Jacobovici with Cameron (photo: A. Novac)

He was born in Israel after his parents left Romania after WWII, he lives in Canada and among other is the winner of an Emmy Award for investigative journalism. And he has just presented the alleged coffins of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene in a New York event. His name is Simcha Jacobovici.

Jacobovici, born Petach Tikvah, has become of the most controversial people in the world after he announced a documentary he wrote, directed and funded with “Titanic” director James Cameron. The documentary reveals the “real” tombs of Jesus and his family.

Beyond the nature of this controversy, Jacobovici is a renowned documentary producers and hosts “The Naked Archeologist” show on History Channel. His articles were published in New York Times, Boston Globe and Toronto Star.

I talked to him following the controversial presentation he held in New York. In a hall of the Central Library in Manhattan, surrounded by over 200 journalists, Simcha spoke in fluent Romanian about his links to Romania, about visiting the country and about his parents, Jews born in the NE Romanian city of Iasi.

In 2000, Simcha Jacobovici unveiled a commemorative plaque in Iasi, on the very spot where his father was shot in the pogrom against Jewish locals.

The same year, he directed a documentary on the tragedy of the Struma ship transporting Jews to Palestine in 1942, sinking in the Black Sea. The film was presented in Bucharest among others.

I asked him about his film and already existing charges against him by the Romanian Orthodox Church. “How can they accuse me of something before seeing the move or read the book?” he retorted. “No Church should be afraid of the truth”, he said.

He believes revelations included in the documentary are real, scientific facts. But is he aware of the