Israeli Archeology: The Military Way
Does the Israel Antiquities Authority Want to Destroy BAR?
“First Person” by Hershel Shanks
Biblical Archaeology Review (November/December 2007)
Israel seems intent on proving that Bible-believing Americans have nothing to do with continuing American support for their country. In fact, reading between the lines of this report and filling it in with other news from Israel, it almost looks like they are engaged in a long range plan to undermine any good will they may have among Americans interested in biblical archeology.
Following the pattern so common in government and business today, the Israel Antiquities Authority is not headed by a subject specialist or by someone experienced in that field, but by a professional soldier, Shuka Dorfman. And as so often happens in these situations, disruption follows since command decisions are often made that frustrate the functioning of those under their authority, since they do not fully understand what they are managing.
Hershel Shenks reports that Shuka Dorfman has now virtually denied BAR staff access to all archeology sites and information requests by BAR representatives throughout Israel, knowing full well that BAR is the leading popular disseminator of biblical archeology information to laypeople and non-archeologists throughout the world.
Why is Dorfman doing this? Shenks claims it is a personal vendetta because of a slight he describes in this column, not even worth repeating. Obviously Dorfman is not as tough a soldier as you would think a general would be. Maybe you get more thin-skinned as you age and move up in rank, but it also seems to make you more bitter. Is this what happens to Israeli generals?
But when you pair this report with the following recent story from the Jerusalem Post you have to wonder if Dorfman’s approach is really more intentional than personal:
A group of Israeli archeologists on Monday renewed their blistering condemnation of the Antiquities Authority… The work started last month on the northern section of the Temple Mount in the area of the outer courts of the ancient Jewish Temples with the approval of the Israel Police and the state-run Antiquities Authority… (8/28/07)
There seems to be a controversy brewing now over whether the prime minister ordered this project, which the archeologists claim endangered underground antiquities and was undertaken illegally, since a committee of the Knesset is now investigating this incident and has received the following response…
Dorfman acknowledged that he had not asked for permission from a ministerial committee established to oversee Temple Mount excavations, as required by the regulations. However, he and the Jerusalem District architect, Yuval Baruch, told the panel, “There was no damage to the remains of buildings or artifacts.” Dorfman also said he had been more lenient regarding the terms of the excavation because it was the only way he could be sure the authority would be able to supervise the excavation.
Dorfman strongly denied allegations by a member of the archeologists’ committee, Yisrael Caspi, that he had been ordered by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to give the Wakf permission to dig the trench.
(MKs want to probe Wakf for Mount dig, Jerusalem Post 10/22/07)
Eventually we may know whether Dorfman’s strange actions are just personal idiosyncrasies, or whether they represent calculated choices for the future of Israeli archeology. Either way, let’s hope they modify their course and allow for the free flow of information.
