For six hours on September 4, the government’s first witness in the Israeli forgery trial, internationally famous, 82-year-old antiquities collector Shlomo Moussaieff, testified, surprisingly asserting he believed that all the pieces in his vast collection are authentic. The government’s purpose in calling Mr. Moussaieff as a witness remains unclear. The court set aside two days in early November for cross-examination of Moussaieff.

The government claims that the five defendants are part of an international forgery ring. Among the many artifacts alleged to be forgeries are a bone box with an inscription referring to Jesus’ brother James, an inscribed ivory pomegranate once thought to be the only surviving relic from Solomon’s Temple and a receipt for a gift of three shekels to the Temple.^a