#Damascus Gate

[girlactionfigure]

A Border Police officer was lightly wounded in the stabbing attack at the Damascus Gate entrance to Jerusalem's Old City this evening, police say.

According to police, the assailant attacked the officer with a sharp object, before attempting to flee into the Old City.

Other Border Police officers then shot the assailant.

[ophierian-vp]

[eretzyisrael]

Her latest claim came on Sunday when Tlaib responded to a post from the pro-Palestinian nonprofit the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) showing a fight that broke out at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem during Ramadan festivities.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., one of the most notorious anti-Israel House lawmakers, has made numerous wild claims about the Jewish homeland, including being an "apartheid" state that targets Palestinians and claiming a person can’t be progressive if they back Israel. 

IMEU’s tweet Tlaib was responding to accused Israel of "apartheid" and claimed "Israeli soldiers" were attacking "Palestinians celebrating the first day of the holy month of Ramadan in occupied Jerusalem."

"This is the violent apartheid government of Israel," Tlaib claimed in a quote tweet of the post from IMEU.

"Don’t look away," she continued.

However; the Michigan Democrat’s latest baseless online claim against the Israeli government saw her bodied with an information check from Twitter itself revealing the actual cause behind the video.

"Video shows police breaking up a brawl between Palestinian teenagers that broke out at the Damascus Gate," the context box reads, linking out to a Jerusalem Post article on the altercation.

Twitter also fact-checked IMEU’s video, linking to the Jerusalem Post article and a tweet regarding the incident.

Fox News Digital reached out to Tlaib’s office asking if the congresswoman would correct or delete the tweet but received no response.

Twitter users blasted Tlaib’s post, including antisemitism watchdog StopAntisemitism who wrote "Twitter calling out Rashida Tlaib’s lies is a perfect start to the week."

[gaia-aviva]

Damascus Gate

Source: Pictures of Israel by Israeli photographer Noam Chen: Urban Landscapes

[jontycrane]

Jerusalem Old City

One of the holiest and most contentious places on earth, the Old City of Jerusalem is a hugely historic area, significant to Christians, Jews and Muslims. Visiting it can be overwhelming, in terms of the maze of streets and number of people, including many tour groups. There are four main gates into the Old City, and a number of smaller gates. The Damascus Gate was the original entrance to the…

[postcard-from-the-past]

Eastern Gate of Damascus, Syria

French vintage postcard, mailed in 1905

[tritoch]

fuck it. have an enormous oc lore dump. this is the "canon" wol oc i conceived as part of my personal preferred approach in some games to take the game's text as presented, not headcanon away any elements, and, as much as possible, adhere to whatever "definitive" canon as best as can be discerned from what's given as an option. as a comedy bit, I also wanted to make a Warrior of Light who does everything you can do in canon, like an omnijob level 90 did all the raids did all the beast tribes caught every fish did all the relics did every hildi questline kind of WoL. Someone who really does mostly communicate through nods and punch gestures and only says the specific lines you can say in game (except for the scenes, increasingly common in later expacs, where they let you imagine a conversation). I just think it's funny to take an approach to the game that is at once fairly restrained (no elements beyond what is already presented in the lore) and extremely maximalist (yes, he one hundred percent did steal those pants). spoilers through stormblood under the break.

Wolund Anadezhda (not his real name) was born in Bozja in the year 1533 of the Sixth Astral Era to a young gunbreaker in Bozja's army and her husband, a foundling adept of the Verdant Path and fellow soldier. Resolving that their son would not grow up in the shadow of war, the Hrothgar couple resolved to have him sent out of the country shortly after his birth. He grew up instead under the care of his father's adoptive sister, a master of the Verdant Path in her own right, who left Bozja some years prior under uncertain circumstances after a serious injury left her unable to return to the front lines.

The sister (a Sea Wolf Roegadyn) had through various adventures found herself running a Dalmascan caravanserai, a walled inn a day's travel west of the city of Rabanastre. There, she raised Wolund both to run an inn and in the forms of the Verdant Path. Though not a warm woman, she did her best to raise Wolund carefully and lovingly, and honoring her brother and sister-in-law's wishes, tried to shelter him from the horrors of the world. He, in return, idolized her. He received sporadic letters from his parents, at least until Bozja fell. Their ultimate fates are unknown, though Wolund believes that even if they didn't die during the course of the war, they likely died as part of the resistance or in the Bozja Incident.

