It is sad that it happened this way but that is the way of colonialism. Just look at the museums in Great Britain or the US or private collections of oligarchs or rich leftists. They all contain antiquities from various parts of the world, whether it be Egypt, Syria, parts of SE Asia, anywhere in Africa or South America. Lots and lots of money has been exchanged for these artifacts, in fact movies have been made about this happening, either factual or fictional (Indiana Jones).

One of the interesting things found in the Dead Sea Scrolls were accounts of the Essenes - a sect of Jews that broke off. They even built their own walled retreat some distance away and resisted the Roman army for several weeks before being conquered. What was interesting was that they had a different idea about government than the Romans or the Jews.