Close to 60 Israeli archaeologists presented an urgent petition to the High Court of Justice to block the appointment of a new director general at the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) by Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu.

The development marked a further step in the growing rift between the Heritage Ministry and academia. Many archaeologists, including Israel’s Archaeological Council, have also opposed a bill backed by Eliyahu to establish direct Israeli civilian responsibility for antiquities in the West Bank and Gaza, a potential move considered by many to be a dramatic step toward de facto annexation.

Earlier this month, Eliyahu tapped Esti Shreiber, the head of an NGO affiliated with the Chabad Hasidic movement promoting Jewish values among young people, as the new head of the IAA.

The appointment needs to be approved by both the government and the IAA Council. According to the document presented to the court, the minister has demanded that the council put the issue on the agenda of its upcoming meeting on Monday.

The petitioners argued that the procedure followed by Eliyahu was not consistent with the legal requirements and that Shreiber inflated her resume to meet the criteria.

“The old guard has discovered that the reality is changing,” the minister said in a statement responding to the petition. “They should be careful not to step on each other while closing ranks.”

Shreiber did not respond to a request for comment by The Times of Israel.

The petition carries the signatures of close to 60 archaeologists from all the major Israeli universities involved in the field, including Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of Haifa, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Bar-Ilan University and Ariel University in the West Bank.

“When dozens of Israel’s foremost archaeologists — from every university and across the full spectrum of archaeological research — come together........

© The Times of Israel