First Person: Does the Israel Antiquities Authority Want to Destroy BAR?

I’m kind of embarrassed to say this, but the director of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), retired army general Shuka Dorfman, won’t speak to me.

Actually, it’s worse than that. I think Shuka (as he is universally referred to) wants to put BAR out of business. At least he has forbidden IAA archaeologists from writing for BAR. (IAA archaeologists must obtain permission before writing articles; don’t even ask whether you can publish in BAR.) That BAR is the major international source of information about excavations conducted by the IAA is of little concern to Shuka. And that fact is also a measure of his animosity. The source of this animosity is something we will consider later.