Hershel Shanks Lays into Israeli Antiquities Authority

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Hershel Shanks, formerly attorney with the US Department of Justice - now editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review has some advice for the Israel Antiquities Authority: 'When you’re in a hole, stop digging!' (The Jerusalem Post, 4th June 2012). His point about the trial of Oded Golan and Robert Deutsch is "how casually and irresponsibly this case has been handled": 

in this case Judge Aharon Farkash gave plenty of indications where he was coming out; the government, however, perversely refused to accede to his admonitions. As early as 2008, the judge invited the prosecution to drop the case, telling the prosecutor: “Not every case ends the way you think it will when it starts. Maybe we can save ourselves the rest.” The prosecution refused to take the judge’s advice. Subsequent suggestions from the bench were met with the same obstinate response. Even after the judge’s decision, the Antiquities Authority would not admit defeat.

Shanks argues that "the authorities responsible for the activities of the Antiquities Authority, including the minister in charge and the Archaeological Council, should draw their conclusions in light of all that transpired and the total loss of confidence in the Antiquities Authority”. I think dealers and collectors can also learn also something, how difficult it may sometimes be to prove or disprove a decontextualised artefact is a fake in a court of law.