The history of Americans support for Israel in and out

With President Joe Biden pledging unwavering support of Israel in its fight against the Hamas terror group, he's the latest U.S. leader promising the United States' commitment -- an allegiance dating back to the Jewish state's inception 75 years ago when President Harry S. Truman became one of the first world leaders to embrace the creation of the democratic country in the Middle East.

"If you think of American history in the 20th Century and in the 21st Century, America's enemies and Israel's enemies were the same, whether it was Nazism, whether it was communism, whether it was Islamist extremism," David Makovsky, director and senior fellow on Arab-Israel relations at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a pro-Israeli American think tank in Washington, D.C., told ABC News.

Mark Mellman, president of the Democratic Majority for Israel, a U.S. organization that works to maintain and strengthen support for the U.S.-Israel alliance, said the friendship between the two countries was borne out of the United States' effort to secure allies during the Cold War.

"America wanted allies, as many as we could get, and Israel was one of them," Mellman told ABC News. "But there's also ... a long historical affinity, a belief that the Jewish people have a right to a state and a right to a homeland, in their historic homelands, which had been the homeland of the Jewish people for thousands of years. And that sort of biblical perspective, if you will, animated some Americans in this respect. But basically, we had two countries that had similar values and similar interests. Those have been the things that have really brought the United States and Israel so very close together."

Mellman added, "There has always been an important level of bipartisan support for Israel. Both Democrats and Republicans have long been pro-Israel."

However, there has also been a growing chorus of critics of Biden during his tenure, most prominently among progressive Democrats, including Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who was censured by her House colleagues for using a phrase that some said endorsed wiping the state of Israel off the map -- an interpretation that Tlaib has denied.

"From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate," Tlaib said in a statement on X. "My work and advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity."

America's support for Israel comes as the country was attacked last month. The militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel retaliated with a bombing campaign and military operation in the neighboring Gaza Strip.

In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured since the Oct. 7 attack, according to Israeli officials. In Gaza, at least 13,000 people have been killed and over 30,000 have been injured, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. That unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza has complicated the U.S. relationship with Israel.

As the war rages on, the sympathy of some Americans appears to be shifting from Israel to the Palestinians in Gaza. A Quinnipiac University national poll of registered American voters released on Nov. 16 found that overall 54% said their sympathies lie more with the Israelis, down from 61% in an Oct. 17 poll. Meanwhile, 24% of American voters said they were more sympathetic to Palestinians, up from 13% in the October survey.

Among Democrats, 41% said their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians, while 34% said their sympathies lie more with the Israelis. In October, 48% said they were sympathetic to the Israelis and 22 percent said the Palestinians, according to the Quinnipiac poll.

Among American voters 18 to 34 years old, 52% of respondents in the Nov. 16 Quinnipiac poll said their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians, while 29 percent said they were sympathetic to the Israelis. The numbers indicated a sharp reversal from October when 41% said the Israelis had their sympathies and 26% said they were sympathetic to the Palestinians.

 

History about The Temple of Jerusalem Judaism

Temple of Jerusalem, either of two temples that were the centre of worship and national identity in ancient Israel.

In the early years of the Israelite kingdom, the Ark of the Covenant was periodically moved about among several sanctuaries, especially those of Shechem and Shiloh. After King David’s capture of Jerusalem, however, the Ark was moved to that city. This action joined Israel’s major religious object with the monarchy and the city itself into a central symbol of union of the Israelite tribes. As the site for a future temple, David chose Mount Moriah, or the Temple Mount, where it was believed Abraham had built the altar on which to sacrifice his son Isaac.

The First Temple was constructed during the reign of David’s son, Solomon, and completed in 957 BCE. Other sanctuaries retained their religious functions, however, until Josiah (reigned c. 640–609 BCE) abolished them and established the Temple of Jerusalem as the only place of sacrifice in the Kingdom of Judah.

The First Temple was built as an abode for the Ark and as a place of assembly for the entire people. The building itself, therefore, was not large, but the courtyard was extensive. The Temple building faced eastward. It was oblong and consisted of three rooms of equal width: the porch, or vestibule (ʾulam); the main room of religious service, or Holy Place (hekhal); and the Holy of Holies (devir), the sacred room in which the Ark rested. A storehouse (yaẓiʿa) surrounded the Temple except on its front (east) side.

The First Temple contained five altars: one at the entrance of the Holy of Holies, two others within the building, a large bronze one before the porch, and a large tiered altar in the courtyard. A huge bronze bowl, or “sea,” in the courtyard was used for the priests’ ablutions. Within the Holy of Holies, two cherubim of olive wood stood with the Ark; this innermost sanctuary was considered the dwelling place of the Divine Presence (Shekhina) and could be entered only by the high priest and only on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).

