Arabic version: إسرائيل تعيد 22 قطعة أثرية قديمة إلى اليونان

According to Al Jazeera, Israel has returned 22 ancient artefacts stolen from Greece, in what Greek officials described as the first return of antiquities from Israel to Greece. Greek Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni accepted the objects from the Israeli Antiquities Authority during a ceremony at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

The collection includes 15 Attic vases, six Corinthian vases and a bronze female statuette. The objects date from between 700 BC and 320 BC. Greek and Israeli officials did not give details on how the artefacts were discovered in Israel or on the circumstances of their illegal removal from Greece.

Pninat Yanay, Israel’s ambassador to Greece, said the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Theft Prevention Unit had located the items. Mendoni said the handover marked the beginning of closer cooperation between the two countries on protecting cultural heritage. She said every return of a cultural object to its place of origin carries a wider symbolic and moral dimension.

Yanay said the return created conditions for further strengthening cooperation between Greece and Israel. The countries have expanded energy and defence ties in recent years. In August, Israel signed a $3.5bn defence agreement to build Greece’s multi-layered Achilles Shield air defence system, described as the largest defence deal between the two countries and one of Israel’s most significant export agreements in recent history.