40 years ago: Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations

On January 26, 1980, Israel and Egypt established diplomatic relations, exactly 10 months after the signing of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty in Washington, six months after the Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

It's interesting to note that Egypt isn't mentioned as one of the nations attacking Israel in Ezekiel 38--an attack which is yet in the future:

And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. Ezekiel 38:1-6

Go here for a brief commentary on the nations mentioned in the passage above.

Israeli youth accidentally discovers Byzantine slab of marble in Caesarea

As reported by Marcy Oster of Jewish Telegraphic Agency, January 23, 2020:

(Photo by Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

JERUSALEM — An Israeli seventh-grader who was foraging for mushrooms near his home unearthed a marble slab with a Greek inscription from the Byzantine period.

Stav Meir, 13, of Caesarea, found the artifact last week, according to a statement issued Wednesday by the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Stav saw the smooth stone sticking out of the ground, likely unearthed due to days of heavy rains. His archaeology class in school him realize (sic) that the piece was an antiquity and he immediately reported his discovery. An archaeologist came to recover the artifact.

Peter Gendelman, a Caesarea researcher at the Israel Antiquities Authority, identified the piece as a tombstone burial inscription, which indicates the grave’s location in the cemetery and the identity of the deceased.

“Already, in ancient times, Caesarea was a center of attraction for a wealthy population. The quality of the slab discovered by Stav indicates the wealthy status of the person entombed, as well as the customs and beliefs of inhabitants of Caesarea in the Byzantine period,” Gendelman said in a statement. “This inscription joins a large collection of burial inscriptions previously discovered around ancient Caesarea.”

Stav has received a certificate of appreciation for his good citizenship and has been invited with his class for a special lesson by the Israel Antiquities Authority about his discovery.

Whether young Mr. Meir was successful in finding mushrooms was not reported.

70 years ago: Israeli Knesset proclaims Jerusalem as Israel's capital

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. Zechariah 12:2-3

On January 23, 1950, the Israeli Knesset passed a resolution proclaiming Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. The proclamation came the day after Colonel Abdullah el Tel, the Arab Legion officer whose forces had pushed the Israelis out of the old walled city of Jerusalem, said in an interview that if the present situation continued, he was "quite sure that all of Jerusalem will one day become a Jewish city. The Arab Legion alone cannot defend the city."

Col. el Tel was right about that. In June 1967, Israeli forces captured old Jerusalem in the Six-Day War, and in 1980 Israel declared sovereignty over Jerusalem. The city continues to be a burdensome stone to the nations, and will be until the Lord Jesus Christ Himself returns to Jerusalem:

Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. Zechariah 14:1-4

Israeli archaeologists discover 1,200-year-old gold coins at Yavneh

As reported by the Israeli Antiquities Authority, ca. January 3, 2020:

(Photo by Liat Nadav-Ziv, Israel Antiquities Authority)

The hoard – from the Early Islamic Period, includes seven gold coins stashed in small clay juglet. The archaeologists: “This may be a potters’ personal savings” * The excavation is funded by the Israel Lands Authority prior to the construction of a new Yavneh neighborhood.

“Hannuka Gelt” was found last week during archaeological excavations in Yavneh during excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority prior to the development of a new neighborhood at the behest of the Israel Lands Authority. The archaeologists were surprised to discover a broken clay juglet containing gold coins dating to the Early Islamic period. The excavations revealed an ancient industrial area which was active for several hundred years, and the archaeologists suggest that the shiny treasure may have been a potter’s personal “piggy bank”.

“I was in the middle of cataloging a large number of artifacts we found during the excavations when all of a sudden I heard shouts of joy” said Liat Nadav-Ziv, co-director alongside Dr. Elie Haddad of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority. “I ran towards the shouting and saw Marc Molkondov, a veteran archaeologist of the Israel Antiquities Authority approaching me excitedly. We quickly followed him to the field where we were surprised at the sight of the treasure. This is without a doubt a unique and exciting find especially during the Hannukah holiday”.

