Explorers Claim: Noah’s Ark Found On Turkey Mountain

A group of Chinese and Turkish evangelical explorers say wooden remains they have discovered on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey are the remains of Noah’s Ark.

The group claims that carbon dating proves the relics are 4,800 years old, meaning they date to around the same time the ark was said to be afloat. Mt. Ararat has long been suspected as the final resting place of the craft by evangelicals and literalists hoping to validate biblical stories.

Yeung Wing-Cheung, from the Noah’s Ark Ministries International research team that made the discovery, said: “It’s not 100 percent that it is Noah’s Ark, but we think it is 99.9 percent that this is it.”

There have been several reported discoveries of the remains of Noah’s Ark over the years, most notably a find by archaeologist Ron Wyatt in 1987. At the time, the Turkish government officially declared a national park around his find, a boat-shaped object stretched across the mountains of Ararat.

Nevertheless, the evangelical ministry remains convinced that the current find is in fact more likely to be the actual artifact, calling upon Dutch Ark researcher Gerrit Aalten to verify its legitimacy.
“The significance of this find is that for the first time in history the discovery of Noah’s Ark is well documented and revealed to the worldwide community,” Aalten said at a press conference announcing the find. Citing the many details that match historical accounts of the Ark, he believes it to be a legitimate archaeological discovery.

“There’s a tremendous amount of solid evidence that the structure found on Mount Ararat in Eastern Turkey is the legendary Ark of Noah,” said Aalten.
Representatives of Noah’s Ark Ministries said the structure contained several compartments, some with wooden beams, that they believe were used to house animals.The group of evangelical archaeologists ruled out an established human settlement on the grounds none have ever been found above 11,000 feet in the vicinity, Yeung said.

During the press conference, team member Panda Lee described visiting the site. “In October 2008, I climbed the mountain with the Turkish team. At an elevation of more than 4,000 meters, I saw a structure built with plank-like timber. Each plank was about 8 inches wide. I could see tenons, proof of ancient construction predating the use of metal nails.”
We walked about 100 meters to another site. I could see broken wood fragments embedded in a glacier, and some 20 meters long. I surveyed the landscape and found that the wooden structure was permanently covered by ice and volcanic rocks.

Local Turkish officials will ask the central government in Ankara to apply for UNESCO World Heritage status so the site can be protected while a major archaeological dig is conducted.
 
The biblical story says that God decided to flood the Earth after seeing how corrupt it was. He then told Noah to build an ark and fill it with two of every animal species.
After the flood waters receded, the Bible says, the ark came to rest on a mountain. Many believe that Mount Ararat, the highest point in the region, is where the ark and her inhabitants ran aground.

Memorial Day, 2010 By Naomi Ragen

I have just sat down after the fading notes of the siren have finally
disappeared. It is another Memorial Day for Israel's Fallen. We have lost
22, 684 sons and daughters. For a little country like Israel, that is an
enormous and incalculable loss. Over the years, I have told all those ready
to listen Israel's well-kept secret: there is no Israeli army. There is
only my son and your daughter, and the neighbor's kids. Every loss is the
loss of not only an individual, but of generations: the children who will
never be born, the grandchildren that will never snuggle in the laps of
grandparents. It is the destruction of not only young lives full of
promise, but of their families: mothers and fathers whose lives are forever
shattered, grandparents who must bear the unthinkable, young girls who lost
their boyfriends, wives who lost their husbands, children who lost their
fathers. Young women who died before they could experience anything of
life's promises.
After the words and ceremonies and sad music and films of remembrance, one
comes to the conclusion that Israel itself is bereaved, and does not know
how to comfort itself. The ongoing and seemingly neverending price for our
freedom in the land God promised us is inhumanly high.