The Temple suffered at the hands of Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylonia, who removed the Temple treasures in 604 BCE and 597 BCE and totally destroyed the building in 587/586. This destruction and the deportations of Jews to Babylonia in 586 and 582 were seen as fulfillments of prophecy and, therefore, strengthened Judaic religious beliefs and awakened the hope for the reestablishment of the independent Jewish state.

Cyrus II, founder of the Achaemenian dynasty of Persia and conqueror of Babylonia, in 538 BCE issued an order allowing exiled Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. Work was completed in 515 BCE. There is no known detailed plan of the Second Temple, which was constructed as a modest version of the original building. It was surrounded by two courtyards with chambers, gates, and a public square. It did not include the ritual objects of the First Temple; of special significance was the loss of the Ark itself. Ritual, however, was elaborate and was conducted by well-organized families of priests and Levites.

During the Persian and Hellenistic (4th–3rd century BCE) periods, the Temple generally was respected, and in part subsidized, by Judaea’s foreign rulers. Antiochus IV Epiphanes, however, plundered it in 169 BCE and desecrated it in 167 BCE by commanding that sacrifices be made to Zeus on an altar built for him. This final act touched off the Hasmonean revolt, during which Judas Maccabeus cleansed and rededicated the Temple; the event is celebrated in the annual festival of Hanukkah.

During the Roman conquest, Pompey entered (63 BCE) the Holy of Holies but left the Temple intact. In 54 BCE, however, Crassus plundered the Temple treasury. Of major importance was the rebuilding of the Second Temple begun by Herod the Great, king (37 BCE–4 CE) of Judaea.

Construction began in 20 BCE and lasted for 46 years. The area of the Temple Mount was doubled and surrounded by a retaining wall with gates. The Temple was raised, enlarged, and faced with white stone. The new Temple square served as a gathering place, and its porticoes sheltered merchants and money changers. A stone fence (soreg) and a rampart (ḥel) surrounded the consecrated area forbidden to Gentiles. The Temple proper began, on the east, with the Court of Women, each side of which had a gate and each corner of which had a chamber. This court was named for a surrounding balcony on which women observed the annual celebration of Sukkoth. The western gate of the court, approached by a semicircular staircase, led to the Court of the Israelites, that portion of the Court of Priests open to all male Jews. Surrounding the inner sanctuary, the Court of Priests contained the sacrificial altar and a copper laver for priestly ablutions. This court was itself surrounded by a wall broken with gates and chambers. The Temple sanctuary building was wider in front than in the rear; its eastern facade had two pillars on either side of the gate to the entrance hall. Within the hall, a great gate led to the sanctuary, at the western end of which was the Holy of Holies.

  

The Herodian Temple was again the centre of Israelite life. It was not only the focus of religious ritual but also the repository of the Holy Scriptures and other national literature and the meeting place of the Sanhedrin, the highest court of Jewish law during the Roman period. The rebellion against Rome that began in 66 CE soon focused on the Temple and effectively ended with the Temple’s destruction on the 9th/10th of Av, 70 CE.

All that remained of the retaining wall surrounding the Temple Mount was a portion of the Western Wall (also called the Wailing Wall), which continues to be the focus of Jewish aspirations and pilgrimage. Made part of the wall surrounding the Muslim Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque in 691 CE, it returned to Jewish control in 1967.

 

Herod The Great and all his Sons The king of Judaea

Herod (born 73 BCE—died March/April, 4 BCE, Jericho, Judaea) was the Roman-appointed king of Judaea (37–4 BCE), who built many fortresses, aqueducts, theatres, and other public buildings and generally raised the prosperity of his land but who was the centre of political and family intrigues in his later years. The New Testament portrays him as a tyrant, into whose kingdom Jesus of Nazareth was born.

Family and early life

Herod was born in southern Palestine. His father, Antipater, was an Edomite (a Semitic people, identified by some scholars as Arab, who converted to Judaism in the 2nd century BCE). Antipater was a man of great influence and wealth who increased both by marrying the daughter of a noble from Petra (in southwestern Jordan), at that time the capital of the rising Arab Nabataean kingdom. Thus, Herod was of Arab origin, although he was a practicing Jew.

When Pompey (106–48 BCE) invaded Palestine in 63 BCE, Antipater supported his campaign and began a long association with Rome, from which both he and Herod were to benefit. Six years later Herod met Mark Antony, whose lifelong friend he was to remain. Julius Caesar also favoured the family; he appointed Antipater procurator of Judaea in 47 BCE and conferred on him Roman citizenship, an honour that descended to Herod and his children. Herod made his political debut in the same year, when his father appointed him governor of Galilee. Six years later Mark Antony made him tetrarch of Galilee.