Inspection of the Yavneh gold coins conducted by Dr. Robert Kool, an expert on ancient coins at the Israel Antiquities Authority, dates the coins to the early Abbasid Period (9th century CE). Among the coins, is a gold Dinar from the reign of the Caliph Haroun A-Rashid (786-809 CE), on whom the popular story “Arabian Nights” also known as “One Thousand and One Nights” was based. “The hoard also includes coins that are rarely found in Israel” says Dr. Kool. “These are gold dinars issued by the Aghlabid dynasty that ruled in North Africa, in the region of modern Tunisia, on behalf of the Abbasid Caliphate centered in Bagdad”. “Without a doubt this is a wonderful Hannuka present for us” concludes Dr. Kool.

The large-scale excavation, carried out southeast of Tell Yavneh, revealed an unusually large amount of pottery kilns that was active at the end of the Byzantine and beginning of the Early Islamic period (7th – 9th centuries CE). The kilns were for commercial production of store-jars, cooking pots and bowls. The gold hoard was found inside a small juglet, near the entrance to one of the kilns and according to the archaeologists could have been the potter’s personal savings.

In a different area of the site, the remains of a large industrial installation were revealed dated the Persian period (4th – 5th centuries BCE) used for the production of wine. According to Dr. Haddad of the Israel Antiquities Authority “initial analysis of the contents of the installation revealed ancient grape pips (seeds). The size and number of vats found at the site indicated that wine was produced on a commercial scale, well beyond the local needs of Yavneh’s ancient inhabitants”.

30 years ago: The death of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. Mark 13:22 (also Matthew 24:24)

On January 19, 1990, Indian "holy man" Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh died of heart failure at the age of 58. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, born Chandhra Mohan Jain, was a Hindu guru who became a philosophy professor and a popular lecturer in the 1950s and '60s. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh became known as the "sex guru" because of his liberal teachings on sex. He began initiating disciples in 1970, and created an ashram. The ashram began attracting Western followers, especially after 1975, when therapists promoting human potential, aka New Age teachings arrived. Violence and abundant sexual activity between members attracted critical attention from Indian authorities, and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and he relocated to Oregon in 1981, where American followers Sheela Silverman and her husband John Shelfer had purchased property.

The Rajneesh organization created the city of Rajneeshpuram, accumulating 93 Rolls Royces and encountering stiff opposition from local residents. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had taken a vow of silence in April 1981, but ended the public silence in October 1984, and almost a year later publicly denounced Ms. Silverman and her associates, accusing them of serious crimes, including a 1984 salmonella attack on local residents. Rajneeshpuram collapsed, and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was indicted in October 1985 for conspiracy to evade U.S. immigration laws; he ended up making a deal including a fine and an agreement not to return to the United States for five years. After various stops around the world, he landed in Mumbai in July 1986, returning to his ashram in Pune six months later. He suffered from declining health, which he blamed on poisoning in U.S. jails, and in 1989 took the name Osho Rajneesh.

It's interesting to note that a disproportionate number of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's followers had backgrounds in psychology. I was a student at Grant MacEwan Community College in Edmonton in the early 1980s, and the college had a psychology instructor under the surname of Narayan, who was a Rajneesh devotee. Mr. Narayan was a Jew whose original name I've forgotten, but he changed his name after falling under the spell of the Bhagwan.

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's organization continues to proclaim his false teachings, using the name OSHO. As for the current whereabouts of Rajneeshpuram's 93 Rolls Royces--we're not sure. False Christs such as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh come and go, but the Lord Jesus Christ lives, and will return to Earth (Acts 1:11).

Guyana's first place of "worship" for alphabet perverts opens

Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Romans 1:24-32

There doesn't seem to be any place on Earth that's free from apostasy and degeneracy; as reported by iNews Guyana, January 15, 2020:

A place of worship, specifically opened for persons of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+ (LGBTQ+) community, has opened its doors in Guyana.

The LGBTQ+ community has not traditionally been welcomed into churches with open arms and has continued to experience discrimination at its highest that negatively impacts all aspects of their lives.

