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New immigrants from Ethiopia shortly after disembarking from the plane as part of Operation Solomon, 25 May 1991 (Photo: Gadi Cavallo). All photos from the Dan Hadani Archive, Pritzker Family National Photography Collection at the National Library of Israel
Over a 36-hour period in the last week of May 1991, more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews flew to Israel, with some 1,100 of them arriving on a single airplane!
January 29, 2021 at 3:52 pm | Published in: Israel, Middle East, News
The Old City is seen from the Mount of Olives on January 13, 2017 in Jerusalem, Israel [Chris McGrath/Getty Images] January 29, 2021 at 3:52 pm
The remains of one of the world s oldest mosques have been found by a team of Israeli archaeologists during an excavation in the northern city of Tiberias. The mosque was found under the ruins of a building originally identified as being from the Byzantine period, and could have been founded as early as 635 of the Common Era (CE) by a companion of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), Shurahbil Ibn Hasana, who was a commander of the Muslim armies that conquered the Levant in the 7th century.
The discovery of such an old building offers a rare opportunity to examine the original foundations.
Archaeologist Katia Cytryn-Silverman of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. (Hebrew University)
Cytryn-Silverman estimated the mosque was 22 by 49 meters in size, with a courtyard, making it smaller than the slightly more recent mosque discovered on top of it, which is 78 by 90 meters and dates from a hundred years later, between 720 CE and 740 CE.
A clue to when the older mosque was built came from earth used as filling in the foundation, which was brought in from elsewhere. By consulting with an archaeologist in Yemen, Cytryn-Silverman was further convinced that “the construction technology used at the ancient mosque, a simple and pragmatic style uncharacteristic of the region, apparently first came to Israel at the start of the Arab conquest in the seventh century.”