Only yesterday Achmadinijad spoke clearly of destroying Israel, uprooting us
like a "cancer." The King of Jordan proclaimed there would be another war
in July. And Syria is boldly transferring long range scud missiles once
again to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Only a week ago, we went through Holocaust Remembrance Day. I remember
walking from my home to the Kotel. And on the way back, I stepped inside
the newly rebuilt Hurva Synagogue, destroyed by the Arab Legion in 1948. As
I stepped into the women's section, I looked with wonder at how the once
empty, destroyed shell, was filled anew with praying, chanting Jews. It
reminded me of Ezekiel's vision of dry bones rising from the dead full of
life once more. They destroy, and we rebuild. So it has been for every
generation of Jews.
That Europeans, who killed and tortured our families with unprecedented
barbarism, destroying one-third of the Jewish people, do not rejoice at what
we have done with our little country, but instead do all they can to see us
die again, shows me all their tears over our dead are fake, all their
Holocaust memorials empty shells. That Americans, who did nothing to stop
the trains to Auschwitz or to destroy the gas chambers, should ask us to
prove our desire for peace by appeasing our enemies, leading to more of our
beautiful sons and daughters being killed, shows me that America too has not
learned its history lessons.

There exists no comfort for the loss of our children as soldiers fighting
just wars. But there is even less comfort for the loss of our children at
the hands of slaughterers, terrorists, and evil regimes. Our young soldiers
have given their lives to save us from that. May God bless their memories,
and comfort their families. We owe them everything that makes our lives in
this world as Jews possible. Let's remember that more than one day a year.

Happy 62! - Next Post from Jerusalem!

I wrote this last night, on the eve of Yom HaZikaron, our Remembrance Day for Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism. The siren sounded and the country stood in silence and in remembrance of the price that others paid for our independence.

Today, Monday, folks will be visiting cemeteries. A painful and sombre day. Tonight at sundown, Yom HaZikaron will end and the celebration of Yom Ha'Atzmaut, Israel's Independence Day begins.

I wanted to do a cartoon to show how short a time 62 years really is. I wondered if I'd be able to write out every year in a cartoon. It turned out that I could do it as a border and still have room for Mr. Shuldig and his dog Doobie!
-Dry Bones- Israel's Political Comic Strip Since 1973

Moment of Truth: By Moshe Feiglin

Bibi's problem is not how to safeguard Jerusalem. According to the Makor Rishon newspaper, he has already committed to retreat to Israel's pre-1967 borders - including Jerusalem - with the exception of minor border adjustments. The newspaper, generally associated with Netanyahu, quotes three highly reliable American sources to verify its report.

Bibi's problem is not how to safeguard Jerusalem. His problem is how to sell his surrender to the public. Netanyahu bought the time that he needed for internal politicking with his ten month building freeze.
But now, much to his chagrin, the Likud has woken up from its hibernation. The last thing that Bibi needs now is elections for the Likud Central Committee, which are expected to boost the right wing MKs and ministers of the party.

Bibi's tried and true solution? Change the rules. Two weeks ago, Israel's High Court accepted Netanyahu's appeal against holding elections for the Likud Central Committee on time as per the Likud constitution. Instead, Bibi proposes to change the constitution and postpone elections for the new Likud Central Committee for at least two more years - an eternity in Israel.

If Bibi gets his way, the elections for the Likud's governing body will likely never take place and Israel's large Jewish majority will have lost the only political tool that it has to determine its fate. All the power will be concentrated in the hands of the High Court and the radical left, which will continue to ensure that Netanyahu does their bidding. If Bibi wins this upcoming vote, he will quickly transform whatever will remain of the Likud into a new Kadimah, just as Sharon did, five years ago.

How long can Israel survive if it is not motivated by its Jewish majority? How can it retain its national and territorial integrity when it is manipulated by the small minority that is estranged from its Jewish identity but firmly in control of Israel's power hubs in the courts and media? How much longer can the State of Israel possibly last with Shimon Peres, Dorit Beinish, the heads of the justice system and the news editors running the country? Can it save itself from the "mother of all expulsions" that Bibi is preparing for us?

