Israel hands Greece 22 antiquities seized in 2020 raids near Tel Aviv, its first such return

Israel returned 22 antiquities to Greece on Tuesday 13 October at a ceremony in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. The Israel Antiquities Authority announced that it was the first time Israel had returned antiquities to Greece. Dr Lina Mendoni, the Greek Minister of Culture, received them in the presence of Pninat Yanai, Israel's ambassador in Athens, and Dr Amir Ganor, who directs the Authority's Antiquities Theft Prevention Unit.

The group includes painted pottery dated to the 8th–4th centuries BCE. Some vessels of the 7th century BCE show the influence of Near Eastern decoration; others are in the black-figure and red-figure techniques, with figures and scenes from Greek myth. A small bronze statuette of a woman is also among them.

The objects were seized in 2020. Ganor's unit, the Israel Police and the Israel Tax Authority searched a gallery, storerooms and flats in Gush Dan, the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, and found thousands of archaeological objects from Israel and abroad. The investigation concerned suspected illegal trading and the possession of finds looted from ancient sites and tombs around the Mediterranean and beyond. The 22 pieces went to Greece once the legal process in Israel had ended and they had been formally confiscated.

"The illegal trade in antiquities knows no borders," Ganor said. In June Mendoni handed 48 Cypriot antiquities from a private collection in Greece back to Cyprus.