First Person: Israel’s Archaeological Crisis - The BAS Library
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First Person: Israel’s Archaeological Crisis

Cynical politics takes its toll on the field

By Hershel Shanks

Archaeology in Israel is in crisis. It is in danger of being permanently killed. It has already been severely wounded. It is time for the international community to take note and rally in defense of the archaeological establishment. The so-called ultra-Orthodox, the black-coated haredim, have enormous power in Israel because their representatives in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, hold the swing votes in a fragile government coalition led by the Likud party’s Benjamin Netanyahu. Time and again, Netanyahu finds himself servilely bowing to haredi demands as the price for their political support. Now they are demanding the ouster of retired […]

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Endnotes

1.

See Gabriel Barkay, “Politics—Not Religious Law—Rules Ultra-Orthodox Demonstrators,” BAR 23:06.

2.

See previous endnote and, in addition, “Jewish Religious Law Does Not Forbid Archaeological Excavations Even of Graves, Says Prominent Talmudic Scholar,” BAR 07:06; Hershel Shanks, “Death Knell for Israel Archaeology?” BAR 22:05; “The Battle Over Bones: An Exchange,” BAR 23:01.

3.

See, in addition to previously cited articles, Dina Shiloh, “Fierce Protest Over Bones Threatens to Halt Archaeology in Israel,” BAR 23:06.