Despite its name, the Tower of David—the citadel locater near the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City—has little connection to King David. Much of it was constructed during the Hasmonean and Herodian periods (i.e., the 1st and 2nd centuries BCE), although the oldest structures date as far back the 8th century BCE. Since the 1980s, it has also been home to a museum that is now undergoing renovations, meant to reflect the newest advances in conservation. Ruth Marks Eglash writes:

As with any construction project inside Jerusalem’s ancient walls, it is the secrets hidden below the ground, beneath more recent layers, that often present the most unpleasant surprises. The biggest surprise for archaeologists took place at the location of what will soon be a sparkling new entrance pavilion to the museum. . . . As machines began removing dirt from the area, which originally served as a Crusader moat, they realized that beneath the massive Jerusalem stones that form the walls of the Old City there were no solid foundations.

While this discovery temporarily halted the construction, with engineers brought in to secure the stone, the break gave archaeologists a chance to re-explore 500-year-old Ottoman architecture and building methods.

Although the site was excavated by British archaeologists nearly 100 years ago, . . . they relied on classic archaeological methods to date the structure. With updated technology, including the use of carbon dating . . . archaeologists will be able to create a more accurate timeline for Jerusalem.

Analyzing the recent direct Iranian attack on Israel, and Israel’s security situation more generally, Michael Oren looks to the 2015 agreement to restrain Iran’s nuclear program. That, and President Biden’s efforts to resurrect the deal after Donald Trump left it, are in his view the source of the current crisis:

Of the original motivations for the deal—blocking Iran’s path to the bomb and transforming Iran into a peaceful nation—neither remained. All Biden was left with was the ability to kick the can down the road and to uphold Barack Obama’s singular foreign-policy achievement.

In order to achieve that result, the administration has repeatedly refused to punish Iran for its malign actions:

Historians will survey this inexplicable record and wonder how the United States not only allowed Iran repeatedly to assault its citizens, soldiers, and allies but consistently rewarded it for doing so. They may well conclude that in a desperate effort to avoid getting dragged into a regional Middle Eastern war, the U.S. might well have precipitated one.

While America’s friends in the Middle East, especially Israel, have every reason to feel grateful for the vital assistance they received in intercepting Iran’s missile and drone onslaught, they might also ask what the U.S. can now do differently to deter Iran from further aggression. . . . Tehran will see this weekend’s direct attack on Israel as a victory—their own—for their ability to continue threatening Israel and destabilizing the Middle East with impunity.

Israel, of course, must respond differently. Our target cannot simply be the Iranian proxies that surround our country and that have waged war on us since October 7, but, as the Saudis call it, “the head of the snake.”