Naked Archaeologist Sues Critic

Journalist and T.V. host Simcha Jacobovici has sued Joe Zias, the former Curator of Archaeology and Anthropology for the Israel Antiquities Authority, over criticism Zias leveled against Jacobovici and his work. Zias has allegedly accused Jacobovici of "planting" archaeological evidence and "making up" Holocaust stories.

Simcha Jacobovici

I emailed Simcha for a statement on his lawsuit earlier this week and was directed to the following blog post he wrote about it Monday:

Simcha comments on front page Ha’aretz article

I sat back to relax on the airplane this morning on my Tel Aviv to Rome flight, when I couldn’t help but notice that my face was on the front page of the Israeli daily Ha’aretz. The Ha’aretz story concerns my lawsuit against Joe Zias, former employee of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Since 2003 Zias has been upset with me, hounding me around the globe. For example, when I was recently appointed an adjunct professor at the University of Huntington in Ontario, he immediately contacted the department head to see if I was lying and when she confirmed that I am, indeed, an adjunct professor in the department, he contacted the president of the university to tell him that they made a big mistake. He disagrees with everything I do and, frankly, he has a right to. He is not a trained archaeologist, nor is he a trained forensic anthropologist as he claims to be. But in a democratic society he’s free to express whatever opinion he wants. Zias has gone beyond that, however. In the last few years he has accused several leading archaeologists e.g., the late, legendary Professor Hanan Eshel and Professor Richard Freund, head of the department of Judaic Studies at Hartford University of “planting archaeology” at Qumran. The list of people that he accuses of criminal or near criminal activity includes Professor James Tabor, BAR editor Hershel Shanks, geologist Paul Bauman, and former curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls Magen Broshi. A few years ago, Zias decided to include me in this prestigious group of people he libels. He accused me of “forging” archaeology, “planting” archaeology, and “inventing” Holocaust stories. As a child of Holocaust survivors, as an award-willing journalist and as a human being, I decided I had enough. Freedom of speech ends where libel begins.

To defend himself, Zias is trying to turn the libel trial into a media circus about free speech. Hence, the article in Ha’aretz. As far as I’m concerned, this is a non-story. It has nothing to do with archaeology or academia. I’m totally committed to free speech. It’s precisely because I believe in free speech that I also believe that people shouldn’t be shut up by fear of libel from people like Zias. What I’ve learned over the past few years is that in the world of Biblical and New Testament archaeology, the guardians of the “truth” demonize, ostracize, marginalize and defame people they disagree with. As a result, people who disagree with the mainstream are cowed into silence. My libel case against Zias is a defense of free speech. I hope it will demonstrate to those who use libel as a tool of intimidation that there are redlines that should not be crossed.

Simcha is not an archeologist. Neither is Zias.

Simcha's work is sometimes described as suppositions built on suppositions, good T.V. but not good archeology. James Tabor's work is similarly panned.

But what Zias has allegedly done is gone beyond legitimate criticism into tortious interference, slander and libel.

Cable T.V. is full of "history" shows about bigfoot; space aliens; "proof" of biblical plagues, miracles or floods; and completely laughable historical reenactments. By and large, Simcha's shows hew closer to reality than many of them do.

The bottom line here is that Zias doesn't find these much more egregious shows as offensive as he finds Simcha's, largely, I think, because I suspect that he personally detests Simcha.

At any rate, Zias either has proof to back up his claims or he doesn't.

From what I've seen of Zias' defense so far, it would appear all he has are academics who disagree with Simcha's conclusions and a large amount of bluster, nothing more.

If this is the case, Zias will lose. 

Comments

[sarah]

While he is not a trained archaeologist. I did enjoy the Naked Archaeologist.

Simcha Jacobovici ( /ˈsɪm.hə jəˈkoʊbɵvɪtʃ/; born April 4, 1953) is a Canadian film director, producer, free-lance journalist, and writer. He is a three-times Emmy winner for Outstanding Investigative Journalism and New York Times best selling author.

He hosts the The Naked Archaeologist on VisionTV in Canada and The History Channel in the United States.

[jake]

He once was my employer.

No comment.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

yes sarah, I note that u enjoyed.
However, the man doesn't come across as following a scientific discipline of any sort, but rather as a prolific merchant of cheap bobe mayses.
wonder if jake has any comment on this.

[Nicole]

Simcha is my employer and I do have a comment. I've worked with Simcha for 10 years and I don't know who Jake is. But his comment is typical of the innuendo that people use to personally attack and malign. With due respect, Simcha has more critics looking over his shoulder - thousands - than any PhD students in archaeology. And yet, at the end of the day, nobody has been able to find a single factual error in any of his films or books. His films on archaeology have been awarded the highest award available for film and archaeology by the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels. His Lost Tomb of Jesus film was the catalyst for an international academic conference in Jerusalem. 50 of the top scholars in the world got together to criticize the film. At the end of the day, they couldn't agree on a single thing - I repeat, a single thing - that was mistaken in the film. At the end of the day, you can agree with him or disagree with him, but there's no bobe mayses here. What there is is out of the box thinking. Isn't that the job of a good filmmaker?

[Laura M]

Are you kidding me, this show has to be one of the best and most authentic I have seen in quite some time. I love how Simcha examines every "authentic" piece of archeology that supports christianity, while telling the story of "Jesus" Simcha puts forth simple, yet relative, questions, which, at times, challenges some "mainstream" theories of early Christianity.
Zias should be held accountable for his slanderous and libel statements of defamation unless or until he has "solid" proof of his accusations. This, to me, is nothing more than an act of "typical" persecution of Christians from a particular "nay" sayer.