Israel wonders whether to have a truce.

The Israeli war enters its 12 day of conflict as the death toll mounts. Several Israeli shells hit the United Nations school in Gaza killing many women and children. The world has been putting pressure onto Israel to stop the war and have a truce, but Israel is determined to put and end to the Hamas firing rockets into the civilian areas of Israel. Meanwhile, the Hamas continue to fire rockets into Israel. The rockets have reached further than before, one even reaching 20 miles from Tel Aviv. The military identified two Hamas operatives, Imad Abu Asker and Hassan Abu Asker, as having been killed. The Israeli war has left many dead or wounded and is one of the major issues for the week. The United Nations spokesman has said that an independent inquiry will be carried out and that the people who were found to have broken the humanitarian laws will be brought to justice.

Ben Hur movie

I learned that the slaves on the Battleships had to row in time with the drum beats and that they had many different speeds like battle speed and ramming speed. The ships also shot fire catapults at their enemies and they used sword and shields to fight in close range combat. They also used the front of their ship to ram into other ships and destroy them. The slaves who rowed the ship were also tied to it with metal chains. If the ship sank, then all the slaves on the ship would die and they would be whipped if they tried to escape from the ship. However I realized that most of the men on the ships were not very strong or muscular and that they were pushed to their limits. They were also whipped if they did not row the ship.

I also learned that in the ancient times Chariot racing was very popular, like soccer, and that if you were a good chariot racer then you would be very well known and very wealthy. Ben seems to be a very good chariot racer and is adopted by one of the Roman councils. He becomes very wealthy and is no longer looked down as a slave but people talk to him and treat him like their friends. I think this demonstrates how bad slavery is in Rome in the ancient days as the slaves are treated badly and left to die while the rich people have parties and go to the colosseum for entertainment. This shows that life in ancient rome is based solely on the class system the people were in. 

Israel war with Gazza

The Israeli war with Gaza has gone into it's 11th day with both sides having casualties. The war started when the Hamas started shooting missiles into Israel. The Israeli authorities waited for a few days but eventually gave up any peace talk and sent the military in. The Israeli military which is one of the strongest in the world has been capturing and killing many Hamas. The Hamas claim that they have killed at least 30 Israelis but the Israelis have claimed to have killed at least 130 Hamas.

There is also a rumor going around that the Israeli have sent a phone call to every phone in Gaza which says that they are going to wipe out the Hamas. This contradicts the Israeli prime ministers claims that they are only trying to stop the missiles that are being launched into Israel. The Israeli army has already proved to be one of the top armies in the world and even though they are surrounded by Muslim countries they are still the most feared country in that region. The Israeli army has been conducting bombings on the tunnels that the Hamas used to transport their missiles. 

Movie about ancient Rome

The Ben Hur movie shows that the ancient romans wore their armor according to their ranks. For example the high ranking officials have capes and they have head helmets to wear that have different signs on their helms. For example the soldiers wore helmets that had straight rows of red hair on the helms. The higher ranking Generals had helmets that had bushy manes on top of them which looked like horse's manes. They were also the only ones who were allowed to ride on horses so I think that the helmet shows who were the higher ranking people who could use the horses of the roman empire. The body armor also came with differences in as they varied in ranks. The soldiers had silver armor. The high ranking Generals had gold color armor. They also had emblems on their armor but I could not see it clearly so I think that it also had something to do with the ranks. The normal people like the Jews wore clothing that looked very thin and could be torn easily. The rich Jews were able to have slaves but looking at Ben Hur I think that they treated their slaves like their friends. I think that the Romans were not that kind to their slaves. The video also showed that the Romans gave some "condemned" man their lives if they worked on the battleships that Rome had. This was shown in the scene where the Roman soldier would say that the men were condemned to death and they were only given their lives if they were to work on the Roman battleship and row the battleship.

I discussed this post with Duke.