Abelleh: No, Herod rebuilt Bayit Sheni.
9th Grade Historia 101: Ezra and Nechemia built it. Later on, Herod was horrible to the Jews, and killed many chachamim. Then he went to Bava ben Buta, who was blind, and tried to trick him into telling Lashon Hara about him (Herod). Bava ben Buta refused, and Herod decided that if talmidei chachamim are this honest he shouldn’t have killed them. He asked what he could do to atone, and Bava ben Buta told him to rebuild Bayit Sheni so it would be more elegant.
This didn’t make Herod good. He was still horrible to the Jews after that.
Health: I quote: when asked why we should give Israel to Turkey, you said, “Why not?”
Why not go swimming in the Arctic Ocean? Why not drink spoiled milk? Why not go into Times Square (or Thirteenth Avenue) and play the tuba while balancing on a unicycle? A) because it’s ridiculous and B) because it’s dangerous. Just because Turkey was good to Israel in 1918 doesn’t mean they will be now. In 1918 Turkey was under the Ottoman Empire— in 1923 Mustafa Kemal Ataturk launched a full-scale secular revolution in Turkey. That was still 90 years ago. The country has been getting more religious in recent years, and it’s been targeted as a potential trouble spot as far as Israeli relations go.
Things change in different countries.
Bear in mind, too, that Israel was a totally different thing then. There had never been a state, the Ottoman Empire had owned it for centuries, etc.
In short, I repeat, why Turkey?