With over 30,000 known historical sites, Israel is rich in valuable antiquities. But many of them may never find their way to museums due to looting, a thriving international trade. Can this plunder of Israel’s historical treasures be stopped? Mishpacha recently joined up with the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Theft Prevention Unit to find out.
Holding an ancient solid gold coin worth a quarter-million dollars in my hand is a heady feeling — so heady I can almost begin to understand what leads people to steal these things.
I’m standing in a cramped crowded storeroom stuffed with huge cartons. In each of them are priceless antiquities — flint arrowheads bronze daggers mosaics clay jars vases oil lamps and a very very big safe that is full of all kinds of ancient coins. The storeroom belongs to the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Theft Prevention Unit and the antiquities temporarily stored there until their court cases are decided are plunder that the unit’s team has rescued from the hands of looters.
Formed in 1986 following a wave of antiquities looting that triggered calls for government intervention from academics the Theft Prevention Unit has a dual mission: prevent the theft of antiquities from archaeological sites and stop their illegal sale and smuggling.
That beautiful gold coin that I was privileged to hold is a perfect example of what the Theft Prevention Unit is up against. Shai Bar Tura a former New Yorker who is today the deputy director of the Theft Prevention Unit and our host during our visit to the unit’s headquarters — housed in a magnificent building belonging to the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum in East Jerusalem — tells the story.
Create a free account to keep reading.
