British Museum says Jewish Culture Month lecture cancelled over ‘disruption’ concerns will happen next month

JTA – The British Museum postponed a lecture titled “Ancient Israel and Judah” that was scheduled to take place on Thursday on its premises. 

The museum announced later that the event “will take place early next month”, adding that booking details would be published on its website shortly. 

The museum said, “A respectful and secure environment for our visitors, speakers, and colleagues remains our highest priority, and we are working closely with all relevant teams to ensure robust arrangements are in place, as would be expected for an event of this nature.” 

In a previous statement on Wednesday, the museum said the decision to call off the event was made because it was informed in recent days that “a significant proportion of registered attendees were individuals intending to deliberately disrupt the event”. 

The event is supposed to be jointly led by members of the museum’s senior curatorial team alongside organisers from Jewish Culture Month, with the lecture presented by Dr Paul Collins, the museum’s Keeper of the Department of the Middle East. 

Jewish Culture Month is the first event of its kind in the United Kingdom (UK), organised by the Board of Deputies of British Jews. The festivities opened on 15 May and run until 16 June, and include more than 100 events celebrating Jewish heritage, creativity, and culture across the UK. 

Major British institutions including the British Library, Tate Modern, Victoria and Albert Museum, and the BBC are participating. 

The British Museum said the decision to delay the event was a joint one “made following conversations with organisers and security partners”. The museum added that the decision was made “to protect the event , not diminish it”. 

British Museum Assistant Press Officer Lucy McDonald told JTA that the museum could not comment on “operational or security arrangements” and referred to the statement saying that the event would be rescheduled “to a later date when it can take place in an environment that properly safeguards both the audience experience and the integrity of the programme itself”. 

The Board of Deputies of British Jews responded with a statement saying, “It is highly regrettable that individuals have sought to deliberately disrupt a Jewish Culture Month event celebrating Jewish cultural heritage at the British Museum.” A spokesperson for the Board told JTA they couldn’t comment further. 

At the launch earlier this month, Board of Deputies Acting President Adrian Cohen said the events were designed for Jewish and non-Jewish community members alike because “British Jewish culture is not something that exists in isolation”. 

Board of Deputies Director of Culture, Education, and Communities Liat Rosenthal added, “Jewish culture has never been something sealed behind glass. It is a living culture. An argumentative culture. A hospitable culture. A culture of memory and reinvention. Of stories carried across borders and generations, then remade anew.” 

The museum’s postponement of the event is a blow to London’s Jewish community, which has weathered rising antisemitic incidents since the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel. 

Shimon Cohen, the Campaign Director for Shechita UK, an organisation that advocates for the Jewish ritual of kosher animal slaughter, told JTA in a statement, “Why has our country descended into mob rule? Why are we signalling that intimidation, vitriolic abuse, and violence against Jews works?” 

“The British Museum can ‘celebrate the contribution of our communities’ except the Jewish community,” said Cohen. “Instead, their message is clear: let them cower, be cancelled, and be exposed, through the cowardice of our passivity, to ever more hatred, and why? Simply because Jews don’t count!”