But the Hope of Christ Anglican Church has become the first church in Guyana to include LGBTQ+ persons in its congregation.

The all-inclusive church, which holds services at Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) on Duncan Street, Georgetown is aiming to provide a place of worship for people of all races, genders, and sexualities, along with getting the message of love, inclusiveness, and affirmation to the people.

Services are held every first and third Sunday of each month at 10:00h.

Founder and Pastor of the church, Marvin Livan, explained that he decided to launch the church owing to the neglect and rejection of the LGBTQ+ community from traditional churches based on their sexual orientation.

“We started the all-inclusive church for those like myself who have been kicked out of their local church based on their sexual orientation or gender identity and they don’t serve in the church or have any purpose in the church anymore. It is for those LGBTQ persons who are Christians that have been home, away from church and away from everything and away from the calling on their life,” Livan added.

Livan also added that as a result of rejections persons in the LGBTQ+ community faced, it has stifled their ministry, hence the church is all about reviving that ministry.

“Last week, in our service, we had somebody from the LGBTQ community that their talent was exposed within our circle and I tell you even me was amazed when I humble myself when someone is praying for me. The gift of that person was buried down there due to discrimination and rejection from the church that he used to attend and that gift was unveiled at the service,” Livan explained.

900 years ago: The Council of Nablus

On January 16, 1120, the Council of Nablus was convened by Warmund, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and King Baldwin II of Jerusalem. It took place in Nablus, a city about 30 mils north of Jerusalem. Jerusalem had been plagued by locusts and mice for four years, in addition to attacks from Muslims, and it was believed by the authorities that the sins of the people had to be addressed and corrected in order for the Kingdom of Jerusalem to prosper.

The Council, or Concordat, was a combination of ecclesiastical synod and legal body. It published 25 canons, which were the first written laws for the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Trial by ordeal was the test of truth in those days, and they didn't mess around when it came to punishments, if the following canons were any indication:

Fourth Decree
If anyone should be afraid to be handled by a bad wife, who has suspicion [of her adultery] he may sue and the household may summon her entrance at a conference of the wife before legal witnesses. If in fact after the decree the husband himself or one of his friends finds them conversing [at] her home or elsewhere, the man should be summoned to the judgment of the church without interruption of "members". And if he cleanses himself by fire and the sword [ordeal], let the unpunished be released. But if anything in discussion supports the finding of disgrace, let the unpunished be released for the transgressed decrees without freedom [from the crime].

Fifth Decree
Whosoever will be tried as to have lain with the wife of another, the accepted sentence of the judgment may deprive him of virility [castration], and let him be expelled from this land. The woman adulterer's nose should be cut off, unless the other man [whose wife cheated on him] wishes to show his mercy. Because if he does so, both are to cross the sea [in exile]...
...
Eighth Decree
If anybody were tried as an adulterer had defiled him/herself with sodomy and wickedness by their own free will, let both the one doing and the one receiving be burned.

Ninth Decree
If a child or anyone advanced in years should be defiled by the force by some sodomite woman and thereafter make a protest, let the sodomite woman be surrendered to the flames. He who in fact will have sinned not by their own will, let him do penance according to the ecclesiastical sentence and not fall into legation.

Tenth Decree
If anyone who has suffered the wicked crime of sodomy at any time and who hid it [the crime] and once more allows himself to be dirtied [defiled] nor discloses it to justice, when he will have been tried afterwards, then he will be judged a sodomite.

Eleventh Decree
If anyone accused as a sodomite before he comes to his senses and having been led to penance for abominable wickedness (by oath swearing) rejects [the practice], let him be received in a church and be judged according to the sentence of the canons. If, however, the accused fell into it [the practice by accident] and secondly wishes to do penance, indeed let him be allowed to do/ for penance but be sent abroad [exiled] from the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Twelfth Decree
If anyone should be tried with having lain with a Saracen woman consensually ementuletur, indeed let the Saracen women's nose be cut off.

Thirteenth Decree
If anyone should oppress [rape] his Saracen slave woman, she herself will be marked and he himself will be castrated.