In the year 1547, 6th AE, Dalmasca is invaded by the IVth Legion. The caravanserai is close enough to the border for the Garlean line to advance past it fairly quickly, and Wolund chooses to remain with his aunt in order to protect her from the occupation as best he could. As Wolund has grown, his aunt has told him stories of the devastation war had wreaked in Bozja, and of the losses she still grieved. She explained to him that students of the Verdant Path such as herself had been targeted by the IVth Legion to be brought in dead or alive in a bid to control their knowledge and break Bozja's ability to resist, and that she had fled the country at her brother's behest to preserve the school's knowledge for future generations. Chafing under Imperial rule, Wolund aspired, at the time, to learn as best he could from her, follow in her footsteps, and do his part to maintain the lineage of the Verdant Path school.

In my conception, the Verdant Path, as a multidisciplinary school that teaches (at least) spear, greatsword, katana, and unarmed combat as part of its tradition, encompasses more of a martial philosophy, conceptual approach to space, and footwork system than a specific set of techniques for various weapons. This is a key element of why Wolund, in order to adhere as closely to the maximum extent of the available canon as possible, can pick up like 19 different martial disciplines, sweet Mary Sue that he is.

As he aged into his late teens and early twenties, Wolund was settling into his role as his aunt's chef, handyman, disciple, and likely future replacement innkeeper, as her war injury made physical labor increasingly difficult. Also around this time, Wolund has a brief engagement with a Keeper of the Moon Mi'qote merchant, part of a tribe of several Keeper families who operated a caravan which plied a route between Rabanastre and Martrvje in Bozja. At her behest, largely as a practical matter on her end though not without some romance, they had a child together, with the intent that, as in most Keeper families, she would raise the child herself, though he would, by grace of the caravan's route, have periodic contact with them both.

Before the child's birth, however, an imperial recruiter looking to fill a quota came through town. And so in the year 1556, 6th AE, at the age of 23, Wolund was conscripted and assigned to the VIth Legion, then a corrupt and disorderly force occupying the relatively peaceful southern coast of Ilsabard. A far cry from Emperor Solus's disciplined armies, the VIth Legion then was scarcely indistinguishable from a private mercenary group answering to local colonial governments.

Wolund struggled after his initial conscription, seething at the prospect of two decades under the Garlean Empire's yoke, fell into despair, and tried to emotionally withdraw. Since he was a quiet, disciplined conscript as well as a young and fairly imposing Hrothgar, his Garlean officers read in him the ready Garleanization that they wished to see. His practiced prowess in the training hall further contrasted his "bestial" appearance in the eyes of the bigoted Garlean officers. In Wolund, they saw a useful tool and status symbol for their occupation.

Consequently, while Wolund's time resembled the expected conscript experience in many respects, it was also marked by unexpected success in the unusual, corrupt environment of the VIth Legion. He spent plenty of time in his first couple of years on hard, undesirable labor, as any conscript would: digging ditches, building infrastructure, policing occupied populations, and, in the singular case of open conflict breaking out, serving on the front lines. However, he stood out from his peers, and he found himself frequently serving as a sort of exotic trophy or bodyguard for increasingly senior officers or local bigwigs. Eventually, he found himself attached to the staff of the legion's 10th Cohort as vexillarius, or standard-bearer, for the cohort's pilus prior. This turned out to be, given his centurion's corruption and close links to the local colonial government, merely a slightly more elevated form of his old work serving as muscle and an imposing presence behind preening dignitaries.

At this point, about six years into his two decades, Wolund's conscription seemed on a steady path to eventual citizenship. For his part, he remained as emotionally disengaged as he could manage, materially secure in his position in the 10th Cohort. The insulated world he built came crashing down in his sixteenth year of service, when crown prince Varis yae Galvus sent his close friend and confidant Regula van Hydrus to reform the corrupt VIth Legion. Many senior officers, including Wolund's centurion, were executed by firing squad for their abuses and indiscretions, with still more clapped in irons and hauled before military tribunals. Efforts to reform the legion's reputedly undisciplined soldiers saw Wolund, like many other conscripts, detached from the VIth in the hopes that reassignment to a more disciplined legion could salvage the conscripts that, in Regula's eyes, the VIth had nearly wrecked. Wolund found himself assigned to the VIIth Legion in 1572, on the eve of Carteneau.

