Last year, “Titanic” director James Cameron and TV-director Simcha Jacobovici said that the Jesus family tomb had been found. The archaeological community dismissed their contention completely, and now Princeton’s James Charlesworth has completed a Jerusalem conference that brought together over 50 scientists to discuss the issue.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the conference:
“Last year, James Cameron declared that it had been determined ‘beyond any reasonable doubt’ that the tomb of Jesus and his family had been found. His comment was absurd then, and it looks even more enfeebled now following the Charlesworth conference.
“Charlesworth, while conceding the unexceptional—there is no unqualified empirical evidence that would settle the issue altogether—questions why, if this really were Jesus’ ossuary, would the followers of the person they believed was the Son of God leave an inscription of Jesus’ name that was merely ‘graffiti, just scratching’? Why, questions Charlesworth, was there ‘no ornamentation’? And why would the followers of the Son of God choose such a ‘lousy’ looking tomb?
“The media event of the conference, however, centered on the claims of Ruth Gat, widow of archaeologist Yosef Gat. She said that her husband believed that he had found Jesus’ tomb, but because he was a Holocaust survivor, he didn’t want to stir up anti-Semitism by saying this in public.
“Gat was involved in the excavation, but he died soon after, producing no evidence to sustain his alleged belief. In any event, surely he would not have been afraid of stirring anti-Semitism by sharing his belief with his colleagues. Yet his boss, Amos Kloner, maintains today that it is ‘absolutely not the case’ that Gat believed they had found Jesus’ tomb. Also, Dr. Shimon Gibson, who worked alongside Gat, says Gat never told him the story now being floated by his wife.
“At the conference, Kloner responded to Jacobovici after he floated his ‘Jesus hoax’ again, branding him a ‘liar.’ So yes, the ‘Titanic Fraud’ continues.”