Fourteenth Decree
If anyone should push himself on a Saracen of another by force, he will undergo the sentence of an adulterer.

Fifteenth Decree
If a Christian woman should mix with a Saracen by her free will, let both be judged the sentence of adultery. If in fact she was oppressed [raped] by him with force, she will not be held herself at fault, but the Saracen will be castrated...
...
Twenty-third Decree
If anyone should be convicted of robbery, if the property was more than 1 bezant, let his limbs be crushed, or hand or foot or eyes. If in fact the stolen property was lower than 1 bezant, let a brand be burned onto his face, and be led through the village yielding to whips. And if something should be found on him, let the stolen property be returned to him [the original owner], if in fact he has nothing [stolen], his body should be decided to make [good] the stolen article to this man. If he should perpetrate it again at another turn, let him be deprived of all his limbs or life.

I don't know if the Council of Nablus resulted in a reduction of plagues of locusts, mice, or Muslims.

Tel Aviv Chief Rabbinate urges voluntary conversion of people born from donated eggs

Judaism attempts to adjust to the brave new world of 2020, as reported by Kobi Nachshoni of Ynet News, January 2, 2020:

The Tel Aviv Chief Rabbinate will participate in an operation to locate children born from egg donations, as these children's religious status may come under question if the donors were not recognized as Jewish.

Ynet has learned that a private religious fertility clinic is collecting personal information about babies born through in vitro fertilization (IVF), that will be handed to rabbis so that these people could be tapped to go through a conversion process.

Religious leaders have been debating whether a child takes on the religion of their egg donor or that of the mother who carried them to term.

Since Israel does not hold proper records of these pregnancies, many of which are conceived abroad, and since egg donors may often be of other faiths, the Rabbinate had been "lenient in its interpretation and had accepted these children as Jewish."

But now, ultra-Orthodox officials and private fertility clinics are trying to harden the existing practice and treat such children as non-Jews unless proven otherwise.

Due to the lack of proper documentation, the Rabbinate is unable to prevent all those, whose Judaism is questioned, from marrying. The Rabbinate will try to locate that part of the population and urge people to voluntarily undergo a "proper conversion."

Ynet has learned that the deputy head of the Tel Aviv Rabbinate is already participating in this initiative and is prepared to conduct conversions in his rabbinical court. This means he has already adopted the more stringent interpretation of religious law that will have a long-lasting effect on many Israelis.

Among those promoting this initiative is Rabbi Butbul, a Sephardi Rabbi who claims to be following the edicts of the late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas Party.

"We have 7,000 to 8,000 children each year that are considered Jewish. We don't know them, and they walk among us," Butbul said. "At this rate, one in three secular Israelis could be born from a mixed union and without anyone knowing."

When asked how he intends to locate in vitro children, Butbul said the Rabbinate receives medical information from medical staff at hospitals.

"Major hospitals are cooperating with us and their doctors are in daily contact with the religious fertility clinics, so we have information."

"We can launch a grandiose operation and save the people of Israel from intermixing," Butbul said. "With god's help, we will set out to do the work."

Mysterious radio signal traced to nearby galaxy

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Psalms 8:3-4

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Psalms 19:1

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Revelation 4:11

As reported by Josh K. Elliott of Global News, January 7, 2020 (links in original):

If the aliens are trying to tell us something, we finally have a better sense of where to listen for them.

Astronomers say they’ve traced the origin point of a mysterious, repeating radio signal from outer space to a galaxy that’s relatively close to our own, in a discovery that raises more questions about the origins of these strange bursts.

The signal, known as a fast radio burst (FRB), appears to be coming from a spiral galaxy some 500 million light-years from Earth, according to new findings published in the journal Nature. That’s not exactly within walking distance, but it’s still much closer to our planet than any of the other FRB origins identified to date.

And no, the FRB isn’t saying “Hi.” At least, not that scientists can tell.

FRBs are typically one-off blasts of radio waves through space, with each one lasting no more than a millisecond. Scientists have identified hundreds of FRBs over the years, but they’ve only traced five of them back to their points of origin.

