The treasure consisted of 97 pure gold coins and dozens of gold earring fragments, each embedded with pearls, semi-precious stones, and glass.

"This is one of the most significant Byzantine-period treasures discovered on land in Israel, unique for its combination of jewelry and gold coins from different emperors' reigns. Additionally, fabric remnants were found on some coins – traces of the cloth bag in which the treasure was hidden," said Dr. Michael Eisenberg from the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, co-director of the excavation expedition.

Among the coins, researchers discovered a particularly rare item: a tremissis likely minted in Cyprus in late 610 by Emperor Heraclius the Elder and his son during their rebellion against Emperor Phocas. This is only the second coin of its type ever found in Israel. "This is a rare find that adds an important layer to understanding the political and economic history of the period," explained Dr. Danny Syon, numismatist of the excavation expedition.

The treasure was discovered accidentally in late July 2025. Eddie Lipsman, a metal detector operator accompanying the expedition, passed near a large stone when his device began signaling the presence of metal. When the stone fell between two walls, the signal intensified, and within moments, gold coins began emerging one after another from the archaeological section. "The device went crazy, I couldn't believe it – gold coins started appearing one after another," Lipsman recounted. Researchers delayed announcing the discovery to ensure no additional finds remained in the area and to complete the initial research phase.

The treasure includes 97 gold coins and delicate jewelry. Some coins are full-value solidus, but halves (semissis) and thirds (tremissis) were also found. They date from Emperor Justinus I (518-527 CE) to the early reign of Emperor Heraclius (610-613 CE). "Gold is a noble metal, and finding coins and jewelry approximately 1,400 years old that look brand new is a rare experience," said Dr. Eisenberg. Dr. Arleta Kowalewska added, "The earrings are the biggest surprise for me. Delicate craftsmanship combining semi-precious stones and pearls – I hope contemporary jewelers will recreate this beauty."

The ancient city of Susita, overlooking the Sea of Galilee from the east, was an important Christian center during the Byzantine period, serving as a bishop's seat with at least seven active churches. The site has been excavated for 26 years by the University of Haifa's excavation expedition led by Dr. Eisenberg and Dr. Kowalewska. This marks the first discovery of a gold treasure of this scale in the city. In recent years, researchers have uncovered remains linked to the Sasanian conquest, including the burning of the Martyr Theodorus Church, leading to speculation that local Jews may have participated in the rebellion alongside the Sasanian army against Byzantine rule.

Dr. Dror Ben-Yosef, archaeologist and heritage supervisor for the Northern District of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, stated: "Susita National Park is a mountain of surprises spanning 1,000 years of history. Excavating the site has shed new light on both the pagan and Christian worlds. Susita's story teaches us about the cultural and religious currents and subcurrents present in the land simultaneously, as well as about the diversity of its residents. To understand the complexity of the area approximately 1,400 years ago, one needs only to climb Mount Susita and look west toward Tiberias, the Jewish city. While a wealthy Christian community developed in Susita around seven churches, Tiberias residents maintained a Jewish lifestyle centered on synagogues."

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The University honored Clinton for his commitment to the State of Israel over the years, from promoting coexistence in the Middle East to his close friendship with the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and the Clinton Global Initiative's worldwide activity on social and economic sustainability. Sexton received the highest honor for his pioneering vision for higher education and for transforming NYU into the world's first Global Network University.

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"I'm deeply humbled to receive this honorary degree from the University of Haifa," said President Bill Clinton. "I treasure my friendship with the people of Israel and the opportunities I've had to work with them toward a future of peace, security, tolerance, and prosperity for all. This honor is very meaningful to me."

Clinton also spoke of his friendship and admiration for Sexton, saying that he "never saw him once without a song in his heart and a smile on his face."

"I thank him for always trying to bring out the best in people, for never believing the worst even when the rest of us demonstrate it, and for reminding all of us that a day spent in anger and resentment is a day wasted; a day spent beginning again is always full of hope," Clinton said.

Sexton praised the University of Haifa for how it "embraces building bridges across difference."

"I accept [this honor] on behalf of the common enterprise of men and women who created what has happened here [at NYU]," he said, as well as on behalf of his late wife Lisa E. Goldberg, who would tell him, "Honey, this is good, go forward, build bridges."

He added, "I'm blessed to share any ceremony…with President Clinton, who I view as the first citizen of an integrated global humankind."

