Archeological Find Proves Ancient Jewish Ties to The Land of Israel

I should have written about this on Chanukah, but time did not permit (hat tip to my older son, Mister A., for sending me this story) so I am posting it now.

Those who say that Jews are usurpers in the land of Israel, need to see this video and read the story (the original is in Hebrew; translation below). In brief, a secular Israeli Jew was building his house in Jerusalem, when he accidentally, while digging out his basement came upon a cave five meters underground. It contained writings in ancient Hebrew, and what seems to be the burial place of the last Hasmonean king, Mattityahu ben Yehudah (Mattathias: not to be confused with Matityahu ben Yochanan, the father of Yehuda Maccabee). As a result of his findings, this secular Israeli Jew did teshuva ("returned") and became religious.

Hanukkah miracle: a secret burial cave was discovered in a garden house in Givat Hamivtar, Jerusalem. One hypothesis is that the burial cave belongs to none other than the last Hasmonean king, Matityahu Ben Yehuda. The cave was discovered quite by accident, when Rafael da Rosa decided to build a house on the hill. During the excavations, at a depth of five meters down in the cave were exposed two coffins containing a rare statement from the Second Temple. It is suggested in the statement that the person buried at the cave is Matityahu the Hasmonean.

Following the discovery De Rosa decided to repent [i.e., become religious]. "I came to this reality perhaps for the sole purpose of dealing with this cave," he says now, and feels that he is joined to this mission. "This is perhaps the most striking discovery in Israel's history," explains Dr. Yoel Elitzur, an expert researcher of Eretz Yisrael [i.e., the land of Israel].

He [Dr. Elitzur] claims that "all theories which previously negated the authenticity of the identification of Matityahu - have fallen, one by one." In the meantime, the cave has become the secret focus of pilgrimages for both secular and religious alike, in the belief that it contains within it mystical powers.

Those of you fortunate enough to read and understand Hebrew can go to the article and video on the Nana website.
Below are some screen shots of portions of the video depicting the cave.

The approximate translation of the ancient script, translated into modern Hebrew in the photo, bottom right, is:"

“I, Abah, son of the Priest Elazar son of Aharon the Great.

I Abah, the tortured and pursued, who was born in Jerusalem and was exiled to Babylonia, who brought up Mattityahu son of Judah and buried him in the cave

Which I bought with a bill of sale."

What we learn from the story above is simply this: archeological evidence is constantly being unearthed which proves that the Jews have ancient ties to the Land of Israel, from time immemorial. That Jewish history is true.

That there has always been a Jewish presence in the land, up to the creation of the State of Israel is a known fact. In modern times, the Jews have returned to their ancient land to create a national homeland for themselves. They, and they alone built up the land from swamp and desert to be a thriving, tehcnologically advanced and successful first-world country.

Finally, it is written in the Torah, the Bible that at least two major religions accept as Divine, that the modern day Land of Israel (whose Biblical borders far outreach Israel's current borders of today) was promised to the Jews.

Who has the audacity to say, that the land of Israel was originally "Palestinian" - 'Palestine' being the name given to Judea and Samaria by the Romans - and the Jewish People have no right to it?
We have every right in the world.