Jerusalem

In Israel, (as of 9 April 2008) regular unleaded 95-octane gasoline costs 6.41 shekels per liter at full-service pumps. At the current exchange rate (3.6 shekels/USdollar) this translates to 6.76 USdollars per USgallon of gasoline in Israel. This price is government regulated and adjusted a few percent up or down from time to time to reflect world-market oil prices. Major gas stations charge this rate while independent gas stations charge considerably less (6.11 shekels per liter/6.44 USdollars per USgallon). To compete with this, major stations reduce self-service pump prices to approach the independent station prices. The shekel/USdollar exchange rate has been fluctuating lately, so the answer to this question is time-dependent. Generally speaking, however, no matter what gasoline costs in the USA, it always cost a lot more in Israel.

Update: As of 8 May 2011, 95-octane is NIS 7.62 per liter. Based on 15 May 2011 exchange rate of NIS 3.48 / $1, the price is $8.29/gallon.

Update: As of August 30, 2013, 95-octane is NIS 7.70 per liter

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiochus_IV_Epiphanes#Sacking_of_Jerusalem_and_Persecution_of_Jews):


While Antiochus was busy in Egypt, a false rumor spread that he had been killed. The deposed High Priest Jason gathered a force of 1,000 soldiers and made a surprise attack on the city of Jerusalem. An official Antiochus appointed as High Priest, Menelaus, was forced to flee Jerusalem during a riot. On the King's return from Egypt in 167 BC enraged by his defeat, he attacked Jerusalem and restored Menelaus, then executed many Jews.[6]

When these happenings were reported to the king, he thought that Judea was in revolt. Raging like a wild animal, he set out from Egypt and took Jerusalem by storm. He ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy those whom they met and to slay those who took refuge in their houses. There was a massacre of young and old, a killing of women and children, a slaughter of virgins and infants. In the space of three days, eighty thousand were lost, forty thousand meeting a violent death, and the same number being sold into slavery.

- 2 Maccabees 5:11-14

To consolidate his empire and strengthen his hold over the region, Antiochus decided to side with the Hellenized Jews by outlawing Jewish religious rites and traditions observed by more orthodox Jews and by ordering the worship of Zeus as the supreme god.[citation needed] This was anathema to the Jews and when they refused, Antiochus sent an army to enforce his decree. Because of the resistance, the city was destroyed, many were slaughtered, and a military Greek citadel called the Acra was established.[7]



Not long after this the king sent an Athenian senator to force the Jews to abandon the customs of their ancestors and live no longer by the laws of God; also to profane the temple in Jerusalem and dedicate it to Olympian Zeus, and that on Mount Gerizim to Zeus the Hospitable, as the inhabitants of the place requested...They also brought into the temple things that were forbidden, so that the altar was covered with abominable offerings prohibited by the laws. A man could not keep the sabbath or celebrate the traditional feasts, nor even admit that he was a Jew. At the suggestion of the citizens of Ptolemais, a decree was issued ordering the neighboring Greek cities to act in the same way against the Jews: oblige them to partake of the sacrifices, and put to death those who would not consent to adopt the customs of the Greeks. It was obvious, therefore, that disaster impended. Thus, two women who were arrested for having circumcised their children were publicly paraded about the city with their babies hanging at their breasts and then thrown down from the top of the city wall. Others, who had assembled in nearby caves to observe the sabbath in secret, were betrayed to Philip and all burned to death.

- 2 Maccabees 6:1-11

Although Vespasian's name was Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus, you do not say Titus Vespasian. You just say Vespasian. This is because his son and successor had the same name as is called by historians Titus.

What Nero and Vespasian had to deal with when the latter went to Judea was more than just riots in Jerusalem. They had to deal with a revolt in the whole of Judea and Galilee. It is called the Great Jewish Revolt or the First Roman-Jewish War.

Vespasian subjugated Galilee. He besieged Yodfat and Gamla and then conducted operations along the coast. He did not want to besiege Jerusalem because he thought it would cost too many Roman lives. He returned to Rome to depose Vitellius and take power. It was his son Titus who besieged Jerusalem. He did so after his father returned to Rome.