The Temple Mount Sifting Project, directed by two experts on the history of ancient Israel, has allowed thousands of volunteers to comb through rubble from the site to look for artifacts. Recently, a ten-year-old participant discovered a stone seal that archaeologists date to the presumed time of Kings David and Solomon. Henry Curtis Pelgrift writes:

The seal is a tiny piece of limestone whose purpose was probably to seal documents. Photographs . . . show that it is cone-shaped, with a circular sealing surface about the size of a fingertip. Figures carved into it show one animal on top of another, possibly its prey. The seal is perforated, so that a string can be inserted and used to hang it around a person’s neck. . . .

In describing the significance of the find, [the project’s directors], Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Dvira, said, “The seal is the first of its kind to be found in Jerusalem. . . . The dating of the seal corresponds to the historical period of the Jebusites and the conquest of Jerusalem by King David, as well as the construction of the Temple and the royal official compound by his son, King Solomon. . . . [W]hat makes this discovery particularly significant is that it originated from the Temple Mount itself.” . . .

However, some scholars . . . have warned that too much importance should not be [ascribed to] a single seal. Lenny Wolfe, a collector of antiquities, [argues] that the fact that the seal can be easily moved from place to place means that it could have been carried to Jerusalem at any point and forgotten.

Early Friday morning, Israel attacked military installations near the Iranian cities of Isfahan and nearby Natanz, the latter being one of the hubs of the country’s nuclear program. Jerusalem is not taking credit for the attack, and none of the details are too certain, but it seems that the attack involved multiple drones, likely launched from within Iran, as well as one or more missiles fired from Syrian or Iraqi airspace. Strikes on Syrian radar systems shortly beforehand probably helped make the attack possible, and there were reportedly strikes on Iraq as well.

Iran itself is downplaying the attack, but the S-300 air-defense batteries in Isfahan appear to have been destroyed or damaged. This is a sophisticated Russian-made system positioned to protect the Natanz nuclear installation. In other words, Israel has demonstrated that Iran’s best technology can’t protect the country’s skies from the IDF. As Yossi Kuperwasser puts it, the attack, combined with the response to the assault on April 13,

clarified to the Iranians that whereas we [Israelis] are not as vulnerable as they thought, they are more vulnerable than they thought. They have difficulty hitting us, but we have no difficulty hitting them.

Nobody knows exactly how the operation was carried out. . . . It is good that a question mark hovers over . . . what exactly Israel did. Let’s keep them wondering. It is good for deniability and good for keeping the enemy uncertain.

The fact that we chose targets that were in the vicinity of a major nuclear facility but were linked to the Iranian missile and air forces was a good message. It communicated that we can reach other targets as well but, as we don’t want escalation, we chose targets nearby that were involved in the attack against Israel. I think it sends the message that if we want to, we can send a stronger message. Israel is not seeking escalation at the moment.