A team of Israeli researchers has unearthed artifacts in the ancient city of Megiddo—known as Har Megiddo, or Armageddon—that may provide physical evidence of the epic war between King Yoshiyahu of Yehudah and the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho, as recorded in Sefer Melachim II and Divrei HaYamim II. For the first time, remnants of 7th-century BCE Egyptian pottery have been discovered in the area, indicating that Egyptian forces were indeed present at this crucial point in history—just as the Nevi’im recount. “Megiddo is unique—mentioned both in Tanach and in the great historical records of the ancient Near East,” explained Professor Yisrael Finkelstein, head of the University of Haifa’s Megiddo Expedition. “It has long been suspected that the site was an Egyptian fortress in the late 7th century BCE, largely based on the pesukim that describe Yoshiyahu HaMelech falling in battle against Pharaoh Necho.” The battle at Megiddo is described in Sefer Melachim II (23:29) and Divrei HaYamim II (35:20-22). King Yoshiyahu, a tzaddik who was moser nefesh to eradicate avodah zarah from Am Yisroel and restore proper avodas Hashem, confronted Pharaoh Necho as the Egyptian ruler marched to aid the Ashurim in their fight against Bavel. Despite Necho’s warnings that he was not coming to war against Yehudah, Yoshiyahu insisted on engaging him—and tragically fell at Megiddo. Now, new archaeological findings appear to confirm the presence of Egyptian troops at Megiddo precisely during this historical period. Among the discoveries were not only Egyptian ceramics but also imported Greek pottery, suggesting the presence of Greek mercenaries in the Egyptian army—something hinted at in ancient sources. “We know that Egypt employed mercenaries in this period,” noted Dr. Assaf Kleiman, a senior researcher of the Megiddo team. “And some scholars suggest that the Ludim, referenced in Tanach, may have been such warriors from Lydia.” Finkelstein also raised the possibility that the mercenaries found at Megiddo could be tied to the nevuos of Yechezkel regarding the end of days battle of Gog U’Magog. “There are hints in the Nevi’im that the Lydians may have been involved in Yoshiyahu’s death,” he said. “One of them is the identity of Gog, who some scholars identify as Gyges, king of Lydia.” Gog is mentioned in multiple places in Tanach. In Yechezkel 38-39, he appears as the ultimate enemy of Klal Yisroel, leading the forces of Magog in the war that will precede Mashiach. The Midrashim and later meforshim have long debated the exact identity of Gog, and whether the historical Lydians played a role in Jewish history. Megiddo has been the focus of excavations since the early 20th century, but much of the site was disturbed by previous diggers who lacked today’s sophisticated methods. The recent efforts have led to the discovery of a previously untouched area, known as “Area X,” where significant finds from the 7th century BCE have emerged. Among them was a structure featuring multiple rooms and a large courtyard, filled with pottery that offers a glimpse into the daily life of the time period. “The pottery tells us a lot about trade, cooking, and military presence,” Kleiman explained. “We even found a fragment of a Yehudi cooking pot, made from clay sourced near Yerushalayim—further evidence that there was a Jewish presence in Megiddo at the time.” But perhaps the most startling discovery was the […]
CNN Guest: Trump will cause “complete and utter chaos” if he tries for a third term. She also warns against “some sort of dictatorship where we don’t actually have elections.”
Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in Portland have both dismissed medical professionals in recent weeks after they were found to have made pro-Hamas and anti-Israel remarks on social media, raising concerns about bias and discrimination against Jewish patients in healthcare settings. At Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan’s East Harlem neighborhood, Dr. Lila Abassi, an assistant professor of medicine, was terminated after hospital officials were made aware of her social media posts allegedly praising Hamas terrorists. According to the New York Post, Abassi referred to Hamas as “noble resistance and freedom fighters” and wrote “Long Live Hamas & Hezbollah.” She also called the IDF a “plague” and accused Israel of “slaughtering babies.” Physicians Against Antisemitism, a watchdog group that exposed Abassi’s comments, warned that her rhetoric created a serious ethical concern for Jewish patients. “No longer will any Jewish patient feel confident that they will receive safe care from that individual, and by extension, at the facility that employs them,” the group stated. In a separate case, OHSU Hospital in Portland fired nurse Camesha Hart after she made social media posts celebrating the deaths of Israeli soldiers and declaring she would refuse to treat Jewish patients. Hart posted an image of Israeli soldiers on Instagram with the caption, “May they all meet their ancestors soon!” In an exchange with pro-Israel users, she called them “vermin” and explicitly said she would not provide medical care to them. “I would refuse to treat you. I don’t take care of animals. Dogs. Rats. Vermin of any kind,” she wrote. The terminations are the latest in a series of disturbing incidents in the medical field since October 7, 2023, where healthcare professionals have been found to express or act upon anti-Israel and antisemitic biases. In Australia, two nurses in Sydney are currently standing trial after telling an Israeli in February that they would refuse to treat him and would kill him if he were their patient. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
A senior U.S. defense official in Europe reports that three of the four missing crewmembers from a U.S. Army M88A2 “Hercules” ARV, which disappeared last Tuesday and was recovered from a swamp at Lithuania’s Pabradė Training Ground today, were found dead. The fourth remains missing as search teams and divers comb the swamp and surrounding mud and water.
*FOX NEWS:* “The Trump tariffs will bring in $600 billion in the first year to the Treasury General Fund — The President’s extra 25% tariffs on autos alone expected to generate $100 billion on top of the reciprocal tariffs.”
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: President Trump “used to call Prime Minister Trudeau ‘governor, governor, governor,’ not Premier or Prime Minister. It’s really very, very insulting to Canada indeed.”
A U.S. armored vehicle that went missing in Lithuania has been retrieved from a swamp after a six-day search but there is still no information about the fate of the four American soldiers who were on board, Lithuanian officials said Monday. “The armored vehicle was pulled ashore at 4:40 a.m., the towing operation is complete, Lithuanian Military Police and US investigators continue their work,” Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė said Monday morning in a post on Facebook. The soldiers were on a training exercise at the massive General Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in the town of Pabradė when they and their vehicle were reported missing in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the U.S. army said. “Until the investigators have more details, we need to stay calm and focused, and keep in mind the sensitivity of the situation and the concerns of the soldiers’ families,” Šakalienė posted on Facebook. She made clear to reporters that the first information about fate of the soldiers will be delivered by the U.S. army. The soldiers, all from 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, were conducting tactical training when they went missing. Hundreds of Lithuanian and U.S. soldiers and rescuers took part in the search through the thick forests and swampy terrain around Pabradė, which lies just 10 kilometers (6 miles) west of the border with Belarus. The M88 Hercules armored vehicle was discovered on Wedneday submerged in 4.5 meters (15 feet) of water. A large-scale recovery operation got underway but “water, thick mud and soft ground around the site have complicated recovery efforts and have required specialized equipment to drain water from the side and stabilize the ground” in order to pull the 70-ton vehicle ashore, the army said. (AP)
Rescued NASA astronauts send heartfelt messages to President Trump and Elon Musk: “I respect and trust you… earned my trust. I am grateful… It’s strengthening for our nation.”
HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau delivered a chizzuk talk on Sunday, the start of Bein HaZemanim, at the Beis Hashem shul in Bnei Brak, with hundreds attending and thousands listening via live teleconference. At the end of the sichah, the Rosh Yeshivah instructed Bnei Yeshivos how to act upon receiving draft orders. “We’re in a very difficult situation as those who oppose us are persecuting the Olam HaTorah, doing things to harm Bnei Yeshivos and avreichim in order to harm Torah,” HaRav Landau said. “The duty and hishtadlus of each and every ben yeshivah and avreich is to act according to the published guideleines – not to report to induction centers, not to answer phone calls from the IDF, not to sign any military documents – not to relate to them at all and be very careful not to become known to the authorities. Everyone should be very careful not to go to the borders [i.e., airport] without prior coordination. Many violate this; they are very clever, but sometimes it’s better not to be so clever. Many things happen because of this [arrests].” “We’re in Galus, in a difficult Galus, and Hashem should help that in the zechus of limmud Torah…I’ve already spoken about this several times, that the only logical explanation for how we exist here…the Arabs should have flooded the land…it’s all in the zechus of limmud Torah.” “Hashem should help that all the gezeiros should be revoked in the zechus of limmud Torah. Hashem promised us “לא ימוש ספר התורה הזה מפיך והגית בו יומם ולילה למען תשמר לעשות ככל הכתוב בו כי אז תצליח את דרכך ואז תשכיל”. VIDEO & PHOTOS BY SHUKI LERER FOR YWN (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
A massive earthquake that rocked Myanmar could exacerbate hunger and disease outbreaks in a country already wracked by food shortages, mass displacement and civil war, aid groups and the United Nations warned Monday. The official death toll climbed past 1,700, but the true figure is feared to be much higher. The 7.7 magnitude quake hit Friday, with an epicenter near Myanmar’s second-largest city of Mandalay, damaging the city’s airport, buckling roads and downing hundreds of buildings along a wide swath of territory down the middle of the country. Some 270 monks were taking an exam in Mandalay’s U Hla Thein monastery, which crumpled to the ground when the quake struck. Seventy were able to escape, but rescue workers at the scene Monday said 50 were found dead and that they were still searching for 150 more in the rubble. Some 700 Muslim worshippers attending Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan were also killed when mosques collapsed, said Tun Kyi, a member of the steering committee of the Spring Revolution Myanmar Muslim Network. It was not clear whether they or the monks were already included in the official count. Tun Kyi said some 60 mosques were damaged or destroyed, and videos posted on The Irrawaddy online news site showed several mosques toppling during the quake, and people fleeing from the areas. With an ongoing civil war and poor infrastructure, Myanmar was already one of the most challenging places in the world for aid organizations to operate, and relief efforts have been further hampered by severe damage to roads, bridges and hospitals, power outages, fuel shortages and spotty communications. A lack of heavy machinery has slowed search-and-rescue operations, forcing many to search for survivors by hand, with daily temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Government spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun told state-run MRTV that more than 1,700 people had been found dead and that another 3,400 have been injured and more than 300 were missing. “This latest tragedy compounds an already dire crisis and risks further eroding the resilience of communities already battered by conflict, displacement, and past disasters,” the United Nations’ Myanmar country team said Monday, calling for unimpeded access for aid convoys, medical personnel and assessment teams. “Even before this earthquake, nearly 20 million people in Myanmar were in need of humanitarian assistance,” said Marcoluigi Corsi, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator for Myanmar. Full extent of the devastation is not yet clear Aid agencies in Myanmar say their teams on the ground still don’t have a true picture of the devastation. “We’re really not clear on the scale of the destruction at this stage,” Lauren Ellery, deputy director of programs in Myanmar for the International Rescue Committee, told The Associated Press. “They were talking about a town near Mandalay where 80% of the buildings were reportedly collapsed, but it wasn’t in the news because telecommunications have been slow.” And groups the IRC works with reported that some places have been physically cut off by landslides, she said. The World Health Organization said it has reports of three hospitals destroyed and 22 partially damaged in the region. “The scale of deaths and injuries is not yet fully understood and the numbers are expected to increase,” the U.N. agency said in a report. “The earthquake’s devastation has overwhelmed health care facilities in the affected areas, […]
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Hamas hostage survivor Yarden Bibas on 60 Minutes: “They murdered my family in cold blood, bare hands.” He revealed his captors mocked him, saying, “You’ll get a new wife and better children.”
RYAN PAYNE: “75% of GDP, we’re going to have tax breaks, and we’re talking about deregulation. And if you look at the economy right now… realistically, GDP growth is going to pick up…”
Elon Musk will be investigating members of Congress gaining insane wealth while on salary “How’d they get $20 million if they’re earning $200,000 a year? We’re gonna try to figure it out, and stop it from happening.”
The Shin Bet recently thwarted a Hamas plot directed from Turkey to execute a shooting and bombing in the West Bank, detaining six Nablus residents in January and February who were interrogated and found to have received tens of thousands of dollars, including $40,000 in cash and an assault rifle seized on January 29, to target security forces and others, according to a joint Shin Bet and Israel Police statement.
The IDF issues an evacuation warning for Palestinians in the entire Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip, saying the military is “returning to fight with great force to eliminate the capabilities of terror organizations in these areas.”
