An Ancient Hasmonean Fortress in the Galilee

June 29 2022

Located in the Upper Galilee, about ten miles east of the coastal city of Akko (known to ancient Greeks as Ptolemais and to Europeans as Acre), the fortress of Horvat Tefen dates to the 1st or 2nd century BCE. Excavations of the site began in 2019. Nathan Steinmeyer explains why archaeologists have connected it to the Hasmoneans—the dynasty that led the Maccabean revolt and included the last Jewish kings to rule the Land of Israel:

Horvat Tefen was located strategically along the border between the expanding Hasmonean kingdom and the independent Phoenician city-state of Akko-Ptolemais. During the reign of the Hasmonean king Alexander Yannai (r. 103–76 BCE), this region was a flashpoint between the two powers as Alexander Yannai sought to conquer the important coastal port. . . . Roi Sabar, director of the excavations, believes he has an answer to the mystery of who built the hilltop fortress.

While other scholars have suggested that Horvat Tefen was constructed by the people of Akko in the 2nd century BCE., Sabar . . . suggests that Horvat Tefen was a short-lived military fort constructed by Alexander Yannai after he failed to conquer Akko early in his reign. The fortress fell out of use shortly after the death of the Hasmonean king and was only reoccupied, for agricultural activity, in the Byzantine period (324–634 CE).

Although previous theories had suggested that the fortress was built in the 2nd century to defend Akko from enemies to the east, Sabar’s study presents a compelling alternative. Instead, he concludes that the fortress was constructed by the Hasmoneans as a way of keeping watch over Akko. The purpose of Horvat Tefen was likely both to threaten the city and to strengthen the Hasmonean border. The kingdom had grown rapidly during the Hasmonean period and, by the reign of Alexander Yannai, included most of the Galilee region.

Read more at Bible History Daily

More about: Ancient Israel, Archaeology, Galilee, Hasmoneans

Egypt Is Trapped by the Gaza Dilemma It Helped to Create

Feb. 14 2025

Recent satellite imagery has shown a buildup of Egyptian tanks near the Israeli border, in violation of Egypt-Israel agreements going back to the 1970s. It’s possible Cairo wants to prevent Palestinians from entering the Sinai from Gaza, or perhaps it wants to send a message to the U.S. that it will take all measures necessary to keep that from happening. But there is also a chance, however small, that it could be preparing for something more dangerous. David Wurmser examines President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi’s predicament:

Egypt’s abysmal behavior in allowing its common border with Gaza to be used for the dangerous smuggling of weapons, money, and materiel to Hamas built the problem that exploded on October 7. Hamas could arm only to the level that Egypt enabled it. Once exposed, rather than help Israel fix the problem it enabled, Egypt manufactured tensions with Israel to divert attention from its own culpability.

Now that the Trump administration is threatening to remove the population of Gaza, President Sisi is reaping the consequences of a problem he and his predecessors helped to sow. That, writes Wurmser, leaves him with a dilemma:

On one hand, Egypt fears for its regime’s survival if it accepts Trump’s plan. It would position Cairo as a participant in a second disaster, or nakba. It knows from its own history; King Farouk was overthrown in 1952 in part for his failure to prevent the first nakba in 1948. Any leader who fails to stop a second nakba, let alone participates in it, risks losing legitimacy and being seen as weak. The perception of buckling on the Palestine issue also resulted in the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s assassination in 1981. President Sisi risks being seen by his own population as too weak to stand up to Israel or the United States, as not upholding his manliness.

In a worst-case scenario, Wurmser argues, Sisi might decide that he’d rather fight a disastrous war with Israel and blow up his relationship with Washington than display that kind of weakness.

Read more at The Editors

More about: Egypt, Gaza War 2023