In 40 BCE the Parthians invaded Palestine, civil war broke out, and Herod was forced to flee to Rome. The senate there nominated him king of Judaea and equipped him with an army to make good his claim. In the year 37 BCE, at the age of 36, Herod became the unchallenged ruler of Judaea, a position he was to maintain for 32 years. To further solidify his power, he divorced his first wife, Doris, sent her and his son away from court, and married Mariamne, a Hasmonean princess. Although the union was directed at ending his feud with the Hasmoneans, a priestly family of Jewish leaders, he was deeply in love with Mariamne.

During the conflict between the two triumvirs Octavian and Antony, the heirs to Caesar’s power, Herod supported his friend Antony. He continued to do so even when Antony’s mistress, Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, used her influence with Antony to gain much of Herod’s best land. After Antony’s final defeat at Actium in 31 BCE, he frankly confessed to the victorious Octavian which side he had taken. Octavian, who had met Herod in Rome, knew that he was the one man to rule Palestine as Rome wanted it ruled and confirmed him king. He also restored to Herod the land Cleopatra had taken.

Herod became the close friend of Augustus’s great minister Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, after whom one of his grandsons and one of his great-grandsons were named. Both the emperor and the minister paid him state visits, and Herod twice again visited Italy. Augustus gave him the oversight of the Cyprus copper mines, with a half share in the profits. He twice increased Herod’s territory, in the years 22 and 20 BCE, so that it came to include not only Palestine but parts of what are now the kingdom of Jordan to the east of the river and southern Lebanon and Syria. He had intended to bestow the Nabataean kingdom on Herod as well, but, by the time that throne fell vacant, Herod’s mental and physical deterioration made it impossible.

 

Herod endowed his realm with massive fortresses and splendid cities, of which the two greatest were new, and largely pagan, foundations: the port of Caesarea Palaestinae on the coast between Joppa (Jaffa) and Haifa, which was afterward to become the capital of Roman Palestine; and Sebaste on the long-desolate site of ancient Samaria. At Herodium in the Judaean desert Herod built a great palace, which archaeologists in 2007 tentatively identified as the site of his tomb. In Jerusalem he built the fortress of Antonia, portions of which may still be seen beneath the convents on the Via Dolorosa, and a magnificent palace (of which part survives in the citadel). His most grandiose creation was the Temple, which he wholly rebuilt. The great outer court, 35 acres (14 hectares) in extent, is still visible as Al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf. He also embellished foreign cities—Beirut, Damascus, Antioch, Rhodes—and many towns. Herod patronized the Olympic Games, whose president he became. In his own kingdom he could not give full rein to his love of magnificence, for fear of offending the Pharisees, the leading faction of Judaism, with whom he was always in conflict because they regarded him as a foreigner. Herod undoubtedly saw himself not merely as the patron of grateful pagans but also as the protector of Jewry outside of Palestine, whose Gentile hosts he did all in his power to conciliate.

Unfortunately, there was a dark and cruel streak in Herod’s character that showed itself increasingly as he grew older. His mental instability, moreover, was fed by the intrigue and deception that went on within his own family. Despite his affection for Mariamne, he was prone to violent attacks of jealousy; his sister Salome (not to be confused with her great-niece, Herodias’s daughter Salome) made good use of his natural suspicions and poisoned his mind against his wife in order to wreck the union. In the end Herod murdered Mariamne, her two sons, her brother, her grandfather, and her mother, a woman of the vilest stamp who had often aided his sister Salome’s schemes. Besides Doris and Mariamne, Herod had eight other wives and had children by six of them. He had 14 children.

In his last years Herod suffered from arteriosclerosis. He had to repress a revolt, became involved in a quarrel with his Nabataean neighbours, and finally lost the favour of Augustus. He was in great pain and in mental and physical disorder. He altered his will three times and finally disinherited and killed his firstborn, Antipater. The slaying, shortly before his death, of the infants of Bethlehem was wholly consistent with the disarray into which he had fallen. After an unsuccessful attempt at suicide, Herod died. His final testament provided that, subject to Augustus’s sanction, his realm would be divided among his sons: Archelaus should be king of Judaea and Samaria, with Philip and Antipas sharing the remainder as tetrarchs.

 

Antipater

Son of Herod the Great

 

Antipater (died 4 BC) was the son of Herod the Great, who conspired against his half brothers Aristobulus and Alexander for the succession to the throne of Judaea and secured their execution (7 or 6 BC). The following year he was tried for plotting against Herod and Pheroras, Herod’s brother, and was executed five days before his father’s death.

 

Philip

king of Judaea

 

Philip (born 20 BCE—died 34 CE) was the son of Herod I the Great and Cleopatra of Jerusalem (not to be confused with another Herod Philip, son of Herod I the Great by Mariamne II). He ruled ably as tetrarch over the former northeastern quarter of his father’s kingdom of Judaea.

