Zachi Zweig gives his perspective on the “Material from First Temple Period found on Temple Mount” story. Zweig works with Barkay on the Temple Mount Debris Sifting project and his website on The Temple Mount Archaeological Destruction has done the most to make the issues known to the public.
Lake Huleh is located north of the Sea of Galilee. Most of the Huleh basin was drained in the 1950s, but a small portion of the lake was preserved to become Israel’s first national nature reserve. This is the beginning of an article from KKL-JNF (link to specific article down at time of writing):
Cranes have become familiar guests at Hula Lake. During Israel’s autumn and winter months—October to March—there are an average of 10,000—30,000 cranes at the lake every day. Recently, a new daily record was set at Hula Lake—41,600 cranes in one day, as compared to last year’s record of 32,000, a 30% increase!
Watching the cranes is indeed a magnificent sight but besides the food placed for them in the lake area, they also eat seeds in nearby fields and cause a great deal of damage to local agriculture. With the increase of cranes remaining in the region, the importance of the crane-feeding project also increased, including leaving them food in agricultural areas earmarked for this purpose.
Zamir Carmi, field crops coordinator for Upper Galilee, noted that the crane-feeding project is a joint endeavor of Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund [KKL-JNF] and other green organizations, but there is a budget deficit of 400,000 shekels [US $103,000], and the farmers have to chase the cranes away from the fields by running after them, playing loud music and waving brightly colored flags.
Cranes on Lake Huleh
