Golan Arrested—Then Released

“Rubbing red pepper into the eyes of the poor devil until he confesses is a lot easier than looking for evidence in the heat of the noonday sun.”

—attributed to a Calcutta policeman early in the 20th century

Whether or not Oded Golan, the owner of the James ossuary, is a forger is unclear at this writing. What is clear, however, is that the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) strongly suspects that he is a forger and, together with the Israeli police, are “sweating” him to confess.

In typical police fashion, the pressure is increased gradually. It began with several interrogations, conducted at Golan’s home.

Then the police began searching and confiscating. They searched Golan’s office and his parents’ home in the hope of finding forged antiquities. They confiscated his papers and computers. Next they took some of his antiquities collection. To protect his more valuable pieces during the recent Iraq war, Golan carefuly packed several hundred pieces in about 40 boxes and stored them somewhere north of Tel Aviv. The police confiscated the boxes.

On one occasion they called Golan to a police station. They handcuffed and fingerprinted him, interrogated him and took a mug shot. I asked Amir Ganor, chief IAA investigator, why they handcuffed Golan. After all, he wasn’t about to flee. “To pressure him,” Ganor replied.