250 members of staff at the British Museum have written to the institution’s leadership criticising the decision to hire its galleries to the Israeli embassy in London and demanding that the museum end relations with Israeli cultural institutions.
The evening event, which attracted politicians including the UK Minister of Defence Maria Eagle, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform leader Nigel Farage, marked Israel’s 77th Independence Day.
Staff were not told the nature of the corporate hire and were ordered to leave work early. In correspondence since seen by The Art Newspaper, many are said to be furious, and stated that it is likely to harm relations with partner organisations in the Arab world. Others argued that hosting the event violated the museum’s code of impartiality.
The British Museum told ARTNews that, as an arms-length organisation, it is unable to deviate from British government policy. ‘All decisions about commercial events are taken on a non-political basis,’ the museum stated.
The World Health Organisation states that the whole of Palestine faces food shortages as a result of Israel’s aid blockades and estimate nearly half a million Palestinians are in a catastrophic situation of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness and death.
‘We are very aware of the strong feelings held, and respect people’s rights to express their views. We can all agree that the loss of life on all sides is desperately sad,’ a spokesperson for the museum stated.