Of Carteneau itself, there is little to say, and what few coherent memories Wolund may have had were taken by Louisoix's magic, along with Eorzea's Warriors of Light. Wolund crawled out of the catastrophe and butchery of the Seventh Umbral Calamity to find himself one of the VIIth's few survivors. Reassigned to the Vth, he served out the rest of his term quietly, though nightmares of Carteneau continued to plague him. While serving in the Vth Legion, he served as a quartermaster and honed his skill in both literacy and sums.

In year 4 of the Seventh Umbral Era, Wolund completed his term of conscription. Engraved and sealed legionary diploma in hand, he made his way to Garlemald itself, where his paperwork was verified and his name added to the citizen's registry. He returned to the caravanserai outside Rabanastre as Wolund pyr Anadezhda. There, he found his aunt, now some 20 years older, and her unexpected apprentice as innkeeper: his own daughter, now a 20-year-old woman and soon to be running the place herself.

For about four months, Wolund tenuously reinserted himself into the daily life of the inn while attempting to form a connection to his daughter and reconnect to his aunt and his daughter's mother. His efforts to begin his life again were cut short when soldiers came sniffing around the caravanserai on the order of a local magistrate, a former officer of the VIth Legion who sought to employ him as a trainer to his household guard. Recognizing that he would not be able to live a life free of the Garlean Empire's boot so long as he remained within their lands, and not wishing to endanger his daughter or aunt by enlisting them in his decision, Wolund simply skipped town one night. He left behind all his possessions except for enough money to see him safely overseas, as well as a letter that stated tersely that he did not wish to be followed. From the caravanserai he made his way by horse to Rabanastre and then to Valnain, where he caught a ride on a merchant ship bound for Hingashi, and from thence to Limsa Lominsa, where he arrived in year 5 of the Seventh Umbral Era.

Upon arriving in Eorzea, Wolund, leaning on his most recent skills in math and reading, as well as his admittedly rusty knowledge of trade goods from his time at the caravanserai, applies to work at the Arcanist's Guild. Everything proceeds as it does in the game from there.

All this is in service of a couple things. First of all, honestly, giving him a big backstory where various bad things happen to him over the course of a long time is primarily in service of dealing with what I think is one of the shakiest scenes in the game: the moment where Fordola accidentally uses the Echo on you and is shocked to her core by the scale of the tragedy you've overcome. I just don't think this makes a lot of sense for the WoL based just on what's depicted in-game, as sad as the events of the Banquet and Haurchefant's and Ysayle's deaths and Minfilia's sacrifice are. Giving him a comparable backstory to Fordola as a legion conscript does a lot, in my book, to smooth out that scene and make its emotional weight land better in my head, as do elements like the death and destruction he witnessed at Carteneau and the stuff about his daughter.

Secondly, in addition to that scene, this is just supposed to help set up a lot of stuff about the WoL I find a little clunky, particularly earlier on. Why does everyone in the Scions immediately glom on to you and decide you're their hero? Well, maybe the WoL is a stoic and outwardly emotionally reassuring older man who's conveniently older than the oldest of the Scions by more than a decade, and he can fill the Louisoix-shaped hole in their hearts that each of them except maybe Y'shtola very obviously has. How are you simultaneously everyone's favorite guy and also a story non-entity? Maybe he's nice and kind to people but very bad at handling and leading them initially (as evidenced by letting Alphinaud sleepwalk you all into a trap at the Banquet), in part because he spent the better part of two decades playing the part of mute imposing muscle for aristocratic officers. And maybe the fact he's consciously silenced himself for 20 years plays into the fact that the Warrior of Light becomes chattier throughout the expansions. Maybe he knows how to wear Garlean conscript armor and operate magitek because he was once a conscript himself. And so on and so forth.

