I don't know all (or even many of) the details, but it appears that the bombing in the story was on Sept. 4, 1997, in the Ben Jehuda pedestrian mall in Jerusalem. Three separate suicide bombers blew themselves up, and killed 5 (other) people, all from Jerusalem, one of which had US citizenship.

To make it a bit more real, the names and ages of those victims:  Yael Botwin, 14; Sivan Zarka, 14; Smadar Elhanan, 14; Rami Kozashvili, 20; and Eliahu Markowitz, 40

I don't know, but if I had been the father of one of those kids, I might resort to the same extreme actions in attempting to obtain some measure of justice...

Bart

(pretty sure this isn't my employer's opinion)

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I'm going to assume that one or more U.S. citizens were among the victims of the 1997 bombing, although this is not stated in the attached story.  Otherwise, why would a U.S. court have jurisdiction over an event that took place in Israel?

 

If the ownership or custody of the tablets themselves were in dispute, I could maybe understand a judge ordering them sold.  But picking those tablets just because they represent an "available asset" is ridiculous.  And, given that the tablets have resided in the U.S. for over 7o years, how does this "punish" Iran?

 

Assuming the tablets were sold and money obtained for the victims, would it be distributed among U.S. and non-U.S. citizens alike?  What legal basis does a U.S. court have to compensate foreign nationals  for an action that took place in a foreign country, when the action itself did not involve complicity by any U.S. interest?  Fascinating.

 

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James Stimpert
Archivist (Arts and Sciences)        E-mail:    [log in to unmask]
MSE Library
Johns Hopkins University             Voice:     (410) 516-8323
3400 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD  21218                  Fax:       (410) 516-7202

>>> Farris Wahbeh <[log in to unmask]> 07/07/06 2:35 PM >>>

One of the more bizarre actions taken against a museum in years...
Not necessarily archive news, but very well worth the read.
On an administrative/museum level, this could have major repercussions: n
o
international loans, perhaps...


Chicago Museum, Iran Fight U.S. Court

Thursday July 6, 2006 5:16 PM

By NASSER KARIMI

Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - The University of Chicago and the government of Iran
have come together in a rare alliance against a U.S. court ruling that ai
ms
to compensate victims of a 1997 Jerusalem bombing by auctioning off a rar
e
collection of Persian tablets.

A U.S. court previously found Iran responsible for supporting Hamas, whic
h
claimed responsibility for the 1997 bombing that killed five people and
wounded 192 others, and ordered Tehran to pay the victims $423.5 million.


The only Iranian asset that U.S. authorities! could get their hands on was
a
collection of ancient Persian tablets inscribed with one of the world's
oldest alphabets, dating to between 553 B.C. and 330 B.C. The clay artifa
cts
have been housed at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute museum

since the 1930s.

<snip>

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