Archaeologists Discover Where the Roman Forces Breached the Walls of Jerusalem

The Jewish historian Josephus, who both fought in the Judean revolt against Rome of 66-70 CE and thereafter became its most important historian, describes a bloody battle that culminated with Roman legionaries breaking through the walls of Jerusalem, allowing them to take the city and destroy the Second Temple. A recent excavation has uncovered evidence supporting his account. Gavin Rabinowitz writes:

[T]he archaeologists found the remains of a tower surrounded by scores of stones and boulders fired by Roman catapults at the Jewish forces guarding the wall. . . .

“This is fascinating testimony to the intensive bombardment by the Roman army, led by Titus, on its way to conquering the city and destroying the Second Temple,” the [archaeologists] said. “The bombardment was intended to attack the sentries guarding the wall and provide cover for the Roman forces so they could approach the wall with battering rams and thereby breach the city’s defenses.” . . .

The part of the wall that was breached was known as the Third Wall. . . . According to accounts by Josephus, this part of the wall was designed to protect a new quarter of the city that developed outside the other two existing walls. For much of the 20th century, scholars have been debating the route of this Third Wall.

Read more at Times of Israel

More about: Archaeology, History & Ideas, Jerusalem, Josephus, Judean Revolt

What a Strategic Victory in Gaza Can and Can’t Achieve

On Tuesday, the Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant met in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Gallant says that he told the former that only “a decisive victory will bring this war to an end.” Shay Shabtai tries to outline what exactly this would entail, arguing that the IDF can and must attain a “strategic” victory, as opposed to merely a tactical or operational one. Yet even after a such a victory Israelis can’t expect to start beating their rifles into plowshares:

Strategic victory is the removal of the enemy’s ability to pose a military threat in the operational arena for many years to come. . . . This means the Israeli military will continue to fight guerrilla and terrorist operatives in the Strip alongside extensive activity by a local civilian government with an effective police force and international and regional economic and civil backing. This should lead in the coming years to the stabilization of the Gaza Strip without Hamas control over it.

In such a scenario, it will be possible to ensure relative quiet for a decade or more. However, it will not be possible to ensure quiet beyond that, since the absence of a fundamental change in the situation on the ground is likely to lead to a long-term erosion of security quiet and the re-creation of challenges to Israel. This is what happened in the West Bank after a decade of relative quiet, and in relatively stable Iraq after the withdrawal of the United States at the end of 2011.

Read more at BESA Center

More about: Gaza War 2023, Hamas, IDF