Thanks again to everyone mentioned in my previous acknowledgments for all your advice, encouragement and prayers, and a deep, heartfelt note of thanks to Edward and Kailea Hunt, dear friends and kindred spirits, without whom this book would not have been possible; Dan and Susan Rebeiz, for their brilliant Web site, Power Point, and other graphic designs; Wendy and Colin Ligon, who went above and beyond the call of friendship to track down the original New York Times story on the Copper Scroll in libraries across Washington; our friends in Jordan, for their gracious hospitality and for taking Edward and me to see the actual Copper Scroll; Ron Beer, the best tour guide in Israel, for whetting my appetite with the drama of the Dead Sea Scrolls’ discovery; and Leonard Buhler, Norm Schulz, and all of our new Canadian friends, with whom two weeks in Israel was not nearly enough.
A most-special word of thanks as well to Allen Roth, Steven Schneier, and their staffs for all the excellent advice and logistical assistance they have given me over the years in Israel; Joe Karlya, my long-lost friend from S.U., who first sent me to Russia two decades ago; Peter Robbio and his extraordinary colleagues at Creative Response Concepts, for helping turn this series into sales of one million plus; Beverly Rykerd, for all her first-rate PR efforts and counsel; Mark Taylor, Ron Beers, Becky Nesbitt, Jan Stob, Jeremy Taylor, Cheryl Kerwin, Andrea Martin, and the amazing family at Tyndale’s head-quarters and around the country, for their remarkable creativity, hard work, and passion for making these books reach farther than ever before; Scott Miller with Trident Media Group, still the best agent in the biz, for his contin-uing friendship, encouragement, and always-solid counsel; and, of course, the entire Rosenberg and Meyers families—especially my parents, Len and Mary, and Lynn’s mom, June (a.k.a. “Bubbe”)—who have worked so long, and so hard, and with so much love to make this dream come true.
Finally, to my dear wife, Lynn, let me say thank you again and again and again. Words cannot begin to express how much I love you, or how grateful I am for your love, your trust, and your undying friendship. I am yours for eternity.
Joel C. Rosenberg
Joel C. Rosenberg is the New York Times best-selling author of The Last Jihad, The Last Days, and The Ezekiel Option, with more than one million copies in print. As a communications strategist, he has worked with some of the world’s most influential leaders in business, politics, and media, including Steve Forbes, Rush Limbaugh, and former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As a novelist, he has been interviewed on hundreds of radio and TV programs, including ABC’s Nightline, CNN Headline News, FOX News Channel, The History Channel, MSNBC, the Rush Limbaugh Show, and the Sean Hannity Show. He has been profiled by the New York Times, the Washington Times, and the Jerusalem Post, and was the subject of two cover stories in World magazine. He has addressed audiences all over the world, including Russia, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, and Belgium, and has spoken at the White House.
The first page of his first novel—The Last Jihad—puts readers inside the cockpit of a hijacked jet, coming in on a kamikaze attack into an American city, which leads to a war with Saddam Hussein over weapons of mass de-struction. Yet it was written before 9/11 and published before the actual war with Iraq. The Last Jihad spent eleven weeks on the New York Times hardcover fiction best-seller list, reaching as high as #7. It raced up the USA Today and Publishers Weekly best-seller lists, hit #4 on the Wall Street Journal list and hit #1 on Amazon.com.
His second thriller—The Last Days—opens with the death of Yasser Arafat and a U.S. diplomatic convoy ambushed in Gaza. Two weeks before The Last Days was published in hardcover, a U.S. diplomatic convoy was ambushed in Gaza. Thirteen months later, Yasser Arafat was dead. The Last Days spent four weeks on the New York Times hardcover fiction best-seller list, hit #5 on the Denver Post list, and #8 on the Dallas Morning News list. Both books have been optioned by a Hollywood producer.
The Ezekiel Option centers on a dictator rising in Russia who forms a military alliance with the leaders of Iran, as they feverishly pursue nuclear weapons and threaten to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. On the very day it was published in June 2005, Iran elected a new leader who vowed to accelerate the country’s nuclear program and later threatened to “wipe Israel off the map.” Six months after it was published, Moscow signed a $1 billion arms deal with Tehran. The Ezekiel Option spent four weeks on the New York Times hardcover fiction best-seller list, and five months on the Christian Bookseller Association best-seller list, reaching as high as #4. It won the 2006 Christian Book Award for fiction.
www.joelrosenberg.com
Table of Contents
Special Copyright Notice
Cast of Characters
AUTHOR’S NOTE
PREFACE
1
2
3
4
5
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7
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EPILOGUE
IS IT TRUE?
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Joel C. Rosenberg
The Copper Scroll Page 33