One of the major debates in the study of biblical archaeology is whether a single king ever reigned over ancient Israel in the 11th through 10th centuries BCE. According to the Bible, Kings Saul, David, and Solomon did just that; their kingdom split in two after Solomon’s death. While there is extensive corroborating evidence for these two successor monarchies, it has been impossible to prove or to disprove the existence of the original united monarchy. Excavations of the ancient copper mine in Timna, near Israel’s border with Jordan, presents some new evidence. Phillippe Bohstrom writes:

Until the collapse of Mediterranean civilizations in 1200 BCE, Cyprus had been the main regional source of copper. After the collapse, the mines in the eastern Negev came to the fore. . . . If David and Solomon were historical figures, they would have wanted to control [these] mines. . . . The sheer scale of copper production at Timna and [nearby] Faynan would have required the support of a major polity, scholars . . . agree.

For one thing, the mines needed external assistance. Separating copper from ore required maintaining charcoal fires at about 1,200 degrees Celsius for eight-to-ten hours (using blowpipes and foot bellows). No food was available in the barren reaches of the desert where the mines were: there had to be a procurement and import system, as well as one for wood to make the charcoal. Supplies would have traveled as much as hundreds of kilometers. . . . Supporting Timna’s massive mining operations, therefore, required long-distance trade, or in other words, complex economic activity involving a bureaucratic apparatus.

Archaeologists have indeed found evidence of imports from afar (and cloth) dating to the time of David and Solomon. Next to five-meter-high fortification walls, the archaeologists found slingstones, a variety of seeds, fish bones, and donkey bones and dung preserved well enough to be analyzed: it shows the draught animals at Timna ate hay and pomace, the pulp from pressing grapes, olives, and suchlike, imported from the Mediterranean coast, more than 200 km away. . . .

Not one single shard of Egyptian pottery has been found associated with the 10th-century BCE copper operations, [suggesting that it is unlikely the mines belonged to the pharaohs, as some as hypothesized]. Moreover, in the early 10th century, the great Egyptian civilization was in decline, together with most of the rest of the Levantine empires.

Steve Witkoff, the American special envoy leading negotiations with the Islamic Republic, has sent mixed signals about his intentions, some of them recently contradicted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Michael Doran looks at the progress of the talks so far, and explains why he fears that they could result in an even worse version of the 2015 deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA):

This new deal will preserve Iran’s latent nuclear weapons capabilities—centrifuges, scientific expertise, and unmonitored sites—that will facilitate a simple reconstitution in the future. These capabilities are far more potent today than they were in 2015, with Iran’s advances making them easier to reactivate, a significant step back from the JCPOA’s constraints.

In return, President Trump would offer sanctions relief, delivering countless billions of dollars to Iranian coffers. Iran, in the meantime, will benefit from the permanent erasure of JCPOA snapback sanctions, set to expire in October 2025, reducing U.S. leverage further. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps will use the revenues to support its regional proxies, such as Hizballah, Hamas, and the Houthis, whom it will arm with missiles and drones that will not be restricted by the deal.

Worse still, Israel will not be able to take action to stop Iran from producing nuclear weapons:

A unilateral military strike . . . is unlikely without Trump’s backing, as Israel needs U.S. aircraft and missile defenses to counter Iran’s retaliation with drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles—a counterattack Israel cannot fend off alone.

By defanging Iran’s proxies and destroying its defenses, Israel stripped Tehran naked, creating a historic opportunity to end forever the threat of its nuclear weapons program. But Tehran’s weakness also convinced it to enter the kind of negotiations at which it excels. Israel’s battlefield victories, therefore, facilitated a deal that will place Iran’s nuclear program under an undeclared but very real American protective shield.