When the Roman emperor Augustus adjusted Herod’s will, Philip was assigned to the region east of the Sea of Galilee, in modern northern Israel, Lebanon, and southern Syria. In 6 CE he may have joined in charging his half brother with misgoverning Judaea, but with little benefit to himself, for Judaea then became a Roman province.

 

Of his father’s inheritance, his was the poorest share, but he ruled it well. Because he had few Jewish subjects, he pursued a policy of Hellenization. His coins bore the emperor’s image, and he rebuilt a town, Bethsaida (on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee), and renamed it Julias in honour of the emperor’s daughter. Near the source of the Jordan River, he founded another town and allowed it a large degree of self-government, on the Greek pattern.

Philip was less extravagant a ruler than any of his brothers. He avoided prolonged trips to Rome, instead traveling extensively in his territory and devoting his time to his subjects. Late in his reign he married Salome, the daughter of Herodias, who was her mother’s tool in securing from Herod Antipas the execution of John the Baptist.

 

Philip

king of Judaea

 

 

Philip (born 20 BCE—died 34 CE) was the son of Herod I the Great and Cleopatra of Jerusalem (not to be confused with another Herod Philip, son of Herod I the Great by Mariamne II). He ruled ably as tetrarch over the former northeastern quarter of his father’s kingdom of Judaea.

When the Roman emperor Augustus adjusted Herod’s will, Philip was assigned to the region east of the Sea of Galilee, in modern northern Israel, Lebanon, and southern Syria. In 6 CE he may have joined in charging his half brother with misgoverning Judaea, but with little benefit to himself, for Judaea then became a Roman province.

 

 

Of his father’s inheritance, his was the poorest share, but he ruled it well. Because he had few Jewish subjects, he pursued a policy of Hellenization. His coins bore the emperor’s image, and he rebuilt a town, Bethsaida (on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee), and renamed it Julias in honour of the emperor’s daughter. Near the source of the Jordan River, he founded another town and allowed it a large degree of self-government, on the Greek pattern.

Philip was less extravagant a ruler than any of his brothers. He avoided prolonged trips to Rome, instead traveling extensively in his territory and devoting his time to his subjects. Late in his reign he married Salome, the daughter of Herodias, who was her mother’s tool in securing from Herod Antipas the execution of John the Baptist.

Ashanti & Nelly expecting their first child

Ashanti is pregnant and expecting her first child with her rekindled love, Nelly, and that's not all: The couple is also engaged!

The 43-year-old singer confirmed the news in an interview with Essence.

“This new year of my life is such a blessing full of love, hope and anticipation,” she told the magazine on April 17. “Motherhood is something that I have looked forward to, and sharing this with my family, fiancé, and loyal fans, who have been so supportive of my career, is an amazing experience.”

That same day, Ashanti posted a teasy Instagram video, revealing her pregnancy. The clip shows Ashanti getting ready before a show with people asking how much time she needs.

"I'm gonna need about nine months," she says, holding up a pregnancy test strip.

"Baby baby baby baby," the Instagram video is captioned.

The confirmation comes months after fans speculated the singer was pregnant. Back in December, video circulated of Ashanti and Nelly placing their hands on her stomach at an event he hosted in St. Louis.

Nelly, 49, shares two adult children, daughter Chanelle Haynes and son Cornell Haynes III, with his ex-partner Channetta Valentine. The rapper also adopted Shawn and Sydney Thomas, his sister Jackie Donahue's two children after she died of leukemia in 2005, per Essence.

Nelly previously commented on the possibility of kids with Ashanti in the comments section of an Instagram post on Nov. 4 that thanked Ashanti for the blue convertible she gifted him for his birthday.

"Get her pregnant @nelly," read one comment. "TONIGHT!!"

Nelly replied: "I'm on it."

The two first met in 2003 and were rumored to be dating for years. But it wasn’t until 2015, after they had reportedly been broken up for a couple years, that Ashanti confirmed the split, per People.

The couple, who have a 20-year history, confirmed they are back together in September. Ashanti, on her end, carried a clutch to the 2023 Video Music Awards that had a picture of them from years ago printed on it.

She told TODAY on the red carpet at the VMAs: “This is where we first exchanged numbers. I was like, ‘Oh, this would be cute.’”

“Everything is lining up in the universe,” she added. “So I’m happy.”

Nelly gave an interview on “Boss Moves With Rasheeda" Sept. 12, and when asked if he and Ashanti were back together, he replied, "Yeah, we cool again." He flashed a bright smile.

Ashanti and Nelly reconnecting two decades after meeting has stirred up their fan bases.

"I swear @ashanti and Nelly are the cutest he spun the block and ain’t stopped smiling yet he IN LOVE with her," a fan tweeted alongside a video of the couple singing.

