28 May 2026
The British Museum has postponed a Jewish Culture Month event entitled ‘Ancient Israel and Judah in the British Museum’ scheduled for today, for fear of disruption.
In light of this, Jewish Artists for Palestine asks: What is the purpose of holding a talk on such a controversial topic if not to invite questioning and debate? It is entirely legitimate to expect that a publicly funded museum would host conversations that reflect different points of view.
That the British Museum deems such a debate a security concern points to the event as a pro-Zionist propaganda exercise, in keeping with the Museum’s decision to host an Israeli Independence Day party in June 2025. This was never meant to be a legitimate opportunity to engage the public in their work.
Further, Jewish Artists for Palestine demand answers to the following:
- Why is this event part of a Jewish culture month celebrating the cultural achievement of UK Jews?
- This event was part of Jewish Culture Month, organised by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, to celebrate “the best of Jewish culture in the UK, past and present.”[1] with the criteria for inclusion explicitly calling for highlighting and celebrating UK Jewish cultural contributions with an emphasis on a thousand years of UK Jewish history.
- Given that 44% of UK Jews aged 20-29 identify as either anti-Zionist or non Zionist[2] the Board of Deputies must begin to recognise that a growing number of UK Jews do not see Israel as a part of their Jewish identity.[3]
- Considering the provocative nature of this talk, will the British Museum confirm exactly what form its recent erasure of Palestine has taken?
- In line with the demands of 200+ signatories made earlier this year,[4] we demand clarity about the decisions that have been made with regard to the representation of Palestine in the British Museum.
- The Museum continues to obfuscate, whilst we understand that the term ‘Palestinian’ – the standard term in academia for the region – has been removed from the Egypt gallery, replaced with the word Canaanite, and the word ‘Palestine’ has been removed from at least two displays in the Levant gallery, replaced by ‘Gaza and the West Bank.’ This form of historical erasure is unacceptable, especially given the British government has recently recognised the State of Palestine.
- The British Museum must refuse to participate in the weaponisation of archaeology practiced by the Israeli state in order to legitimise illegal settlements of the West Bank as well as to justify its ongoing genocide and attempted erasure of the Palestinian people and their heritage.
- Will the British Museum recognise that holding a lecture on ‘Ancient Israel and Judah’ in the ‘BP Lecture Theatre’ is a morally bankrupt decision considering BP’s complicity in genocide and ecocide?[5]
- The call to drop BP as a sponsor of the British Museum goes back beyond the start of the Gaza genocide. Between 2019 and 2023 other cultural institutions including the National Galleries of Scotland, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Portrait Gallery and Royal Opera House all dropped BP as a sponsor. The British Museum must do the same.
[1]https://jewishculturemonth.org.uk/about-jcm/
[2]https://www.jpr.org.uk/reports/two-years-after-october-7-attacks-british-jewish-views-antisemitism-israel-and-jewish-life
[3]https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/zionism-anti-jewish-british-jews-explain-their-turn-away-israel
[4]https://prc.org.uk/en/news/7963/over-200-cultural-figures-warn-british-museum-that-erasing-palestine-fuels-genocide
[5]https://www.jurist.org/news/2024/12/palestinian-british-group-initiate-legal-action-against-uk-oil-company-for-alleged-complicity-in-war-crimes/