The highly embittered refugees who succeeded in escaping the Galilean massacres
fled to the last major Jewish stronghold— Jerusalem. There, they killed anyone in
the Jewish leadership who was not as radical as they. Thus, all the more
moderate Jewish leaders who headed the Jewish government at the revolt's
beginning in 66CE were dead by 68CE—and not one died at the hands of a Roman. All
were killed by fellow Jews.

The scene was now set for the revolt's final catastrophe.
Outside Jerusalem, Roman troops prepared to besiege the
city; inside the city, the Jews were engaged in a suicidal civil war. In later
generations, the rabbis hyperbolically declared that the revolt's failure, and
the Temple's destruction, was due not to Roman military superiority but to causeless hatred (sinat khinam) among the Jews (Yoma 9b). While the Romans would have won the war in any
case, the Jewish civil war both hastened their victory and immensely increased
the casualties.

One horrendous example: In expectation of a Roman siege, Jerusalem's Jews had stockpiled a supply of dry food that could have fed the city for many years. But one of the warring Zealot factions burned the entire supply, apparently hoping
that destroying this "security blanket" would compel everyone to participate in
the revolt. The starvation resulting from this mad act caused suffering as great
as any the Romans inflicted.

We do know that some great figures of ancient Israel opposed
the revolt, most notably Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai. Since the Zealot leaders
ordered the execution of anyone advocating surrender to Rome, Rabbi Yochanan
arranged for his disciples to smuggle him out of Jerusalem, disguised as a corpse. Once safe, he personally surrendered to the Roman general Vespasian, who granted him
concessions that allowed Jewish communal life to continue.