On top of it, U.S. Secretary Marco Rubio’s high-profile tour was orchestrated to cement a “shared Judeo-Christian history” in Jerusalem.
On top of it, U.S. Secretary Marco Rubio’s high-profile tour was orchestrated to cement a “shared Judeo-Christian history” in Jerusalem.
By Halim Gençoğlu
In Jerusalem today, archaeology has been weaponized. What should be the impartial study of the past has been turned into a tool of identity politics, land grabs, and sovereignty claims. Cultural heritage is not only being destroyed—it is being rewritten. And nowhere is this clearer than in the battle over Jerusalem, where history itself has become the front line of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Officials from the Israel Antiquities Authority now trail Israeli soldiers as they enter occupied areas, pretending to search for antiquities. But rarely has the manipulation of archaeology been as blatant as it was this past month. U.S. Secretary Marco Rubio’s high-profile tour was orchestrated to cement a “shared Judeo-Christian history” in Jerusalem, a political performance aimed at binding the Republican Party’s Evangelical base with Israel’s right-wing leadership. Meanwhile, in Gaza, archaeological treasures face annihilation.
Netanyahu and Rubio were joined by Evangelical pastor Mike Huckabee—an outspoken advocate of Israel’s expansion who once declared, “There is no such thing as a Palestinian.” Huckabee rejects the internationally recognized term “West Bank,” preferring instead the biblical “Judea and Samaria,” the language of Israel’s hard right. He even went so far as to tell Ireland to “sober up” and apologize to Israel.
For Netanyahu and Huckabee, the objective was simple: erase the idea of a shared or divided Jerusalem and replace it with a narrative of exclusive Jewish ownership. The message was unmistakable—Jerusalem is not up for negotiation. It is Israel’s “eternal and indivisible capital.”
Bombs, Bulldozers, and the Politics of the Past
The centerpiece of Rubio’s tour was the so-called “Pilgrimage Road” tunnel, a first-century path leading toward the Temple Mount. Promoted by the settler group Elad, which seized Palestinian land in Silwan, it is advertised as the route Jews walked in the time of Jesus. The UN has declared the project illegal, a transparent land grab dressed up as archaeology.
Independent archaeologists call it what it is: propaganda. Alon Arad of Emek Shaveh dismissed the spectacle as “bad archaeology” and “tunnel vision.” He reminded the world that in 2019, then–U.S. ambassador David Friedman literally smashed through a wall with a sledgehammer to inaugurate the site. “Archaeologists stopped digging tunnels under people’s homes a century ago,” Arad said. “Doing it now, without consent, isn’t science—it’s colonization.” While Rubio posed at the Western Wall, Israel bombed Gaza’s archaeological storage depot. Inside were tens of thousands of artifacts—three decades of painstaking excavation reduced to rubble. Some items were evacuated, but most were destroyed.
The Israeli military gave archaeologists just three days to evacuate, permitting only a single truck convoy. Many artifacts were damaged en route because only open trucks were allowed. Today, what little remains is hidden in an undisclosed location, unprotected and vulnerable.
COGAT, the Israeli military body overseeing occupied territories, shamelessly described the evacuation as the “transfer of rare Christian artifacts.” But the truth is the collection contained material from countless cultures and faiths. As Arad dryly put it: “This isn’t preservation. It’s politics—an attempt to keep Evangelical allies in the U.S. onside.”
Erasing Memory, One Bomb at a Time
International law is crystal clear: an occupying power must protect the cultural heritage of the people under occupation. Israel is doing the exact opposite—bombing heritage sites, looting artifacts, and pushing a one-sided story that erases Palestinians from history altogether.
When the International Criminal Court announced arrest warrants for Israeli leaders over Gaza, Palestinians celebrated it as a long-overdue step toward justice. For the first time, leaders of a so-called democratic Western ally were accused of war crimes. Israel responded not with reflection, but with bulldozers and bombs—determined to rewrite history through force.
So when Marco Rubio arrived in Jerusalem this month, it was no surprise that archaeology took center stage. Netanyahu made sure of it. Every step of the program was designed to hammer home one message: Jerusalem belongs exclusively to the Jewish people.
But the record tells another story. UNESCO and UN reports have documented the devastation of Palestinian heritage sites—hundreds damaged or obliterated in Gaza and the West Bank. Archaeology here is no longer about the past. It is about burying a people’s memory under layers of rubble, tunnels, and propaganda.
And the truth is inescapable: Israel’s attempt to turn archaeology into a political weapon is not about science. It is about legitimizing occupation. It is about distorting history. And it is about hiding theft behind the language of heritage.
References
Beaumont, P. (2025, September 25). Israel uses archaeology to assert control of Jerusalem while bombing Gaza’s heritage. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/25/israel-archaeology-jerusalem-history-us
Reuters. (2025, September 15). Rubio visits Jerusalem archaeological site to boost Israel’s claims. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/rubio-visits-jerusalem-
BBC News. (2013, March 29). Israel heritage plan exposes discord over West Bank history. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-21973708
Anadolu Agency. (2024, November 22). Israel designates 63 Palestinian archaeological sites in West Bank as Israeli heritage sites: Report. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israel-designates-63-palestinian-archaeological-sites-in-west-bank-as-israeli-heritage-sites-report/3665053
Emek Shaveh. (2023). Appropriating the Past: Israel’s Archaeological Practices in the West Bank. https://emekshaveh.org/en/appropriating-the-past-israels-archaeological-practices-in-the-west-bank/
Emek Shaveh. (2024). Destruction, Appropriation and Displacement: Cultural Heritage in Gaza and the West Bank During the Conflict. https://emekshaveh.org/en/destruction-and-displacement/
UNESCO. (1954). Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (The Hague Convention). https://en.unesco.org/protecting-cultural-heritage/convention1954
United Nations Human Rights Council. (2023). Report of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/coi-palestine/index