"I’m so genuinely happy for Ashanti and Nelly…like they went their merry way and found each other again…" another fan wrote.

 

Story from the stingray who got pregnant without a male

Two months after a North Carolina aquarium revealed their round stingray was expecting — despite never interacting with a male stingray — followers of the pregnancy are wondering how, exactly, this could have happened — and when these miraculous babies are going to appear. And the aquarium’s executive director tells TODAY.com that even her understanding of the pregnancy has narrowed since she first announced the news.

For eight years, Charlotte the stingray has resided at the Aquarium & Shark Lab by Team ECCO in Hendersonville, North Carolina. According to the aquarium’s executive director, Brenda Ramer, she was adopted from a private home outside the city of Charlotte, North Carolina and is estimated to be between 12 and 16 years old.

Despite Charlotte never encountering a male round stingray since arriving at the aquarium, a February livestream of an ultrasound at the aquarium showed that Charlotte is pregnant.

"We found out that Charlotte is expecting, and it's a really strange and unique phenomenon," Ramer explained during the livestream ultrasound. "She's carrying somewhere between three and four pups."

Users were quick to express their fascination about how exactly the stingray became pregnant. One theory Ramer presented is that she was impregnated by sharks who shared her tank at one point.

"I’m sorry, she may have mated with a shark?" one viewer commented on the livestream.

“I had no idea it was possible for a shark to impregnate a stingray,” another wrote.

Now, months after her pregnancy announcement, some users have grown wary of the likelihood of her pregnancy.

"I thought they (were) only pregnant for a couple of months," one user commented in a recent update about Charlotte from the aquarium. "It’s been way over that. Are you sure she’s pregnant or is this just for views?"

To learn more about the possibility and circumstances of Charlotte's pregnancy, TODAY.com spoke to Ramer and a stingray expert for answers. Here's what we learned.

How did Charlotte the stingray get pregnant?

In the aquarium's February announcement of Charlotte's pregnancy, Ramer offered two possibilities for her status — the first one being the shark theory.

Benjamin M. Perlman, who has a doctorate in biology and is a lecturer at California State University — Long Beach’s Department of Biological Sciences, researches and studies stingrays. Speaking to TODAY.com, he says that cross-species mating and reproduction aren't possible in this case.

He explains that “the morphology of the male shark won’t necessarily fit with the morphology of the female round stingray.”

In the months since her livestream announcement, Ramer tells TODAY.com she now believes Charlotte became pregnant through parthenogenesis.

Britannica defines parthenogenesis as a "reproductive strategy" in which a female can develop and produce offspring without fertilization.

 

Julius Caesar Life History

Julius Caesar was a leader of ancient Rome who significantly transformed what became known as the Roman Empire by greatly expanding its geographic reach and establishing its imperial system. Allegedly a descendant of Trojan prince Aeneas, Caesar’s birth marked the beginning of a new chapter in Roman history. By age 31, Caesar had fought in several wars and become involved in Roman politics. After several alliances and military victories, he became dictator of the Roman Empire, a rule that lasted for just one year before his death in 44 BCE.

 

Born Gaius Julius Caesar on July 12, 100 BCE, Caesar hailed from Roman aristocrats, though his family was far from rich. Little is known of Caesar’s early years, but during his youth an element of instability dominated the Roman Republic, which had discredited its nobility and seemed unable to handle its considerable size and influence.

When he was 16, his father, an important regional governor in Asia also named Gaius Julius Caesar, died. He remained close to his mother, Aurelia. Around the time of his father’s death, Caesar made a concerted effort to establish key alliances with the country’s nobility, with whom he was well-connected.

In 84 BCE, Caesar married Cornelia, the daughter of a nobleman. Caesar’s marriage to Cornelia drew the ire of the Roman dictator Sulla, as Cornelia’s father was Sulla’s political rival. Sulla ordered Caesar to divorce his wife or risk losing his property. The young Roman refused and escaped by serving in the military, first in the province of Asia and then in Cilicia. Caesar likely returned to Rome after Sulla’s death circa 79 BCE (another account states Caesar, with the help of his influential friends, eventually convinced Sulla to be allowed to return).

Back in Rome, Caesar and Cornelia had a daughter, Julia Caesaris, in 76 BCE. In 69 BCE, Cornelia passed away.

 

After Sulla’s death, Caesar began his career in politics as a prosecuting advocate. He relocated temporarily to Rhodes to study philosophy.

During his travels he was kidnapped by pirates. In a daring display of his negotiation skills and counter-insurgency tactics, he convinced his captors to raise his ransom, then organized a naval force to attack them. The pirates were captured and executed.

Caesar further enhanced his stature in 74 BCE when he put together a private army and combated Mithradates VI Eupator, king of Pontus, who had declared war on Rome.