This latest find is unusual because it’s just the second repeating signal to be tracked back to its source, which is somewhere in a patch of space some seven light-years wide.

“This object’s location is radically different from that of not only the previously located repeating FRB, but also previously studied FRBs,” astronomer and lead study author Kenzie Nimmo said in a statement released through the National Science Foundation’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory.

Canada’s CHIME telescope in Okanagan Falls, B.C., first detected the FRB in 2018, when it heard four extremely brief bursts over the course of about five hours. Researchers later aimed several other telescopes at the sky to determine the repeating signal’s origin point.

Nimmo says the discovery “blurs” the line between repeating and non-repeating FRBs.

“It may be that FRBs are produced in a large zoo of locations across the universe and just require some specific conditions to be visible.”

The first repeating FRB has already been traced back to a dwarf galaxy filled with stars and metal objects. That galaxy was about three billion light-years away.

The new findings are expected to help researchers look for more FRB origin points, in hopes of one day learning what causes them and how they travel through the universe.

British Columbia Supreme Court rules that Indian cleansing ritual imposed on schoolchildren is "cultural," not "religious"

This blogger has long maintained that the judges in British Columbia are the most mentally and morally retarded in Trudeaupia Canada, and their latest outrage does nothing to alter my opinion. As reported by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, January 8, 2020 (link in original):

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (jccf.ca) is disappointed with the January 8, 2020 Supreme Court of BC decision that allows schools to require children to participate in religious or spiritual rituals, despite parental objections to the explicitly religious aspect of “cleansing” the spirits of children. In 2015, a Port Alberni school required children to participate in a smudging ceremony whereby smoke from burning sage was fanned over the classroom, furniture and space occupied by children ’s children. In a letter to parents, the school claimed that this ritual took place for the express purposes of cleansing the children’s spirits of negative energy. Later in the school year, a prayer was offered at a mandatory student assembly.

“We are reviewing the decision with an eye to next steps,” stated Jay Cameron, counsel for Candice Servatius and Litigation Manager at the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. “This is a disappointing decision for citizens from any religion or cultural background, each of whom has a constitutional right to be free from state-compelled spirituality.”

The week-long case against School District 70 was heard in November 2019 in Nanaimo, B.C. The Justice Centre represented mother Candice Servatius, whose two children were subjected to a religious or spiritual ritual at John Howitt Elementary School without her knowledge or consent. Witnesses for the Attorney General of B.C. and the Nuu-chul-nuth Tribal Council, which intervened in the case, testified during cross-examinations that it is not consistent with First Nation’s practice to compel anyone to be smudged against their will, and that it is “unnecessary” to hold cleansing ceremonies in classrooms in order to teach about First Nations culture.

However, in September of 2015, Mrs. Servatius received a letter from the principal of John Howitt Elementary School (JHES) in Port Alberni, BC, where her two children attend. The letter informed parents that JHES would be hosting a “Traditional Nuu-chah-nulth Classroom/Student Cleansing” performed by a “Nuu-chah-nulth Member” in the school’s classrooms. The letter did not provide a date for when these cleansing rituals would take place. The term Nuu-chah-nulth is used to describe fifteen related First Nation tribes who live on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island.

The letter from the school outlined specific beliefs of the Nuu-chah-nulth: “everything is one, all is connected” and “everything has a spirit.” The school’s letter described in detail how the cleansing ritual would “cleanse” the classroom of “energy” and cleanse the “spirits” of the students. The letter claimed that without cleansing, the classroom and even the furniture would harbour negative “energy” and would not be safe until the “energy” was “released.” The letter stated that each student would participate in the cleansing ritual by holding onto a cedar branch while having “smoke from Sage fanned over [their] body and spirit.”

Concerned about the explicitly supernatural and religious nature of the cleansing ritual, and how it conflicted with her own family’s religious beliefs, Mrs. Servatius immediately went to the school to learn more. When she arrived, she was shocked to find out that the ritual had already been imposed on her nine-year old daughter. Mrs. Servatius had received less than 24 hours of notice from the school, and did not have the opportunity to opt her child out of the religious ritual.

