[CPProt.net] Owner of "James Ossuary" Under Arrest - False Artifact Claimed Jesus Had Siblings

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Owner of "James Ossuary" Under Arrest - False Artifact Claimed Jesus Had
Siblings

JERUSALEM, July 22, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Israeli police have put under
house arrest, Oded Golan, the owner of the so-called "James Ossuary", the
fake ossuary that attempted to promote the idea that Jesus Christ had
brothers casting doubt on the virgin birth of Christ.. The trial has begun.
The next session, will be held in Jerusalem, September 4, 2005.

A 27-page indictment in a Jerusalem court was based on a two-year
investigation involving the Jerusalem police and the Israel Antiquities
Authority. Golan was among the five charged with 17 counts of antiquities
forgery and fraud in January 2005.

If they are found guilty they face the possibility of seven years in jail on
each count. 100 witnesses are listed in the indictment. Hundreds of other
artifacts are named in the indictment; some were in private collections and
others exhibited in museums around the world.

Israeli antiquity experts were headlined in The Toronto Star of June 19,
2003 about the "James Ossuary": `It is better to stop this... than to let it
travel through the great museums of the world". It took great intestinal
fortitude for the Israel experts to admit that they were hoodwinked.

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto, was the only museum to be caught
up in this forgery and fraud when they displayed the "James Ossuary" in
2002.  95,000 visitors to the ROM were misled into believing that the
ossuary was genuine and provided evidence against Judeo-Christian historical
accounts.  To date, the ROM made no attempt to apologize for the massive
error in judgement. 

Meg Beckel, Board Secretary of the ROM, said in a letter dated February 24,
2005: "We are all waiting to see definitive evidence regarding the
authenticity on the inscription on the James Ossuary. The ROM curators have
yet to see any evidence that would change their view."

Beckel insists that curators still have the same point of view and that they
have not received information about the `James Ossuary' from what they
consider reliable sources. It does not appear that ROM has plans to have
their curators go to Jerusalem in September when the court case resumes to
"see any evidence that would change their view". 

The five suspects, including Golan, alleged that the ossuary was linked to a
brother of Jesus. The inscription reads: "James, son of Joseph, brother of
Jesus". They were suspected of running a sophisticated forgery ring that
operated in various configurations for more than 20 years, according to
Shuka Dorfman, the Director-General of the Israel Antiquities Authority

"We have discovered only the tip of the ice berg," said Dorfman, "This spans
the globe and has generated millions of dollars. Normally the Authority does
not get involved in forgery investigations, but when officials realized
these forgeries were an "attempt to change the history of Jewish and
Christian people by making forgeries that had significance in the Jewish and
Christian world," the Authority felt it had no choices but to investigate. 

"We draw the line at the changing of history." Dorfman said.

Golan, an antiquities dealer, denied all charges and said that the charges
were an attempt by the Authority to "destroy the local antiquities trade".
However, detailed findings by materials and historical experts demonstrate
definitively that, while the ossuary is authentic, the inscription was a
forgery.

See the report of the Final Report of the Israeli Antiquities Authority
Investigation: 

http://www.antiquities.org.il/article_Item_eng.asp?module_id=&sec_id=17&subj
_id=175&id=266