Book excerpt: In 701 BC, the powerful Assyrian army laid siege to Jerusalem, threatening the Hebrew kingdom with destruction. What saved the City of David? The Bible credits divine intervention. Modern scholars have long speculated that a plague spread through the ranks of the Assyrian soldiers, forcing them to withdraw. Now, in this ground-breaking account, award-winning author Henry Aubin argues that it was the Kushites, the black Africans who formed Egypt’s 25th dynasty, who saved Jerusalem, the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In his powerful, wide-ranging analysis, Aubin shows how Western scholarship turned its back on the theory of black African involvement. The account of the long-forgotten African and Hebrew alliance that rescued Jerusalem will change the face of Jewish and African history and contribute to a fresh understanding of our world today.