(Wall Street Journal) Eliora Katz - On Thursday Jews celebrate Purim, the tale of the Jews' narrow escape from extermination in Persia's Achaemenid Empire in the fifth century BCE, a millennium before the rise of Islam. The Book of Esther tells how King Xerxes selects Esther as his new queen, who conceals her Jewishness. The king's advisor, Haman, persuades the king to exterminate all the Jews of Persia. Esther audaciously reveals her identity and everything turns upside down. Xerxes orders Haman hanged, and the Jews defeat their enemies in a two-day war across the Persian provinces. Last year Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Russia's President Vladimir Putin: "Today there is an attempt by Persia's heir, Iran, to destroy the state of the Jews. They say this as clearly as possible and inscribe it on their ballistic missiles."
2018-02-28 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive