Billionaire’s looted art still on display at Israel Museum

By ILAN BEN ZION
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Weeks after American billionaire Michael Steinhardt agreed to surrender dozens of plundered antiquities, three of the items remain on display at Israel’s flagship museum. Museums worldwide are facing greater scrutiny over the provenance — or chain of ownership — of their art. This has applied especially to items looted from conflict zones or illegally plundered from archaeological sites. There are growing calls for such items to be returned to their countries of origin. The artifacts at the Israel Museum include a pair of ancient masks and a limestone table with a Greek inscription. Steinhardt, who has denied any wrongdoing, loaned the items to the museum years ago.