Hospital takes down Gaza art exhibition after complaints it upset Jewish patients

A display of artwork by Palestinian children at Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London has been removed after the UK Lawyers for Israel group  raised concerns it made Jewish patients feel “vulnerable, harassed and victimised”.

UKLFI wrote to Lesley Watts, the chief executive of the Chelsea and Westminster hospital NHS foundation trust, saying they had been contacted by patients offended by the display.

In a statement the hospital confirmed the artwork, part of a collaboration between children in Gaza, and the hospital’s own school, had  “offended some communities.”

The artwork was on show at the entrance to the children’s outpatient’s department, and included plates showing the Dome of the Rock, with a Palestinian flag.

Another showed the Palestinian fishing industry, but with text that suggested a national coastline ran from Gaza’s border with Egypt to Israel’s border with Lebanon, in contrary to the borders of the Jewish state since 1948.

Text alongside it read:”“Fishing with nets is one of the oldest industries in Palestine. The shoreline stretches for 224 km from Rafah in the south to Ra’as al Naqoura in the North.”

On their website UKLFI claimed”the drawings from Gaza all appear to be professional artwork, in the same style, and carried out by the same person.”

After UKLFI issued its complaint about the the artwork in the collection titled,  Crossing Borders – A Festival of Plates,  it was removed a few days later.

Jonathan Turner, the chief executive of UKLFI, said: “We asked for the artwork to be removed because of the propaganda, not because it was by children from Gaza.

“We are pleased that it was taken down: Jewish patients should not have to face a wall of anti-Israel propaganda when they go to hospital.”

ITV political editor and presenter Robert Peston was among those to criticise the decision to remove the plates from display.

He tweeted:”I understand Jewish and Israeli sensibilities around this Palestinian art installation in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital but for UK Lawyers for Israel to force the hospital to remove it, rather than explain and perhaps amend it, seems a sad over-reaction.”

The plates had been designed by children at two United Nations schools in Gaza, with the wording added to emphasise the messages contained in the artwork.

Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian mission to the UK, has now written to the hospital asking for the exhibition to be reinstatated.

A spokesperson for the Chelsea and Westminster hospital trust said: “We are sorry that the removal of this artwork has offended some communities and that its contents offended other communities. We will be working with the relevant parties on the next steps for the artwork.”