10 agorot controversy
The design of the Israeli 10 agorot coin was briefly a subject of controversy. In a press conference called by Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat in Geneva, in December 13, 1988, he claimed that the obverse design of this coin incorporates a map of a "Greater Israel" that "goes from the Mediterranean to Mesopotamia, from the Red Sea to the Euphrates", and thus reflects Zionist expansionism. The Bank of Israel denied this, maintaining that the 10 agorot design was selected for historical value, and "was closely patterned after a coin issued in 37–40 B.C.E., during the Roman siege of Jerusalem, by Mattathias Antigonus II, the last Hasmonean King". [1] Several pictures of such ancient coins are available at the Menorah Coin Project.
The design, by Nathan Karp, first appeared on the 100 (old) shkalim coin issued by the Bank of Israel on May 2, 1984 [2]. When the shekel currency was replaced by the new shekel (September 1985) the design was copied to the new 10 agorot coin, which was equal in value to the old 100 shkalim coin. This design was also adopted as the symbol of the Bank of Israel.
External links
- Official Bank Israel site on 10 agorot coin
- Imperial Israel: The Nile-to-Euphrates Calumny, an article by Daniel Pipes, Middle East Quarterly, March 1994, where the 10 Agorot coin controversy is prominently described.
- Menorah Coin Project, the personal web site of a Canadian coin collector with many pictures of ancient coins, including several that resemble the 10 Agorot coin.