Caesar began an alliance with Gnaeus Pompey Magnus, a powerful military and political leader. Soon after, in 68 or 69 BCE, he was elected quaestor (a minor political office). Caesar went on to serve in several other key government positions.

In 67 BCE, Caesar married Pompeia, the granddaughter of Sulla. Their marriage lasted just a few years, and in 62 BCE, the couple divorced.

In 61 to 60 BCE, Caesar served as governor of the Roman province of Spain. Caesar maintained his alliance with Pompey, which enabled him to get elected as consul, a powerful government position, in 59 BCE.

The same year, Caesar wed Calpurnia, a teenager to whom he remained married for the rest of his life. (He also had several mistresses, including Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt, with whom he had a son, Caesarion.)

At the same time Caesar was governing under Pompey, he aligned himself with the wealthy military leader Marcus Licinius Crassus. The strategic political alliance among Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus came to be known as the First Triumvirate.

 

For Caesar, the First Triumvirate partnership was the perfect springboard to greater domination. Crassus, a leader known as the richest man in Roman history, offered Caesar financial and political support that proved to be instrumental in his rise to power.

Crassus and Pompey, however, were intense rivals. Once again, Caesar displayed his abilities as a negotiator, earning the trust of both Crassus and Pompey and convincing them they’d be better suited as allies than as enemies.

 

In a controversial move, Caesar tried to pay off Pompey’s soldiers by granting them public lands. Caesar hired some of Pompey’s soldiers to stage a riot. In the midst of all the chaos, he got his way.

Not long after, Caesar secured the governorship of Gaul (modern-day France and Belgium). This allowed him to build a bigger military and begin the kind of campaigns that would cement his status as one of Rome’s all-time great leaders. Between 58 and 50 BCE, Caesar conquered the rest of Gaul up to the river Rhine.

As he expanded his reach, Caesar was ruthless with his enemies. In one instance he waited until his opponent’s water supply had dried up, then ordered the hands of all the remaining survivors be cut off.

All the while, he was mindful of the political scene back home in Rome, hiring key political agents to act on his behalf.

Civil War Against Pompey

As Julius Caesar’s power and prestige grew, Pompey grew envious of his political partner. Meanwhile, Crassus still had never completely overcome his disdain for Pompey.

The three leaders patched things up temporarily in 56 BCE at a conference in Luca, which cemented Caesar’s existing territorial rule for another five years, granted Crassus a five-year term in Syria, and accorded Pompey a five-year term in Spain.

 

Three years later, however, Crassus was killed in a battle in Syria. Around this time, Pompey—his old suspicions about Caesar’s rise reignited—commanded that Caesar disband his army and return to Rome as a private citizen.

 

Rather than submit to Pompey’s command, on January 10, 49 BCE, Caesar ordered his powerful army to cross the Rubicon River in northern Italy and march toward Rome. As Pompey further aligned himself with nobility, who increasingly saw Caesar as a national threat, civil war between the two leaders proved to be inevitable. Pompey and his troops, however, were no match for Caesar’s military prowess. Pompey fled Rome and eventually landed in Greece, where his troops were defeated by Caesar’s legions.

 

Julius Caesar and Cleopatra

By late 48 BCE, Caesar had subdued Pompey and his supporters in Italy, Spain, and Greece, finally chasing Pompey into Egypt. The Egyptians, however, knew of Pompey’s defeats and believed the gods favored Caesar: Pompey was assassinated as soon as he stepped ashore in Egypt. Caesar claimed to be outraged over Pompey’s murder. After having Pompey’s assassins put to death, he met with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII.

Caesar and Cleopatra forged an alliance (and a sexual relationship) that ousted her brother and co-regent, Ptolemy XIII, and placed Cleopatra on the throne of Egypt. A skilled political tactician, she and her son by Caesar, Caesarion, proved instrumental in international affairs for years, culminating in her liaison with Roman general Mark Antony.

Dictatorship

Upon his triumphant return to Rome, Caesar was hailed as the father of his country and made dictator for life. Although he would serve just a year’s term, Caesar’s rule proved instrumental in reforming Rome for his countrymen.

Caesar greatly transformed the empire, relieving debt and reforming the Senate by increasing its size and opening it up so that it better represented all Romans. He altered the Roman calendar and reorganized the construction of local government.

Caesar also resurrected two city-states, Carthage and Corinth, which had been destroyed by his predecessors. And he granted citizenship to a number of foreigners. A benevolent victor, Caesar even invited some of his defeated rivals to join him in the government.

At the same time, Caesar was also careful to solidify his power and rule. He stuffed the Senate with allies and required it to grant him honors and titles. He spoke first at assembly meetings, and Roman coins bore his face.

 

Although Caesar’s reforms greatly enhanced his standing with Rome’s lower- and middle-class populations, his increasing power was met with envy, concern, and angst in the Roman Senate. A number of politicians saw Caesar as an aspiring king.