It is vital to Israel's future to preserve the Likud as the party that genuinely reflects its Jewish majority.
If Bibi wins this vote, G-d forbid, we will find ourselves stranded on a narrow strip of beach, waiting for the American ship that will come to save us.

And it will come.
Just like America came then, to bomb Auschwitz.

And Aaron was Silent - Moshe Feiglin

And Moses said to Aaron: 'This is what G-d spoke, saying, with those close to Me I will be sanctified and before all the nation I will be glorified,' and Aaron was silent. (From this week's Torah portion, Shemini, Leviticus 10:3)

Aaron's silence in the face of his tragedy is a chilling prelude to Holocaust Day, which will be observed this year on Sunday night and Monday, 28 Nissan / April 12. His silence is as close as we can get to an answer to the "Why?" that plagues us.

And Aaron was silent.
Silence.
The words stop here.
Even thoughts stop.
Every attempt to explain falls short of the plane on which the question was evoked.
All that is left is emunah, faith in G-d, without which life is meaningless.
Emunah and acceptance of G-d's decrees.
And silence.

***
There may not be an answer to the "Why?" But the answer to the "How?" is crystal clear.
The physical destruction of the Jews in the Holocaust was preceded by the destruction of their honor and their right to exist. Der Sturmer preceded Auschwitz. Before people or an entire nation can be destroyed, they must first be stripped of their basic human image. They must be made illegitimate. A long and fundamental process in which the Jews of Europe were transformed into objects of derision was the necessary prelude to their physical destruction.

Today, the State of Israel is in the throes of the same process. Achmadinijad - the modern-day Amalek - was the first to publicly talk of Israel's destruction and to make the actual preparations to carry out his evil scheme. This type of rhetoric should have been brought to a rapid end by his elimination. The fact that Achmadinijad was not assassinated has delegitimized Israel and transformed Iran into America's new ally.

While Israel's senior ministers face international arrest warrants, Achmadinijad and his ministers freely travel the world. Western academia entertains the question of how the world will look without Israel (you can guess the answer) and Biden gets insulted when we dare build in our capital.

Once again, the Jews are an international pariah and once again we face the threat of destruction.

If you honestly answer the "How" question, it is easy to understand that although the year is 2010, what we are really experiencing is a re-run of the 1930's.

Netanyahu's mortifying conduct has encouraged the wolves of the world to sink their teeth into Israel. If Israel does not prove that it is capable of defending itself and exacting a steep price from those who seek to destroy it, the sand in its hourglass will quickly run out, G-d forbid.

What Bibi should say....Paul Eidelberg

What Needs Saying



In response to the infamous Goldstone Report, Israel’s Prime Minister should quote that marvelous poet and literary critic Matthew Arnold who wrote: “As long as the world lasts, all who want to make progress in righteousness will come to Israel for inspiration…”



In response to European anti-Semitism, Prime Minister Netanyahu—with Genesis 12:1-3 in mind—might quote South African author Olive Schreiner: “The study of history of Europe during the past centuries teaches us one uniform lesson: That the nations which received and in any way dealt fairly with the Jew have prospered; and that the nations that have tortured and oppressed him have written out their own curse.”



Finally, how would you feel if you heard Mr. Netanyahu quote British historian and statesman Thomas B. Macaulay who declared, in a debate in 1833 in the British House of Commons over whether Jews should have their legal and political disabilities removed by law:

In the infancy of civilization, when our island was as savage as New Guinea, when letters and arts were still unknown in Athens, when scarcely a thatched hut stood on what was afterwards the site of Rome, this condemned people had their fenced cities and cedar palaces, their splendid temple ... their schools of sacred learning, their great statesmen and soldiers, their natural philosophers, their historians and poets.

Ah, if only Mr. Netanyahu—when speaking of Jerusalem—had the wit to quote Macaulay in the presence of Barack Obama!