The people of Joppa committed a particularly wicked atrocity: they invited the Jews who lived among them, together with their wives and children, to set out on boats that they had provided. There was no indication of any animosity toward the Jews. There had been a public vote of the city in this regard, and the Jews accepted, since they suspected no treachery and wished to live in peace. The people of Joppa took them out to sea and drowned at least two hundred of them.
As soon as Judas learned of this act of cruelty perpetrated against his compatriots, he issued orders to his men, and after calling upon GOD, THE JUST JUDGE, he attacked the murderers of his kindred. He set fire to the harbor during a nighttime attack, burned the boats, and put to the sword those who had taken refuge there. Then, because the gates of the town were closed, he withdrew, intending to return later and wipe out the entire community of Joppa.
However, after learning that the people of Jamnia planned to deal in the same way with the Jews who lived among them, he attacked the Jamnians by night and set fire to the harbor and the fleet, so that the glow of the flames was visible as far off as Jerusalem, thirty miles away.
2 MACCABEES: chapter 12, verses 1 - 9
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