Following a report in Israel Hayom last week about the upcoming sale at auction of a rare Hebrew-language letter by Zionist hero Joseph Trumpeldor, the Jabotinsky Institute in Israel contacted the Israel Police and claimed that the letter had been stolen from them.
In the letter, one of the few the native Russian speaker Trumpeldor is believed to have written in Hebrew, he describes the death of a young solider in the British Army's Zion Mule Corps, telling the young man's father: "I understand that your heart is full of pain, but know that your son fell as a hero for the sake of the people of Israel and for the Land of Israel."
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
The letter was slated to be sold through King David Auctions, with a starting price of $100,000, but the sale is now in question.
After Israel Hayom reported that the letter was being auctioned, Gideon Mitchnik, director general of the institute, filed a police complaint and reached out to the auction house, claiming that the letter was the property of the institute and must be returned.
"The letter looked familiar, and after looking at your site, we saw clearly that it bears a stamp of the Betar Museum, the former name of the Jabotinsky Institute," Mitchnik wrote to King David Auctions.
"We looked into the matter, and the letter was owned by and in the possession of the institute's archives, and has not been sold or transferred to any other party. We now realize that it somehow found its way to you. This is stolen property that belongs to the Jabotinsky Institute," Mitchnik wrote.
The auction house said in response that "We have no side in the dispute about whether something was sold or not 60 years ago. Both sides claiming [the letter] weren't alive then. It is very difficult to know without doubt the adventures the item has been on since then. It might have been sold legally at some point, or might have merely been on loan to the archives.
"We express our faith in both sides, both the direct seller who submitted the item to be sold through us and the Jabotinsky Institute," the auction house said.
