Archaeologists have uncovered a 2,000‑year‑old Jewish ritual bath beneath the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem that bears ash and destruction debris from the Roman conquest of the city in 70 C.E., officials said.

The find, announced Monday by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, lies just west of where pilgrims once entered the Temple Mount, offering a rare physical link to everyday life in late Second Temple Jerusalem.

The mikveh, hewn into the bedrock, measures approximately 10 feet long; 4 feet, 5 inches wide; and 6 feet, 1 inch high, with four steps leading into the bath. It was found sealed beneath a destruction layer dated to the year 70 C.E., filled with ash, pottery shards and stone vessels.

“Jerusalem should be remembered as a Temple city,” Ari Levy, the excavation director for the Israel Antiquities Authority, said in the announcement. “As such, many aspects of daily life were adapted to this reality, and this is reflected especially in the meticulous observance of the laws of ritual impurity and purity by the city’s residents and leaders.” Levy noted that stone vessels, which do not contract ritual impurity under Jewish law, were common in the area.

Heritage Minister Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu said the discovery “strengthens our understanding of how deeply intertwined religious life and daily life were in Jerusalem during the Temple period” and underlined the importance of continuing archaeological research in the city.

Mordechai (Suli) Eliav, director of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, described the mikveh and its contents as a vivid historical testament: “The exposure of a Second Temple period ritual bath beneath the Western Wall Plaza, with ashes from the destruction at its base, testifies like a thousand witnesses to the ability of the people of Israel to move from impurity to purity, from destruction to renewal.”

Researchers say the mikveh likely served both local residents and the many pilgrims who visited the Temple in the years leading up to the Roman siege.

This article originally appeared on JTA.org.

The post Mikveh unearthed beneath Western Wall plaza shows evidence of Temple’s destruction appeared first on The Forward.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center), Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides (left), and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis hold a joint press conference after a trilateral meeting at the Citadel of David Hotel in Jerusalem, Dec. 22, 2025. Photo: ABIR SULTAN/Pool via REUTERS

Greece, Israel, and Cyprus will step up joint air and naval exercises in the eastern Mediterranean in 2026, deepening their defense cooperation, Greek military officials and a senior source said on Monday.

The three eastern Mediterranean nations have drawn closer over the past decade through joint military drills, defense procurement, and energy cooperation, developments closely watched by regional rival Turkey.

Greece’s armed forces general staff (GEETHA) said senior military officials from the three countries signed a joint action plan for defense cooperation last week in Cyprus. It gave no further details.

The deal follows a meeting in Jerusalem between Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at which they signed a deal to strengthen maritime security cooperation and advance energy interconnection projects.

A senior Greek official familiar with the matter said the military deal would encompass joint naval and air exercises and the transfer of know-how from Israel to Greece and Cyprus to address both “asymmetrical” and “symmetrical” threats.

“Greece and Israel will intensify joint exercises after the ceasefire in Gaza, with Cyprus participating,” the official said, adding that Greece plans to join Israel’s Noble Dina naval exercise in the coming months in the eastern Mediterranean.

There was no immediate comment from the Cypriot government, but a key opposition party, the Communist AKEL, expressed misgivings. “Mr. Christodoulides proceeds to deepen military-political cooperation with Israel without considering the risks and consequences of this choice,” it said in a statement.

Greece and Cyprus have already purchased missile systems from Israel worth billions of euros. Athens is also in talks to buy from Israel medium- and long-range anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic missile systems for a planned multi-layer air and drone defense system known as the “Achilles Shield,” estimated to cost about 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion).

This month, the Greek parliament approved the purchase of 36 PULS rocket artillery systems from Israel to bolster defenses along Greece’s northeastern border with Turkey and on Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.

A woman keeps a candle next to flowers laid as a tribute at Bondi Beach to honor the victims of a mass shooting that targeted a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach on Sunday, in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Flavio Brancaleone

The city of Sydney, Australia, changed plans on Monday for its New Year’s Eve celebration to include a projection of a menorah on Harbour Bridge in honor of the 15 victims of the Bondi Beach terror attack during Hanukkah, following pressure by Jewish-Australian cultural figures.

Sydney Mayor Clover Moore announced last week initial plans to have the Sydney Harbour Bridge pylons illuminated in white with an image of a dove with the word “peace” shortly before 9 pm on New Year’s Eve this Wednesday. The bridge would then, according to the plans, be illuminated again at 11 pm “in a warm light,” and a moment of silence would be held on the ground and during the New Year’s Eve broadcast on the network ABC. Crowds were invited to switch on their phone lights in a show of solidarity with the Jewish community.

The gesture was meant to “show the Jewish community that we stand with them, and that we reject violence, fear and antisemitism,” said Moore. “These moments will provide an opportunity for people to show respect, to reflect on the atrocity, and to say we will not let this hateful act of terror divide us.”

However, plans were changed to include a projection of a menorah on the bridge after more than 30 Jewish-Australian cultural figures published an open letter on Monday that urged Moore to project a more “Jewish-specific symbol” to commemorate the victims of the Bondi Beach mass shooting on Dec. 14, the first night of Hanukkah. They asked “that the particularism of the victims be acknowledged rather than erased,” according to ABC, which obtained a copy of the open letter.

“We believe this dignity would be afforded to the victims of any other terrorist attack that targeted a specific community. Only when we clearly name the problem of anti-Jewish hatred in Australia can we hope to overcome it,” the letter stated in part. “The selection of this word [peace], coupled with the dove, without any specific reference to the targeting of the Jewish community, prolongs our erasure and obfuscates the problem of domestic antisemitism. We acknowledge the City of Sydney’s plan as a gesture of remembrance, and agree with the need for such a gesture; however, we consider the imagery and word chosen to be insufficient as they do not acknowledge the Jewish particularity of the Bondi massacre.”

Signatories of the open letter included Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks, ARIA award winner Deborah Conway, Archibald Prize winner Yvette Coppersmith, and members of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. The group members also claimed their warnings about antisemitism had been overlooked by “generic calls for peace” during the last two years.

After publication of the open letter, Moore said the Harbour Bridge will project a menorah at 11 pm on New Year’s Eve, ABC reported. The co-creator of the open letter, producer and director Danny Ben-Moshe, applauded the move in a Facebook post on Monday.