Nadene Goldfoot
Back in Biblical days, the Kingdom of Assyria had kidnapped 27,290 Israelites. Why did they do this? They became the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. Assyrian cuneiform states that 27,290 captives were taken from Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, by the hand of Sargon II.
Tiglath-pileser III was the king of Assyria from 745-726 BCE. It was actually a policy he introduced of exiling hostile people of conquered countries. In 743 he invaded northern Syria and levied tribute on King Menahem of Israel. In 734 he invaded Philistia, conquered Damascus in 733, seized much of Israel, banished people of Galilee to Transjordan, forced King Ahaz of Judah to pay tribute.
Jehu pays tribute. Archaeologists have found a stone carving that shows King Jehu of Israel paying tribute to Shalmaneser III, king of Assyria. Known as the Black Obelisk, it depicts Jehu bowing to the ground in front of Shalmaneser.. A tribute is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of land which the state conquered or otherwise threatened to conquer.
He also took tribute also from Amnon, Moab and Edom. Later he had control of Babylon where he ruled under the name of Pul.
This is one of the many instances of the resettlement policy of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian monarchs Tiglath-Pileser III and Shalmaneser V. The later Assyrian rulers Sargon II and his son and successor, Sennacherib, were responsible for finishing the twenty-year demise of Israel's northern ten-tribe kingdom, although they did not overtake the Kingdom of Judah. Jerusalem was besieged, but not taken. The tribes forcibly resettled by Assyria later became known as the Ten Lost Tribes.
As we have seen, the Assyrian resettlement policy divided existing communities into those who had to stay and those who had to leave, according to the needs of the state. Populations were relocated within the boundaries of the empire, replacing and being replaced by people who were themselves moved.
Forced resettlement could refer to very different scenarios. It is probably closest to our modern notion of a deportation when we read in an inscription of the Assyrian king Sargon II (721-705 BC) that in 720 BC he pardoned "6,300 guilty Assyrians" and had them settle in Hamat PGP , a city in Syria and formerly the capital of an eponymous kingdom which had been defeated and integrated into the Assyrian Empire some ten years before. During the tumultuous time of Sargon's ascent to the throne, the Assyrians in question had opposed his rise to power; after the struggle for control was decided in his favour, they had to be removed from the empire's power centre. Deporting them to Hamat achieved this, and by rebuilding the ruined but formerly important city, they were also meant to repay the mercy of their king, who could have had them executed for their disloyalty. Hamat Geder is Gadara, an ancient town near the river Yarmuk in Jordan, had become important to Greek culture; could be Hamat.
As we have seen, elites from newly subjugated areas were resettled in the Assyrian heartland to the economic and cultural benefit of the empire, and disgraced Assyrians were deported (rather than killed) in order to redeem themselves as colonists in the king's service. For all these people, relocation was meant to provide a better future while at the same time benefitting the empire, and not just economically. Of course, the relocation of these people was also an effective way of minimizing the risk of rebellions and insurrections against central authority.
You have to hand it to these ancient rulers. Life was special, not to be wasted. This excluded killing people, and the captured knew of the policy, so hadn't fought so hard against the invaders.
Central American migrants, mostly Hondurans, remained at the international bridge that connects Tecún Umán, Guatemala, with Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, on Monday. Tension intensified Monday at Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala as thousands of Central American migrants forded the shallow waters of the Suchiate River in an attempt to continue their march to the U.S. Mexican security forces used tear gas to break up a group of about 2,000 migrants, most of them Hondurans fleeing poverty and violence, who attempted to enter Mexico after being denied access on Saturday and earlier Monday. PHOTO: CARLOS ALONZO/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Are the Democrats doing the same thing with the Mexicans? Taking them into the country gives the Democrats future voters. I know that happened to we Jewish people, but the door to Jews closed in the early 20s.
The period of immigration came to an end with the passage of restrictive laws in 1921 and 1924. Jewish emigration from Eastern Europe to the United States never again reached the levels that it did before 1920. Roosevelt wasn't president until 1933 and died in 1945, ending his presidency. Those who managed to get the door open for them credited him for it, so became thankful Democrats like my Dad.
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