In Israel, archaeological sites are often defaced because they are of religious or cultural significance. In 2012, vandals covered a 4th century synagogue at Hammath Tiberias with graffiti reading, “To Shuka the cannibal,” in reference to Shuka Dorfman, the director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, a government agency regulating excavation and conservation projects. The vandals also destroyed mosaics and panels depicting menorahs.
In his article, “Pagan Images in Late Antique Palestinian Synagogues,” UCL Jewish studies professor Sacha Stern observes that “similar evidence of iconoclasm has been discovered in contemporary Palestinian churches” in Beit Guvrin National Park, where the human faces of mosaics have been “selectively erased and replaced with patternless arrangements.”
Archaeologists hope that the Roman temple, which still holds many unsolved mysteries, will not succumb to such a fate.
In his article, “Pagan Images in Late Antique Palestinian Synagogues,” UCL Jewish studies professor Sacha Stern observes that “similar evidence of iconoclasm has been discovered in contemporary Palestinian churches” in Beit Guvrin National Park, where the human faces of mosaics have been “selectively erased and replaced with patternless arrangements.”
Archaeologists hope that the Roman temple, which still holds many unsolved mysteries, will not succumb to such a fate.
It seems someone really doesn't like or accept the idea that Jewish representational art was a fact, in contravention to the Torah's strictures (or interpretations thereof).
Dr. Zaius, Destroying the Evidence, the Truth: