The National Jewish Assembly is deeply concerned by reports that the British Museum postponed a Jewish Culture Month event on Ancient Israel and Judah over fears of protests and disruption.
The event was a scholarly discussion examining the archaeology, history, and material culture of the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah as part of a wider celebration of Jewish culture.
That such an event could face organised attempts at disruption, and that a major British institution would respond by postponing it, is deeply troubling.
It sends the message that intimidation works and that Jewish history, heritage, and cultural expression are somehow uniquely contentious and negotiable in Britain’s public institutions.
At a time when antisemitic incidents have surged across Britain since 7 October, public bodies should be demonstrating moral confidence and institutional resolve, not retreating in the face of aggressive activism and organised pressure campaigns.
No other minority community would be expected to accept the disruption of a cultural or historical event because activists objected to its identity, heritage, or historical narrative. Yet when the subject is Jewish history or Israel, too many institutions suddenly lose their nerve.
The British Museum should have made clear that attempts to disrupt a lawful educational event would not succeed. Instead, this decision risks legitimising a culture of intimidation in which activists believe they can veto Jewish participation in public cultural life simply by threatening disruption.
The Museum should urgently reconsider. Great national institutions are expected to uphold scholarship, open inquiry, and equal participation under pressure, not capitulate to intimidation. Capitulation is not neutrality. It is weakness, and it sets a dangerous precedent for every public institution in the country.