Third, playing by my dumb "canon" rules, the WoL has to come from outside Eorzea. You're arriving by ship or cart and you're clearly unfamiliar with the city-states by the text. However, you also can't come from a lot of known places, since then you're bumping up against the issue that those places will also treat you like a stranger when you arrive in-game. There's no Bozja dialogue for being Hrothgar, but 1) to them it's not weird they'd have no reason to mention it and 2) this is why he isn't culturally Bozjan. Linking the WoL to Dalmasca solves this issue because the only Dalmascans you meet would have no reason to know a random Imperial conscript, you have no real time with them to shoot the shit about culture, we will not go to a functioning Rabanastre ever, and there is no reason you would have wanted to share all this with anyone on board the Prima Vista. Fourth, the WoL is a person of many talents and skills. Chalking up his weapon skills to the Verdant Path and his conscription, and linking his DoH/DoL skills to his upbringing, goes a long way towards helping ground some of that (as much as delightful nonsense can be grounded). Fifth, I think it's really funny to make the Warrior of Light a deadbeat dad. Final Fantasy is so full of bad sad dads already, WoL should get to be one. Lastly, I'm jealous that 1.0 players got to be at Carteneau and I want to bite their style but I refuse to break canon to do so, which means conscript it has to be (since being from a Free or Grand Company would contravene the earlier point about having to be new to Eorzea).

(A note on timelines: ARR begins in the year 5 of the Seventh Umbral Era, which would have been Year 1577 of the Sixth Astral Era. Per the wiki, Bozja is noted to have been invaded some fifty years ago, suggesting a war that begins in 1527 or so, but its conquest is described as happening "over thirty" years ago and multiple places note the campaign as grueling, so I think part of the idea (which gels with the trenches we see in the southern front) is supposed to be that the Bozjan campaign was a brutal and grinding one for the IVth Legion, or that after seizing Bozja proper it still took a long time to stamp out all resistance. Dalmasca was invaded 30 years ago in 1547, also by the IVth Legion, presumably fairly soon after stabilizing their grip on Bozja. I don't think there's any time given for when Regula goes to the VIth and reforms it, but since they only clear their tainted reputation in the succession war following Solus's death, I figure he can't have been there that long and he makes a convenient reason to move Wolund around, so five years approximately concurrent with the 1.0 to 2.0 timeskip seems like a decent timeline for his reform.)

[pabloknives]

[drastrochris]

One of my favorite things about the Assassin's Creed games is when you 100% fuck up, and through sheer luck manage to murder everyone before they murder you.

If I were a Hidden One, I'd be dead on my first mission.

[girlactionfigure]

[drchucktingle]

posted this before camp damascus and im postin it again as tingleverse continues to defy expectations. BURY YOUR GAYS is comin like a tumblin wave of outsider art and sincerity, crashin gates and bending timelines ALL thanks to you.

this will be always be an EVERGREEN meme in some form or another because the strange buckaroos will always be doubted in SOME WAY and that will always be to the detriment of those who do not see their power. the power of buckaroo love and sincerity and joy cannot be stopped

LETS TROT preorder here

[matan4il]

Update post:

It's exactly six months since the start of the war. Six months since the worst massacre of Jews post WWII. Six months since the worst tragedy in Israeli history, for Jewish and non-Jewish citizens, and for non-citizens who happened to be here. Six months of still not understanding how it could happen. Six months of looking for a way to comprehend that the age of defenceless Jews being mass tortured, raped and murdered isn't behind us. Six months of watching people deny the murders, the rapes, the intentionality of these crimes, the identity of the perpetrators, the pain that we feel, the fact that on October 7 we were the victims, all of which denies our very humanity. Six months of even more Israelis getting killed, soldiers and civilians, in Israel and in Gaza. Six months of wanting my people back. All of them. Alive. The kidnapped and the massacred. Like having an adult's brain, which understands the finality of death, and a child's heart, which doesn't. Six months of trying to process images and realities I will never forget, and never understand. Six months of watching with horror as my Jewish brothers and sisters abroad are being targeted as well, of searching for ways to stand with them even from afar. Six months of hearing some non-Jews (and a minority of Jewish people) acting as if Israelis' right to live is dependent on how many Gazans the antisemitic, genocidal terrorists of Hamas manage to get killed, in order to turn the world against us. Six months of having to realize those terrorists, who never made it a secret that their intents for every Jew in the world are genocidal, might succeed. Six months of wondering how the Holocaust, the genocide perpetrated against the Jews for being Jewish, is being hijacked, distorted, and All Lives Matter'ed, by the same people who would have screamed against how wrong that is, if it were done to any other marginalized group. Six months of finding comfort in the compassion, strength and solidarity of the Jewish People, of the Israelis, and of our true allies. Six months of working to allow joy in again, even as the pain doesn't let go for a second. Six months of having to face the devastating fact, that the family scars, born out of millennia of antisemitism, are not going to stop with this generation, either. Six months of experiencing the betrayal of people who were supposed to be friends, and to listen, and to know better. Six months of discovering that there is no limit to the human heart's ability to break. Six months of grieving every day like it's the first one, because October 7 never ended here. Six months of knowing I will never be the same, right from the start, from the very first horror video I happened to come across online. Six months of never being more Jewish in my life, or closer to what my Holocaust survivor grandparents had gone through, or more broken, or stronger, or prouder, or braver, or more full of love, for my people, for my friends, for my heritage as a Jew that teaches choosing to hold up even one little light, because in a world so full of darkness, so willing to embrace it, nothing matters more than the light we choose.