And Romans had no desire for monarchical rule: Legend has it that it had been five centuries since they’d last allowed a king to rule them. Caesar’s inclusion of former Roman enemies in the government helped seal his downfall.

Caesar was assassinated by political rivals in Rome on the Ides of March—March 15—in 44 BCE. It’s not clear whether Caesar knew of the plot to kill him: By all accounts, he planned to leave Rome on March 18 for a military campaign in what is now modern-day Iraq, where he hoped to avenge the losses suffered by his former political ally Crassus.

 

Who Killed Julius Caesar?

Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus, former rivals of Caesar who’d joined the Roman Senate, led Caesar’s assassination. Cassius and Brutus dubbed themselves “the liberators.”

Brutus’ involvement in the killing packed the most complicated backstory. During Rome’s earlier civil war, he had originally sided with Caesar’s opponent, Pompey. But after Caesar’s victory over Pompey, Brutus was encouraged to join the government. His mother, Servilia, was also one of Caesar’s lovers.

After Caesar’s Death

After his death, Caesar quickly became a martyr in the new Roman Empire. A mob of lower- and middle-class Romans gathered at Caesar’s funeral, with the angry crowd attacking the homes of Cassius and Brutus.

Just two years after his death, Caesar became the first Roman figure to be deified. The Senate also gave him the title “The Divine Julius.”

A power struggle ensued in Rome, leading to the end of the Roman Republic. Caesar’s great-grandnephew Gaius Octavian played on the late ruler’s popularity, assembling an army to fight back the military troops defending Cassius and Brutus. His victory over Caesar’s assassins allowed Octavian, who assumed the name Augustus, to take power in 27 BCE and become the first Roman emperor.

Archaeological Discovery

In November 2017, archaeologists announced the discovery of what they believed to be the first evidence of Caesar’s invasion of Britain in 54 BCE. The excavation of a new road in Ebbsfleet, Kent, revealed a 5-meter-wide defensive ditch and the remains of pottery and weapons. Experts from the University of Leicester and Kent County Council said the location was consistent with accounts of the invasion from the time period, and enabled them to pinpoint nearby Pegwell Bay as the likely landing spot for Caesar’s fleet.

Julius Caesar: A Play by William Shakespeare

Julius Caesar’s last days and the ensuing political clash between Octavian, Cassius, and Brutus have been famously captured in the five-act tragic play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. It was first produced in 1599 or 1600, around the opening of the Globe Theater, and continues to entertain audiences today. Joseph Mankiewicz’s 1953 film adaptation of the play—starring Louis Calhern as Caesar, Marlon Brando as Mark Antony, James Mason as Brutus, and John Gielgud as Cassius—is one of the most enduring retellings on the silver screen.

 

 

 

Tsunami fears spread after Indonesia volcanic eruption

Mount Ruang has repeatedly erupted, and officials fear it could collapse and create a tsunami, with hundreds evacuated from the area

 

Authorities in Indonesia have issued a tsunami alert after a volcano erupted several times in the province of North Sulawesi, spewing a column of smoke more than a mile into the sky and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people from their homes.

Mount Ruang, a stratovolcano, first erupted at 9.45pm local time on Tuesday and then four times on Wednesday, Indonesia’s volcanology agency said.

Officials worry that part of the volcano could collapse into the sea and cause a tsunami, as happened in 1871. Tagulandang island to the volcano’s north-east is again at risk, and its residents are among those being told to evacuate.

The alert level for the volcano, which has a peak of 725 metres above sea level, was raised on Wednesday evening from three to four, the highest level in the four-tiered system.

“Based on the result of visual and instrumental observation that showed an increase in volcanic activity, Mount Ruang’s level was raised from level three to level four,” Hendra Gunawan, the head of Indonesia’s volcanology agency, said in a statement.

 

Authorities widened a 4km exclusion zone around the crater to 6km on Wednesday evening.

There were no reports of deaths or injuries, but more than 800 people were evacuated from two Ruang Island villages to nearby Tagulandang Island, located more than 60 miles north of the provincial capital, Manado, the state agency Antara reported.

The volcanology agency said residents of Tagulandang must be evacuated outside the 6km radius by Wednesday evening.

Indonesia’s national disaster mitigation agency said residents would be relocated to Manado, the nearest city, on Sulawesi island, a journey of six hours by boat.

 

In 2018 the eruption of Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano caused a tsunami along the coasts of Sumatra and Java after parts of the mountain fell into the ocean, killing 430 people.

In a statement, Gunawan told people to “be on alert for the potential ejection of rocks, hot cloud discharges and tsunami caused by the collapse of the volcano’s body into the sea”.

