Picture Marlon Brando as the Godfather, Don Vito Corleone. He’s in your backyard threatening you with that calm voice of his. He’s making you an offer you can’t refuse. He’s making you dig your own grave, literally, with a shovel.

Suddenly, you come upon a rare archaeological find as you’re digging. It’s huge. It must be worth a fortune. Well, now you can sell it, pay back your debt to the Godfather, and you’re fine, right?

No, because Vito sees the find and says to you in that same calm voice, “Hey, that’s mine. Now pay me money to dig it out of the ground.”

Now you’re even more in debt and deader than before.

That’s exactly what the State does to people trying to build a house. If they happen to be building on top of an archaeological find, then they by law they have to pay for it to be excavated and handed over to the Israel Antiquities Authority. Or Marlon Brando. What’s the difference.

Normally, an archaeological find belongs to the person who finds it, and that person can sell it and make money. But in Israel if you find one and you’re building a house, you’re totally screwed.

The politicians use the “logic” that if they don’t monopolize antiques then people will just throw them out or use an old mikveh as a Port-A-Potty.

But why not, instead of forcing the person who finds it to pay for the excavation without being able to own any of the capital value, why not just mandate the State, since it has a monopoly on antiques, to buy the site at a value agreed upon by a private appraisal?

Because it’s not about saving archaeological finds. Its about power, greed, injustice.

Only in a Jewish State could finding a priceless Jewish artifact cause the bankruptcy of the Jew who is unlucky enough to find it on his property.