of course Ashur. It is worth noting two things that happens throughout their history

1 – After every king's death there is a revolt somewhere in the empire

2 – Every land they occupy they displace the population there with people from other region, and they take the cream of the population they occupy back to their capital city.

The first king to start the revival of the Assyrian empire is Addad-Nirari II(911 – 891 BC) started by occupying Kadumuh and Nisibin both Aramaic cities and by taking the noble and educated back with them to Ashur which had a great influence on the language. As the Assyrians liked the Aramaic alphabets being only 28 compared to the 700 symbols and adopted it in 850BC while cuneiform remained for the king letters until 700BC when cuneiform seized (we will pick the influential kings only).

The third king was Ashurnasripal II (883-859) whom built his palace in Calah and was found by the excavation's of Austin Layard in 1845, and in it we find the reason he moved from Ashur. It was because of several revolts that occurred as he took power, one of which is the city of Suru south of Khabour river, where he describes on a tablet what happened." To the city of Suru I drew near, and the terror and splendor of Ashur overwhelmed them. The chief and the elders of the city, to save their lives came forth into my presence and embraced my feet saying "if it is thy pleasure slay! If it is thy pleasure let live! That which thy heart desireth do!" In the velour of my heart and with the fury of my weapons I stormed the city, all the rebels they seized and delivered them up"

In other text found he says that he beheaded some, others burnt alive, eyes put out and ears and noses cut. He was known to be one of the most ruthless of the Assyrian kings

                                                     Ashurnasripal II in British museum

He started his campaign by neutralizing the Aramaean kingdom of Bit Adini and from there headed North to the neo-Hittite area occupied that in search of copper then came down along the Mediterranean to seize Tyre,Siddon,Byblos and others reaching all the way to Cyprus.

The sixth king was the greatest among all the kings of Assyria Tiglath-pilesar III (745-727 BC) also called the REFORMER

Stella from Tiglath-Pilesar III palace wall (British meseum)

                                                

This King took drastic measures in order to keep the empire stable and expand as much as possible he introduced:

1 – the deportation on a massive scale in the regions that he thinks that could rebel like parts of median where he displaced 65,000  of its population to other regions of the empire also 30,00 of Hamah Syria he deported them to the Zargos mountains.

2 – he broke the big regions to small administrative authorities with their own governments to prevent kings from uniting a big uncontrolled one.

3 – Compulsory military service to every citizen of the empire regardless of his origin

4 – Communication by a group of riders that criss-cross the empire allowing the rapid dissemination of orders from the king and the delivery of reports from the provinces

5 – A multi –ethnic system where he managed to make the Arabs. Egyptians, Israelis and Syrians work together, pay taxes and join the army and reach political positions like any other citizen while maintaining the cultural customs.

The 8^th king was Sargon II (721-705 BC) as we learnt from the first Sargon of Akkad that the name means legitimate king which means he killed the king existing

and for that reason a vast rebellion occurred in the empire:

1-      Babylon first falls to a Chaldean from old Sumer named Merodach Balaldan with the help of Elam and manages to rule for 10 years until 708BC when Sargon II defeats him 

2-      Ashdod city Philistia close to Egypt also revolted with the help of the Egyptians, they were also defeated

3-      Lower Egypt fell at 710 BC punished for supporting the rebels and it was always what the Assyrians wanted to complete their empire.

This shows clearly their might of organizing military campaigns with careful planning and swift execution

The 11^th king was the last of the great kings of Assyria Ashurbanipal (669-627 BC)

 this king was known for his love to art and literature. When he built his great palace in Nineveh he made sure to build a library, the first known library in history to keep some 22,000 tablets written in cuneiform collecting all the writings of Summer and Akkad and the early Assyrian heritage. The wall of his palace was full of awesome relief drawings which we will see later. At his reign Assyria became the first superpower in history when in 667 BC took his armies to Egypt and reached all the way to Thebes the spiritual capital of the Egyptians and in other words he took lower and Upper Egypt and that is the entire known world at the time. In 2 years time the Egyptians managed to regain their country but not for long as Ashurbanipal came in 664 BC to regain it and put a puppet king .

In 653 BC several revolts occurred, it always starts by one or two then the rest joins, it all started by:

1 – Lydia in Asia Minor joining the Egyptians as their puppet king revolted

2 – Elam in the East

3 – Judah

4 – Philistia

5 – Media in Iran

6 – Phoenicia on the Mediterranean

In only 5 years Ashurbanipal managed to suppress all of them and took their kings to prison, which makes you think about their might and capability to accomplish all of this.

The art we have is either a portrait of the king  and his hunting or the army and they were so detailed and relieved on the walls. But the artifacts remaining where astonishing with details written on them, here the most famous

below is a close up to the side  were king Jehu of Israel submit by bowing to the Shalmanaser

THE WINGED BULL GUARD OF ISHTAR GATES

           THE FAMOUS DYING LIONESS WHICH SURPRISED THE ARTISTS BY ITS DETAILS