In the days since videos of a purported UFO filmed over Jerusalem appeared on the Internet, one of the many predominant questions that has lingered among researchers here in the West has been “can we confirm whether there were any witnesses to the event outside of what the videos allegedly show?” Unfortunately, language barriers, as well as a general lack of knowledge pertaining to what sorts of news sites overseas might contain such information (should it even exist) have cast a bit of doubt over the entire affair for many.
However, it appears that some Israeli news sites have in fact mentioned the case, and while displaying video footage already made available on YouTube of the alleged UFO, at least one has surfaced that does make mention of witnesses to the event, even including testimony from the observers.
The website NRG, an Israeli news and commentary website, featured a story on February 1 titled “Mystery over Jerusalem: UFO Over Wall.” Immediately, I noticed that this site’s Google PageRank, a number assigned to websites based on the number of sites linking to them which helps determine the value of a particular page, is seven (PageRank is determined on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest). This is on par with news sites here in the U.S. like The Drudge Report, which has an identical Google PageRank. Thus, immediately we can tell that the NRG site is a highly trafficked source, and that it shares many link associations with high-traffic areas of the web.
That said, the article, which can be viewed here, does include statements from witnesses claiming to have seen the UFO appearing in the various videos already available on YouTube. Below is one quote the article featured:
“It was like the ball came down, left a note at the Western Wall and returned to heaven,” said one witnesses the strange event. “We were in shock.”
Unfortunately, there is no name given for the witness quoted here, but this at very least suggests that there may have been individuals in the vicinity who witnessed the events of January 28, and who may be willing to comment on the sightings should their identities be determined. The article also notes that, “Residents of Government House in Jerusalem could not remain indifferent, when they noticed an unidentified actually hovered over the Old City and the Western Wall in the wee hours. YouTube video made by residents are documented holiday glow ball over the wall (note that the poor English is due to the use of Google’s translation software).
Does this lend further credence to the case? NRG’s article also mentions “a series of scientists interested in the case,” and even links yet another alleged UFO film (linked at the top of this post), purportedly made by American tourists visiting the Western Wall, a holy site in Jerusalem’s old city. The footage depicts a small “orb” that descends, then zigzags through the sky (though admittedly, this video appears more dubious than any of the earlier footage of the “Jerusalem UFO”).
Speaking somewhat to the veracity of NRG as a reliable and reputable news site, Israeli news source Haaretz.com once referred to NRG as “not really great… but not bad” in the headline for an article that dissected the site’s journalistic approach. Commenting on the “New Age” section NRG features, which often deals with subjects such as astrology, etc, author Yuval Dror wrote that the section “appears to be the site’s most unconventional and eclectic section,” and that “the site’s editors decided to post in this New Age section results of scientific research on genetic gaps between humans and chimpanzees, and on hunger hormones. Hence, carelessly (at least one hopes it’s an oversight) NRG has decided that genetics and astrology should be presented in the same “New Age” section.” There are no claims, however, that the site has misrepresented or featured otherwise dubious material… at least no more than many popular tabloids and news sites in the West.
Though NRG’s coverage may lend some further credibility to the unfolding Jerusalem UFO case, there are still far too many questions that must be resolved before the pieces of this emerging puzzle will even begin fitting together. For now, the reports, as well as the videos of the event itself, must remain in the “maybe” category.
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Great follow-up, Micah!
Looking at the Haaretz website, I found this 2008 article about some “meteor” sighting that caused a bit of a panic streak at the time:
So in that case we do find that several citizens reported their sighting to the authorities, whereas we do not yet know if this is also the case in the (still alleged) sighting we’re studying