<- -> <- -> <- ->

Yet another Palestinian terrorist attack happened today. Two people were shot by the terrorist attacking vehicles driving by, and one of the vistims, a 19 years old female soldier, is said to be in serious condition. The other victim is a 50 years old man. The army is in pursuit of the terrorist.

We learned that yesterday, four more Israeli soldiers were killed during the fighting in Gaza, bringing the totaly number of fatalities in the ground operation to 260, and in the war and Hamas massacre combined to 604. May their memory be a blessing.

A 17 years old Palestinian was detained, searched and then arrested yesterday at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, when they found a concealed knife taped to his body, stopping him before he was able to carry out a terrorist attack. In a Facebook post, he talked about martyrdom and the road to heaven, a message typical of Jihadists.

Liri Albag is one of the four young Israeli female hostages, who were featured on the cover of the Daily Mail, showing them before the kidnapping, and just several hours after. Her family was sent a funeral laurel wreath, and security forces believe this was done by Iran, as part of its psychological warfare against Israeli civilians.

Here's another reminder that Hamas operates outside of Israel, and is a danger to all Jews, not just to all Israelis. This week, German and Dutch police jointly arrested four Hamas terrorists. While investigating their intent to launch attacks during Christmas, these forces ended up uncovering a Hamas weapons cache in southern Bulgaria, meant to be used against Jewish targets in Europe.

This is 47 years old Elad Katzir.

He was a farmer, and a passionate soccer fan. On Oct 7, his dad Rami was murdered in their community of kibbutz Nir Oz. His mother Chana was abducted, then released during the hostage deal, at the end of November 2023. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) claimed she was murdered, but it turned out they lied. Yesterday, we got the news that Elad, who was also kidnapped with his mom by the PIJ, was murdered in captivity, likely back in January. Intel that the IDF had collected led soldiers in a risky operation to the spot where Elad's body was buried. They brought him back home. As he volunteered so much, in so many domains, with so many people, his friends described him as, "a bachelor with many children."

May his memory be a blessing.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[gaia-aviva]

Wall Gate

photographed by Israel Bardugo

[huariqueje]

Damascus Gate - Khaled Hourani , 2022.

Palestinian , b. 1965 -

Acrylic on canvas , 40 x 50 cm. 15.7 x 19.7 in.

[postcard-from-the-past]

Bab Sharqi gate in Damascus, Syria

Turkish vintage postcard

[arioloyal]

Could you please write a fanfiction based on previous request of obsessive insecure Baldwin IV with female reader

I'll accept this idea since all of you are in love with his obsessive mood but I warn you, it's angst :) but don't worry, I'll do fluff one next time♡

(King baldwin iv x reader one shot)

Warning: angst, mention of blood and d🥀eath

:"I thought that you kept me by your side until now just because of your interest in me"...

:"It's not what you think, I have kept you until now so that I can keep the peace between Jerusalem and your father's empire . Believe me. It's good for both of us."

:"How could you be so selfish like your father?...

:"I'm not!...

"Please... let me go. I have to go back to my family. My father is surely mad with that. I beg you."