Ruang’s initial eruption on Tuesday evening pushed a column of ash 1.2 miles into the sky, with the second eruption pushing it to 1.5 miles, Muhammad Wafid, the head of the geological agency, said in a statement.

The volcanology agency said on Tuesday that volcanic activity had increased at Ruang after two earthquakes in recent weeks.

Indonesia, a vast country of archipelagos, sees frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific’s Ring of Fire, an arc where tectonic plates collide, which stretches from Japan through south-east Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Lisa Nandy wishes support for UN relief agency for Palestinians in Gaza

Labour shadow minister also says Israel should be held accountable before international tribunal for war conduct in Gaza

 

Lisa Nandy, the UK’s shadow minister for international development, has called for support for the UN relief agency, Unrwa, warning that “time has run out for hundreds of thousands” of people in Gaza.

 

Nandy is in Washington this week attending the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund with a message of how the UK’s humanitarian and development policy will change if Labour, as expected, forms the next government by the end of this year.

 

However, she accepted that she would have to address widespread perceptions across the global south of Britain’s unreliability as a partner and its double standards on the world stage, an image exacerbated by the war in Gaza and the consequent famine rolling over the Palestinian coastal strip.

 

Nandy said: “We are getting a very strong message that people feel there are different rules for different countries, which is problematic and something that we’ll have to deal with if we’re fortunate enough to be in government.”

 

She promised more consistent UK support for international legal institutions like the international criminal court (ICC) and the international court of justice (ICJ) and said Israel should be held accountable before both tribunals for its conduct of the war in Gaza.

 

Nandy outlined ways in which Labour policy on Israel and Gaza would differ starkly from the current government’s, starting with actions to address a famine, which international experts and US officials say has already begun.

The UK is one of the few major donors, alongside the US, that has yet to resume funding Unrwa. The financing was cut off in January after Israeli allegations of links between some Unrwa staff and Hamas, which remain unproven. Since then, Australia, Sweden, Finland, France, Canada and the European Commission have all resumed funding.

UK ministers say they will make a decision on the resumption of funding after seeing the final report from a review of Unrwa neutrality led by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, which is expected early next week.

Nandy said the UK funding continued to be withheld “despite the fact that the government is aware that if Unrwa can’t continue its operations, the whole humanitarian system in Gaza collapses”.

 

 

“So there’s new urgency to this now. Time has run out for hundreds of thousands of people across Gaza and the world has to act,” Nandy said. All of Gaza’s 2.3 million are population suffering from food insecurity and nearly half face famine, according to expert assessments.

Israeli authorities are refusing to deal with Unrwa even though it is by far the biggest aid agency in Gaza and has helped support Palestinian refugees across the region for more than seven decades. The Israeli government is pressing for Unrwa’s functions, staff and resources to be transferred to a new agency.

“It is just completely unrealistic to suggest that there can be a humanitarian response in Gaza without Unrwa and the critical role that it plays,” Nandy said. “All the agencies, including the UK agencies, that work in Gaza rely on its infrastructure and staff and expertise in order to deliver aid.”

In contrast to the current government, Labour fully supports the work of the ICC, which investigates potential war crimes in Gaza, and the ICJ, which is weighing accusations of genocide against Israel and examining the legality of Israel’s 57-year occupation of Palestinian territories.

Britain’s Conservative government has backed the ICC and ICJ scrutiny of Russian actions in Ukraine, but not of Israeli conduct in Gaza.

Nandy said a critical difference between Labour and the Tories on Israel and the occupied territories was that “we are crystal clear that unless international law is upheld, there can be no accountability.

“If there is no accountability, then this is how you end up with a situation where the two-state solution has disappeared before people’s eyes and there is no hope of a meaningful peace process,” she added.

Labour has called on Israel to implement the “provisional measures” ordered by the ICJ in late January, intended to mitigate the risk of genocide.

 

Labour is also calling for the British government to make public its internal legal assessment of Israel’s conduct of the Gaza war, so that parliament can take a view on whether British arms exports should be suspended. The foreign secretary, David Cameron, said in Washington last week that the latest legal assessment “leaves our position on export licences unchanged” but argued that legal advice should be kept confidential.

Nandy acknowledged that there could be legitimate reasons for keeping legal advice secret, but said: “It seems to us that the greater the degree of transparency that can be provided in this situation, the better.

“Both the Israelis and the Palestinians know that we don’t just want to see greater access to aid, but that there are international rules and laws that have to be applied.”

Rishi Sunak’s government is threatening to ignore international law in its effort to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda and has threatened to repeal the Human Rights Act and the European convention on human rights, policies that Labour has pledged to overturn.

“I think the biggest problem is the suspicion from many countries that Britain, and this government in particular, doesn’t respect international law and international norms,” Nandy said. “And that’s something that a Labour government will have to restore.”