B"H, it's good for the Jews

Could you use some good news? Yeah, me too. Here it is:
Kofi Annan's term expires Dec. 31st.

(IsraelNN.com) Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday praised the appointment of South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon to be the new U.N. Secretary General.

“I received a very positive impression of him,” he said in an interview with the NRG news service. “With respect to Israel, he has a great deal of understanding and sympathy for the Israeli positions.”

Gillerman said he expects Ki-Moon to be pro-Israel in his new position at the head of the U.N. “I believe that he will be a very thoughtful, professional man, with a clear vision of the arena. People who are serious are good for us, by definition,” he added.

And here's some more good news, with "almost messianic implications."

British Historian Claims to Have Found the Temple Treasures

What happened to the 50 tons of gold, silver and sacred treasures looted from Herod's Temple following the Roman legionnaires' sack of Jerusalem on Tisha b'Av in the year 70 CE?

The Arch of Titus in Rome, erected shortly after the death of Titus who reigned as emperor from 79 to 81, clearly depicts Roman soldiers bearing on their shoulders the golden candelabrum, silver trumpets and bejewelled Table of the Divine Presence which the Roman emperor Vespasian and his son Titus carted back to Rome as trophies of war. Between 75 CE and the early 5th century, the treasure remained on public display in the Temple of Peace in Rome's Forum. Many Jews believe – almost as an article of faith – that the Temple artifacts remain there in Rome, secreted away in vaults beneath the Vatican.

But in a newly published book, British historian Sean Kingsley, basing himself on untapped historical texts and new archaeological sources, argues that the treasures were removed from Rome after the Vandal invasion of 455 CE.

Kingsley, whose book God's Gold: The Quest for the Lost Temple Treasure of Jerusalem was released October 5 by John Murray, says that the loot was first taken to Carthage in Tunisia, then to Hippo Regius in Algeria, and on to Constantinople – today known as Istanbul, Turkey, before finally being returned to the Holy Land in the mid 6th century. At that time, the treasures were ultimately hidden in the Judean wilderness, beneath the remote Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. Theodosius, 12 km east of Bethlehem.

It's a plausible argument that has almost messianic implications. If the Temple treasures were retrieved, the discovery could help lead to the actual rebuilding of the Temple, the resumption of biblical sacrifice – and the coming of the Messiah.

“One thing is for sure – it is not imprisoned deep in Vatican City. I am the first person to prove that the Temple treasures no longer languish in Rome,” says Kingsley, an expert on the East Mediterranean economy in Late Antiquity

.... According to Kingsley, "The treasure resonates fiercely across modern politics. Since the mid-1990s, a heated political wrangle has been simmering between the Vatican and Israel, which has accused the papacy of imprisoning the treasure.

"The Temple treasure remains a deadly political tool in the volatile Arab-Israeli conflict centered on the Temple Mount [the site of the Jewish Temple and the Muslim Dome of the Rock].

"The treasure's final hiding place - in the modern West Bank ... deep in Hamas territory - will rock world religions."

More here.