When the child expressed to her teacher that she did not want to participate, the teacher told the girl that it would be “rude” not to participate in the ritual and that “all” the students were “required” to participate.

In January of 2016, Mrs. Servatius learned that a prayer based on First Nations spirituality had been performed at a JHES student assembly, with explicit references to an unspecified “god”. JHES did not notify parents.

School District 70 argued in court that the ceremonies and prayers that children are required to participate in violate the right of Mrs. Servatius and her children to be free of government-imposed religion, and claimed that such rituals are merely “cultural”.

One can hardly imagine the Court coming up with such a ruling if a charismaniac had insisted on going into a school and holding a service in which he cast out demons; the only difference I can think of is that charismaniacs view demons as spirit beings rather than negative energy. And I find it strange that Canadian Indians, who are increasingly whining about "cultural appropriation," should insist on forcing non-Indians to participate in their "cultural" ritual.

University of Alberta Pro-Life achieves victory in court over university administration

And now for something completely different: an item of good news, as reported by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, January 6, 2020 (links in original):

EDMONTON: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (jccf.ca) is pleased with the January 6, 2020 decision of the Alberta Court of Appeal, which rejects the University of Alberta’s imposition of a $17,500 security fee on UAlberta Pro-Life. Demanded by the University in 2016, this security fee had prevented the small student club from hosting educational displays on campus. Analysis of the decision is ongoing.

The case arose in March of 2015, when the University of Alberta condoned the behaviour of a mob that physically obstructed a peaceful, stationary pro-life display on campus, which had been authorized and approved by the University. The mob used sheets, towels, banners, and mega-phones, making it impossible for passers-by to view the signs. The mob effectively silenced intellectual discussion and inquiry, in violation of the Code of Student Behaviour. Prior to this physical obstruction and disruption of a university-approved campus event, the University’s president had stated publicly that the pro-life group was entitled to express its opinions on campus. Then-president Indira Samarasekera stated the University must facilitate and protect the peaceful expression of all views, regardless of popularity.

Dr. Samarasekera’s statement was not taken seriously by campus security or by the students who violated the Code of Student Behaviour. The University’s campus security repeatedly told members of the obstructing mob that they were violating the Code of Student Behaviour, which expressly prohibits interrupting and obstructing university-related activities and events. Yet campus security took no action to stop the obstruction, or to discipline the students who identified themselves publicly and boasted on social media about their success in silencing a message they disagreed with.

In 2016, UAlberta Pro-Life applied again for a two-day campus event with a stationary display. The University then demanded a $17,500 security fee as a condition for going ahead with this campus event.

In an email, the University demanded that pro-life students pay for the wages of security guards and police, and costs of barricading the venue, and pay for the potential misconduct of people violating the University’s Code of Student Behaviour by obstructing and disrupting the display. Rather than render an invoice to the self-identified and self-confessed rule-breakers, the University instead told the small pro-life club that it could no longer set up a display on campus unless it first paid $17,500 in security fees. Unable to pay $17,500, UAlberta Pro-Life was forced to cancel the event that was planned for February 2016.

“In issuing this demand, the University of Alberta ignored the fact that any threat to safety and security that may have existed on campus came uniquely from those who physically obstructed and loudly interrupted a university-approved event,” stated lawyer John Carpay, president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, which represents the students in their court action.

In its court application, filed in April of 2016, UAlberta Pro-Life sought a declaration that the University’s imposition of the $17,500 security fee on the club was illegal and unjustifiably violated the fundamental Canadian value of freedom of expression, protected by section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The court application asked for an order prohibiting the University from imposing such financial burdens on law-abiding students in future.

The court application also sought a ruling that the University made an unreasonable and therefore illegal decision in March of 2015 to condone the conduct of students who disrupted and blockaded the University-authorized UAlberta Pro-Life campus event, in violation of the Code of Student Behaviour. Although the University had advance notice that a mob was being organized to obstruct the display, and although Dr. Samarasekera had warned that any misbehaviour would be investigated and prosecuted, the University of Alberta Protective Services (UAPS) did nothing to stop the blockading and physical obstruction. UAPS also did not photograph or seek to identify any blockading student, even though the Code clearly prohibits students from disrupting or obstructing University-related functions.

Before taking court action, UAlberta Pro-Life first filed a formal complaint in March 2015 with UAPS against the disruptive students who had violated the Code of Student Behaviour. It took UAPS over eight months to release a decision. On November 30, 2015 UAPS confirmed that the University would not charge or prosecute students who had disrupted, blocked and obstructed the March 2015 display on campus. This decision came in spite of UAPS possessing ample photographic and video evidence as to which students had violated the Code of Student Behaviour, in addition to social media posts in which these blockading students publicly boasted about their own behaviour.

The Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench ruled in favour of the University in October 2017. The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) intervened before the Alberta Court of Appeal, in support of freedom of expression. The students appealed, and now have a decision from the Alberta Court of Appeal.

2,000-year-old measuring table for liquid items discovered in Jerusalem's City of David

As reported by City of David, ca. January 6, 2020:

The top of a rare 2000-year-old measuring table used for liquid items such as wine and olive oil has been discovered in what appears to be a major town square along the Pilgrimage Road in Jerusalem, during excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority in the City of David National Park. In addition to the measuring table, tens of stone measurement weights were also discovered in the same vicinity. These all support the theory that this was the location of the main city square and market on route to the Temple during the Second Temple Period, in what was historically known as Jerusalem’s lower city * It appears that the market served as the focal point of trade and commerce. * Researchers suggest that this area housed the offices of the "Agoranomos" - the officer in charge of supervising measurements and weights in the city of Jerusalem.

According to Prof. Ronny Reich, who is currently researching the recent discovery: "In a portion of the "standart of volumes" table?uncovered in the City of David, we see two of the deep cavities remain, each with a drain at its bottom. The drain at the bottom could be plugged with a finger, filled with a liquid of some type, and once the finger was removed, the liquid could be drained into a container, therefore determining the volume of the container, using the measurement table as a uniform guideline. This way, traders could calibrate their measuring instruments using a uniform standard."

Reich adds that "this is a rare find. Other stone artifacts were very popular in Jerusalem during the Second Temple, however so far, excavations in Jerusalem have only uncovered two similar tables that were used for measuring volume - one during the 1970's in the Jewish Quarter excavations, and another in the Shu'afat excavations, in Northern Jerusalem."

According to archaeologist Ari Levi of the Israel Antiquities Authority, one of the directors of the excavations of the Pilgrimage Road, "The Pilgrimage Road excavations in the City of David have also uncovered a great number of stone weights measuring different values. The weights found are of the type which was typically used in Jerusalem. The fact that there were city-specific weights at the site indicates the unique features of the economy and trade in Jerusalem during the Second Temple period, possibly due to the influence of the Temple itself." The stone weights have a flat, round shape, and they are made in different sizes, representing different volumes.

According to Reich, more than 90% of all stone weights of this type, totaling several hundreds, were found in archaeological excavations in early Jerusalem dating back to the Second Temple period. Due to this fact, they represent a unique Jerusalem phenomenon.

Israel Antiquities Authority researchers, Nahshon Szanton, Moran Hagbi and Meidad Shor of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who directed the excavations along the Pilgrimage Road on behalf of the, uncovered a large, open paved area dating back some 2000 years, along the street leading up to the Second Temple and suggest that this served as the main square of the lower city, where trade activity would have taken place in this part of the city.

According to Ari Levi, "The volume standard table we've found, as well as the stone weights discovered nearby, support the theory that this was the site of vast trade activity, and perhaps this may indicate the existence of a market."

Prof. Reich adds: "It is possible that this part of the Second Temple-period city housed the office of the inspector of measurements and weights of the city of Jerusalem - a function which was commonplace in other cities throughout the Roman empire in ancient times, known as an Agoranomos."