The Archaeological Council, Israel’s highest official archaeological body charged with advising the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), has unanimously protested the arrest of archaeologist Hanan Eshel on charges of buying looted antiquities. As reported in our last issue,a Eshel was arrested on the complaint of IAA director general Shuka Dorfman because Eshel purchased and published some recently discovered fragments of Leviticus that Bedouin had found in a cave near the Dead Sea.
Dorfman, who attended the meeting of the Archaeological Council, rejected the protest.
Another protest signed by nearly 60 leading academics also protested Dorfman’s pursuit of Eshel as a criminal. Published in the Hebrew newspaper Ha’aretz, the protest concluded by stating that the signatories “are convinced that Eshel rescued the scroll fragments, which otherwise could have been lost. His treatment as an ordinary criminal is a vengeful act—unwise, unfair and unparalleled in the attitude of a public institution toward a scientist.”
Among those signing the protest were Joseph Aviram, the long-time secretary of the Israel Exploration Society, Magen Broshi, the former curator of the Shrine of the Book where the original Dead Sea Scrolls are housed, and Michal Dayagi-Mendels, head curator of archaeology at the Israel Museum. It was also signed by leading archaeologists and scholars from Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, the University of Haifa, Ben Gurion University in Beer-Sheva and Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv.
The protest was also signed by a number of leading American scholars, including Harvard’s Frank Moore Cross, the doyen of American Dead Sea Scroll scholars, and New York University’s Lawrence Schiffman, former head of the Association for Jewish Studies.
Dorfman declined to comment on these protests, apparently determined to pursue the case against Eshel.
For further developments, see our Web site.
More on the Web
The debate over alleged forgeries changes almost daily. Keep up with the latest on our Web site: Go to www.bib-arch.org, look under the “Finds or Fakes?” section, and then click on the title.
“Will He—Or Has He Been—Reappointed? Or Will Shuka Be Sacked?”
Major Scholars Protest Eshel Arrest
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