I'm slightly curious why this episode is getting more attention than the last 2000 years

[Snooper9]

Fundies on all sides guarantee this will continue for another 2000 years---

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Jerusalem
During its long history, Jerusalem has been attacked 52 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, besieged 23 times, and destroyed twice.[1] The oldest part of the city was settled in the 4th millennium BCE, making Jerusalem one of the oldest cities in the world.[2]

Given the city's central position in both Israeli nationalism and Palestinian nationalism, the selectivity required to summarize more than 5,000 years of inhabited history is often influenced by ideological bias or background (see "Historiography and nationalism&quot .[3] For example, the Jewish periods of the city's history are important to Israeli nationalists, whose discourse states that modern Jews originate and descend from the Israelites,[Note 1][Note 2] while the Islamic periods of the city's history are important to Palestinian nationalists, whose discourse suggests that modern Palestinians descend from all the different peoples who have lived in the region.[Note 3][Note 4] As a result, both sides claim the history of the city has been politicized by the other in order to strengthen their relative claims to the city,[3][8][9] and that this is borne out by the different focuses the different writers place on the various events and eras in the city's history.

[MutantAndProud]

1. So my two controversial cents...

Are that… for the region, it certainly is one of the oldest available cities… but there were others. Which are now buried under layers of silt and debris from natural and man made disasters. So. That’s why. The other foci got smudged off the lens, and the people that preferred them were as well by the ones who liked the other cities better.

If you’re looking for more complexity… please tune in to Survival and Celebrity Apprentice…

[Snooper9]

2. Well, the worst part is---

Jerusalem had (and has) no natural resources (including water) or fertile land. It was not located on major trade routes. It had no natural topographical defenses. It is situated on a range of hills running north to south between the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the Jordan Rift Valley to the east.

[MutantAndProud]

5. Quite.

Like the Las Vegas of the Levant, but worse. Built it and they will come and also never leave. The more expensive precious resources you haul in and the longer people stay, the less likely they are to give up on it even if it takes and takes and takes.

[Kaleva]

13. The Gihon Spring supplied the ancient city with water

The presence of the spring was a big reason for why Jerusalem was built where it is.

[MutantAndProud]

21. Oh right I forgot

I didn’t take a second to double check that, I knew there was one somewhere in Israel, but it definitely isn’t enough for that population density

[usonian]

3. More attention because the doomsday clock has advanced to 90 seconds to midnight

https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/current-time/

Two nuclear powers are at active war. More? I don't know.

[GReedDiamond]

4. That's 90 Seconds to Midnight...nt

[usonian]

6. Fixed. It's very late. 60 seconds to 11. PM

[GReedDiamond]

7. I wish it was 90 minutes, that would be much better, I think...nt

[newdayneeded]

16. To me the doomsday clock has lost its bite.

They over exagerrated the position so that now they can only move maybe 5 or 10 seconds at a time. Just doesn't have the impact as if it were quarter too, and moved it to 10 too.

[RockRaven]

8. Have you considered that global telecommunications and audio/video recording may play a role?

Most of the time -- historically speaking -- hardly any human on earth was ever contemporaneously aware of anything happening in that location, whether their opinion of said events would have been good or ill or indifferent...

[Jirel]

9. This is my least favorite, bigoted argument to not get engaged.

Newsflash:all of history has been the history of war and conflict, meaningful and meaningless, including the history of Europe, where most of the people yammering this argument have their roots.

Let’s try a few other examples on for size:

Why are people giving so much attention to the Russian invasion of Ukraine? The Russians and Ukrainians, or their forebearers, have been at each other for the last 1,200 years!

Why were people giving so much attention to the dropping of nukes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? The Japanese empire has been attacking and being repelled by other nations and peoples since 600 BC!

Why was everyone so upset about Hitler? After all, the Germanic tribes have been annexing their neighbors since the 4th century!

These arguments sound pretty damned stupid, don’t they? Well, so does the question about why this episode in the Middle East is getting so much attention despite a long history of conflicts.

We KNOW why we pay attention to the ugly wars and conflicts around the world, regardless of how many times history has repeated itself - it’s because people matter, their suffering matters, the inhumanity of people/movements/governments matters, and the effect on global politics matters. But it seems like we just love to go on, most often about such conflicts in the Middle East, and then (assuming that we American exceptionalists even pay attention enough to note their existence) about those in Africa, saying “Oh, here they go again, they’ve been fighting each other for 2000 years,” and wave a dismissive hand to get out of having to think about the issues that are as relevant to everyone on the globe as watching two skyscrapers fall in NYC or a potential nuclear showdown in Cuba.

[Doodley]

14. Beautifully stated.

[Xolodno]

10. You should read this...

https://www.amazon.com/Jerusalem-Biography-Simon-Sebag-Montefiore/dp/0307280500

Its helpful understanding the mess it is. Genetic testing confirmed what many already knew, Israeli's and Palestinians are related. Turkey has records of the Ottoman Empire where entire Jewish villages converted to Islam. Nor should it be a surprise since the two religions had a number of similarities. Plus it didn't help that the blood thirsty Christians during the Crusades slaughtered not just Muslims, but Jews and Orthodox Christians.

Most incorrectly assume that Rome exiled all of Palestine of the Jewish people. No, they didn't. Just those that survived in Jerusalem and the main areas of the province of Judah. Galilee and other areas were left intact.

Of course, neither side will acknowledge it.

[BlueMTexpat]

11. Too many

like to forget this.

[JCMach1]

15. Scale... Hamas is tiny, think a less capable Connecticut National Guard

With some extra rocket enthusiasts from Bridgeport thrown in... Yet, they inflicted heavy, heavy damage on a modern nation state.

The only silver lining here is it will probably finish Hamas AND Netanyahu.

[uponit7771]

17. +1, "will probably finish Hamas AND Netanyahu."....this is my prayer...

[Chainfire]

18. It is the battle of gods to determine who dominates who.

All based upon the superstition we call religion. "My god is better than your god, and we will kill you to prove it."

[Torchlight]

19. Immediate world-wide dissemination of video and text

would be by first guess. What took six months to travel the globe and filter down to the common person in years past is now instantaneous and prolific, with pre-made editorials, narratives, and bullet points provided upon entry; all the better for anyone to find validation for the opinion that suits us best.

[sl8]

20. If you broke a leg 20 years ago, and broke a leg yesterday, which would hold your attention more?

That's aside from the massive increase in the dissemination of information in the last couple of thousand years.

"Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication"

[womanofthehills]

22. The internet - hundreds of photos of dead & injured young children on Twitter & TicToc -

Pretty horrific. Everyone posts their war photos.