:"what about me?"...

Teardrops appeared like a shaky curtain in front of y/n's large and beautiful eyes. Her mouth was open and ready for another protest, but no words came out.

While holding both of y/n's hands in his own, the half-life king, in a sudden movement, weakness overcame his strength and fell to his knees.

"You thought I would let you go? I will never let you be separated from me.

:"I...it really breaks my heart to think that I've only been here as a hostage until now. I swear I'll get out of here anyway."

:"I am ready to k*ill you with my own hands, but I will never let you leave here. Your whole body and soul belong here. And also to me. Only me."

.....

:" god help me!... My legs can't take it anymore. How much left?...

"My lady! Now we are approaching the gate of Damascus, but the front of the gate is full of guard knights. It seems that the king has heard of your escape."

:".....

"My lady, do you have any idea?"

:"We have to wait for a convoy so that we can impersonate them and pass through this gate. A convoy is coming from far away. Hurry up and tell them that we will join them from now on. don't Tell them our real name. Hurry up."

:"Obeyed, my lady."

They finally managed to convince the head of the caravan to join their trade caravan. It wasn't long before the sound of fast hooves could be heard, kicking up dust on their way. After the guards finished inspecting the convoy, a man's loud voice broke the silence.

:"Stop! Nobody move!"

And that was the exact moment that panic sent shivers down y/n's spine. her eyes widened. This was the voice of Tiberias who had come here with his knights. There could not have been a worse disaster.

:"What happened, Lord Tiberias?! It's usually very rare to see you among the caravans!" The leader of the caravan stated with an almost mocking and sweet tone.

:"We're looking for a lady! She's tall and fair-faced. With dark,long curly hair. Have you seen such a person here? Has she asked you for help? If so, hand her over to us, or I'll confiscate this caravan and get you all in prison."

His strong words and threats caused a wave of protest and panic among the people who were there. Y/n would never let innocent people be sacrificed for her. There, she gathered all her courage and surrendered to God's will. she suddenly came forward from the crowd and shouted...

:"Wait!..." y/n took off her veil and black turban. For a few moments, breaths caught in their chests and all the knights stared at their king's lover in surprise.

..

Finally accompanied by Tiberias and his knights, Y/n arrived at the entrance gate of the palace. That palace was like a hell that had no escape and the owner of such a beautiful hell was a masked ghost whose blood stained eyes were visible under the mask.

Soldiers and knights were lined up on either side of Baldwin, all the templars, lord Lusignan and some nobles were also there. Was this a greeting? Or a trial?

:"my lord. We found Lady y/n trying to escape from Damascus Gate. This was her third failed attempt to escape."

Baldwin IV didn't seem to pay attention to what Tiberias was saying and the whole time he was staring at y/n who was now helplessly looking down at the ground.

:"Didn't I tell you some time ago that I won't let you go?"

:"My love for you was undeniable. But you abused my love and chose selfishness. I will never stay here as a hostage. I won't stay where I don't belong."

Everyone present witnessed their conversation when suddenly y/n turned away from the leper king and looked towards the exit gate. ready to leave for good.

:"STAY THERE!" His loud and scary voice made the heart beat in everyone's chest. In an unexpected move, he took Tiberias's sword with his good right hand. Everyone there looked in horror at the king approaching y/n and now standing in front of her. No one dared to speak.

:"If you take one more step..." The hand that was holding the sword started shaking. he wished this wasn't the last resort.

Unfortunately, y/n moved forward without listening to him. A tear fell from her eye at the last moment...

That was the moment...

y/n's scream echoed there. No thoughts, no words. just pain the pain. just pain.

There was nothing she could do but helplessly hold her hand to her stomach to stop the warm, red liquid from running down her long dress. The king's sword was stained with blood...

Her knees was getting weaker by the minute. Y/n was hugged by baldwin iv before she fell to the ground. The king, who was now out of his instincts, just realized what a disaster he had caused. He had sent his lover to d*eath.

:"No...n...no! I..I didn't mean to...I was wrong...forgive me. Please...forgive me my y/n. My beautiful white rose, Forgive me..." he sobbed nonstop and begged like a little boy.

:"Still... I still love you... poor you... poor me..."

:" Y/N!!"....