Looters of Horbat Mishkena sentenced

CONSEQUENCES: Antiquities robbers sentenced to jail for destroying 2,000-year-old graves. In light of irrevocable damage to Second Temple Jewish settlement, Israel Antiquities Authority hopes prison terms will prove a deterrent (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

Three antiquities robbers were sentenced to four to nine months’ jail time by the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court last week for destroying 2,000-year-old burial caves in an ancient village located in the Lower Galilee between Tzippori and Tiberias.

On March 14, 2017, three adults and two minors were discovered using a backhoe to dig into graves at Horbat Mishkena, a ruined Jewish settlement that dates from 1st-6th century CE, in search of potentially valuable burial objects.

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I noted the report of the apprehensions in this incident here. Horbat Mishkena (Horvat Mishkena) has not had an easy time of it. There were also looting apprehensions there in January 2017 and in December 2016. I hope these prison terms etc. do deter further looting.

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