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As part of the agreement, whose signing was fostered by Culture Minister Chili Tropper, the museum will not incur financial damage and the fine for the cancellation of the sale will be paid by the Al-Thani Foundation of Qatar, which is expected to display an item from the collection in Paris. This week, Tropper said: “We will fight for our artistic treasures. Artistic objects are not currency. This is a statement of an important value. We will not give up on such significant ethical and public issues.”
The affair over the intention to sell the items to finance the continued operation of the museum cast a pall over Sheiban’s tenure as museum director. As was detailed in Haaretz over the last six months in a series of articles by Naama Riba, the auction, which was to have taken place in September, raised difficult questions regarding ownership of the items on display at the museum, their importance as state treasures, the museum’s freedom of action and the activities of the Lichtenstein-based Hermann de Stern Foundation, the museum’s principal donor.