The honorary doctorates for Clinton and Sexton align strongly with multiple cornerstones of University of Haifa's mission. In the realm of shared society, University of Haifa has long been a place where Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, international students, and security personnel study and socialize together in an atmosphere of tolerance and respect on campus.

The University of Haifa is also committed to promoting the UN Sustainable Development Goals which includes a trilateral agreement with the UAE and Germany on joint research on climate change and pollution in the Gulf.

"We have taken that adage of think globally and act locally, and we have turned it on its head," said University of Haifa President Prof. Ron Robin, noting the University's partnerships with higher education institutions around the world.

Robin said that the University of Haifa's campuses straddle three "natural laboratories" – mountain, city, and sea.

"I know we all think that we reside on planet earth, but in truth, we are marooned on planet water," he said, explaining that the Mediterranean Sea is Israel's source of energy and protein, as well as 80% of its potable water.

He also emphasized the University's goal to "create a new pluralistic and inclusive Israeli middle class that will rise to the environmental and human challenges of the region and the world."

"Building a shared society, and creating global networks, are really the only ways to face the environmental, social, and health crises that face us all — and we are well-positioned," said Robin.

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The Haifa Laboratory for Religious Studies at the University of Haifa held its first international interfaith conference last week, hosting leading religious figures and academics from the world's most prominent Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The conference was brought to Haifa in light of the groundbreaking Abraham Accords, which normalized Israeli relations with the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco.

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The JCM (Jews, Christians, Muslims) Conference brought over 50 academics together from Egypt, Bahrain, the UAE, Morocco, Turkey, Albania, Greece, England, Ireland, and Germany. It included key lectures from the American Jewish Committee's Jerusalem-based Director of International Interreligious Affairs, Rabbi David Rosen; Founder and Director of Rethinking Conflict and Methodist Minister, Rev. Dr. Gary Mason; and professor of Arabic literature, Kamal Abdel-Malek, as well as weekend workshop activities and discussions.

The Laboratory for Religious Studies houses a community of researchers, visiting professors and students dedicated to the scholarly study of religions – with an emphasis on interfaith dialogue and interdisciplinary collaborations. The Laboratory's mission is to facilitate a community of scholars whose interdisciplinary research promotes dialogue between religious leaderships and collaborations with local and international religious communities and institutions. The goal is for these ties to serve as a backbone for facilitating important conversations that impact our world.

For more than 40 years, the JCM Conference has gained a reputation across Europe for promoting dialogue, understanding and solidarity among members of the three Abrahamic faiths. The mission of the conference was to highlight how religion can be a vehicle for social and civic changes; and rather than being the problem, offering solutions. As such, participants discussed how religion can and should be part of important conversations surrounding social justice, environmental sustainability and gender equality.

Participants also discussed the possibility of launching an academic network that would connect like-minded scholars from the Middle East and the Mediterranean to discuss these very issues and connect with politicians and other figures of influence in their respective countries.

University of Haifa is Israel's most diverse campus, inspiring creativity and driving innovation. The University is a microcosm of Israel's rich social mosaic: Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, international students, and security personnel study and socialize together in an atmosphere of tolerance and respect on our campus.

Dr. Uriel Simonsohn, Head of The Haifa Laboratory Haifa for Religious Studies (HLRS) and of the University's Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, said, "We live in a highly religious region, where religious leaders wield tremendous influence. We hope to leverage that influence to make them a force for social change in non-religious issues that affect daily lives for all. Members of the Abrahamic faiths share a belief in God and the commandments - this common denominator offers us a springboard to drive social change together."

The conference's timing was particularly auspicious since it took place during the month of the Holiday of Holidays Festival (or Chag HaChagim in Hebrew) which is an annual celebration of the religious and cultural diversity of the city of Haifa in the north of Israel.

The initiative also hopes to influence countries that have not yet signed the Accords. To that end, the HLRS is well connected with important political institutions and figures such as leading politicians in Bahrain; the President of Christian Leaders in the United States, reverend Johnnie Moore; the office of Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan; Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Nourhan Manougian; Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif; head of the Druze community, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif; and Secretary General of the Baha'i community, David Rutstein.

Simonsohn added that he hopes this philosophy can be applied closer to home, adding, "We are in the process of harnessing political and religious leaders through the Palestinian territories in order to create an axis of cooperation to bring the vision of peace manifested in the Abraham Accords to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At Haifa, we pride ourselves on fostering religious harmony on campus, and it is our hope that holding these kinds of discussions can be the anchor to creating a more sustainable life."

Over the weekend, guests were treated to a tour of the religious diversity in Haifa where they saw the Baha'i grounds and experienced prayer ceremonies for all three religions. The next JCM conference is set to take place in Morocco next year. The conference in Haifa was held in partnership with the Ministry of Regional Cooperation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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United Arab Emirates' Minister of Education Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi visited the University of Haifa in early November as part of a delegation of senior Emirati officials.

The group had arrived in order to gain knowledge about the institution's acclaimed marine sciences research and made a point of emphasizing how education is the antidote to difficulties present in both the Middle East and the world.

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"We're delighted to have the opportunity to collaborate with you; education is the future," Al Hammadi said. "All over the world and in the Middle East, we have great challenges ahead. Education is the way to manage them. Through education, tolerance, and advocating for peace, we can live together. I'm sure we're only beginning to develop this relationship."

University of Haifa President Professor Ron Robin, concurred with the sentiment, commenting that "Israel and the UAE have much in common. Both countries are situated alongside the sea, which is a source of food, water, and energy. There is no doubt that as we continue to contend with today's climate change challenges, the sea is the future."

The group, led by the minister, was taken to the University's Morris Kahn Marine Research Station, where they learned about the modern-day relevance of deep-sea research in the context of heightened concern for challenges such as climate change. President Robin stated that he expects to improve on the existing working partnership between the two countries and that a joint research facility in the Persian Gulf would be established in the future.

Prof. Dan Tchernov, the founder and scientific director of the University's Morris Kahn Marine Research Station, also explained exactly why and how the sea is so significant to the earth's long-term sustainability as both a food and water source, and further stressed the importance of fostering renewable technologies to keep the oceans healthy.

The University of Haifa also inked an academic collaboration agreement with Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates earlier this month, which will focus on environmental challenges and promote cooperative research between academics and students.

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During his time as vice provost at New York University, Robin, an American history professor, was responsible for establishing its international campuses in Abu Dhabi and Shanghai, both of which he describes as "idea capitals." Launched in 2010, the NYU Abu Dhabi campus was the first comprehensive liberal arts and science campus in the Middle East to be operated abroad by a major American research university.

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A decade later, Robin finds himself poised to facilitate Israel-UAE higher education ties on the heels of the "Abraham Accord." In the following interview, he provides his vision for future collaboration.

Q: Can you take us behind the scenes of the establishment of NYU Abu Dhabi?

"NYU's presence in Abu Dhabi is really the result of the meeting of the minds of two visionary people. One of them is the former president of NYU, John Sexton, who had a meeting with an individual very close to the heir apparent to the Emirati presidency, Mohammed bin Zayed (today the central Emirati figure in the peace deal with Israel). He came to NYU, like many other countries in the Gulf region, seeking some sort of branch campus. The immediate result of this meeting was that they didn't want to do what everybody else was doing. They actually thought of something somewhat more ambitious, and they went back to Mohammed bin Zayed and came up with this idea of establishing NYU Abu Dhabi as the first of what they hoped would be many "idea capitals." The idea behind this was that NYU would lead the way in establishing a network of idea capitals, meaning hubs for knowledge and creativity and entrepreneurship. I was lucky enough to be pulled into a very small team of people who were given the responsibility of creating this incredible campus from scratch.

"The core of the campus is a small liberal arts college of about 1,000 undergraduates. But around that is a huge research enterprise containing labs in life sciences, many people from the social sciences and humanities as well. It is first and foremost a research enterprise meant to bring the trappings of a research university to the region. It has very swiftly established itself as probably the strongest university in the Arab world today. Many of the students who graduate remain in the Emirates; they are the engines pushing forward Abu Dhabi. The Emirates have become the center of the Arab world. Dubai is the banking and financial center of the Arab world, and Abu Dhabi is absolutely the center of diplomacy and policy in the Middle East today."

Q: How does higher education collaboration fit into the broader vision for Israel-UAE ties?

"It was critical in the agreement for NYU Abu Dhabi, and now the agreement between the UAE and Israel, that we learn from each other. This is not the West coming to enlighten the natives, so to speak. This is two different cultures, and they need to learn from each other. I think the Emirates can learn from us a spirit of enterprise and creativity. We don't have the funds that they have; we don't have the resources that they have. But we bring a culture of creativity, and I'm sure that's what they're looking for. When creativity meets resources, great things happen.

"There's an expression that no two countries which have McDonald's have ever gone to war. And here, I can say that no two countries which have a Western-style of research in their universities will ever go to war today, I don't see that happening. The impact of the research university is such that it draws people together; it has a global feature to it. There's something ecumenical about a research university. It crosses cultures and it spans and bridges differences.

"I'm working to establish ties with universities in the Emirates because I believe very strongly that this ecumenical bond between people who do research under the auspices of a university, we can fast forward a robust relationship with the Emirates by establishing these ties. We'll be cultivating ties with universities that I know well in the region, and we'll work on fields in which we have something to contribute to the Emirates and the Emirates have something to contribute to us. One example is marine research. We have the same challenges in the Emirates as we have in Israel: fast-rising temperatures that affect marine culture and the marine ecosystem, a lifeline for both societies. In both societies, the sea is the source of potable water. The sea is the source of our energy. Finally, because of climate change and the dramatic drop in precipitation and rainfall, the seal is also the source of our protein."

Q: Do you envision a future University of Haifa campus in Abu Dhabi?

"We're looking for research and student exchange. I don't see us building a campus like anything NYU has in the Emirates. I rather see this as an exchange of knowledge, whether it's students or research, but not a full-blown campus at this particular point in time. I'm not sure that part of the world is ready for such a large Israeli presence. We're beginning with baby steps. We do not want to impose ourselves. We want this to happen in an organic fashion."

Q: Could Israel-UAE collaboration in higher education help counter the BDS movement on American college campuses by providing a paradigm for Jewish-Muslim coexistence?

"The BDS movement tries to focus or pretends to focus solely on the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue. I do not see Abu Dhabi being here in our region as a passive partner. They will be part of any type of solution. I'm not sure that this will have an immediate impact on BDS. It's going to take time before the Palestinians and their supporters understand the importance of having an entity such as the Emirates in our region that can be very constructive and can be a great partner in figuring out a solution for the future."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Students will study at the University of Haifa's Marine Sciences school and the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat.

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The graduate student program was initiated in order to forge a connection between the next generation of oceanography professionals through international collaboration. Students are collaborating with 25 labs from six host institutions in Israel, Canada, Australia, and Sweden.

Elena Forchielli, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in molecular cellular biology and biochemistry at Boston University, is one participant who will conduct research this fall at the University of Haifa's Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences. She has previously visited Haifa for collaborative research with the Charney School's Daniel Sher; they will join forces again as part of her LOREX experience from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31.

"I'm excited to perform experiments at the University of Haifa that my lab doesn't have the capacity to carry out in Boston," Forchielli said. "The Eastern Mediterranean setting enables us to collect valuable samples in the sea, and then to replicate our experiments in an environment which closely resembles the conditions of the real ocean. I'm looking forward to obtaining powerful data from this process."

Given its home along Israel's coastline, the Charney School is strategically positioned to study the Mediterranean Sea in an interdisciplinary manner. The school has four complementary divisions: Department of Maritime Civilizations; Dr. Strauss Department of Marine Geosciences; Department of Marine Biology; and Hatter Department of Marine Technologies. It also offers an MBA program in shipping and ports management.

Through this exchange, the research collaboration "promises to deliver not only significant findings for the marine biology community but also the latest fruitful partnership between American and Israeli academic institutions," said Karen L. Berman, CEO of the American Society of the University of Haifa. "Situated at the doorstep of the Mediterranean Sea, the school finds itself at a cradle of maritime civilizations throughout history. There is simply no substitute for a real-world laboratory of that magnitude."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Amid increasing threats from Iran, the result of its establishment in Syria, and heightening tensions following a series of incidents in the Persian Gulf, including Tehran's capture of a UK oil tanker last month and the downing of a US drone over the Strait of Hormuz earlier in the summer, researchers at Haifa University's Underwater Acoustics and Navigation lab revealed the advanced sonar system, which was funded by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and is the result of cooperation with NATO and universities in Spain and Canada.

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The revolutionary system is unique in that it is capable of differentiating between aquatic life and divers.

Dr. Roee Diamant, who heads the lab and led the research, explained that unlike existing technologies, the new system is very small and mobile, and will allow naval and special forces to easily identify threats in enemy territory.

"This is breakthrough technology," Diamant, who for years worked for Israel's state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, said.

"We proved our operational abilities in a large number of experiments, which included a diver and targets that were not divers – fish, sharks, and turtles. Think of an oil tanker [docked] in some bay that wants to defend itself from divers," he said.

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