Holocaust Exhibit Is Barred From Parliament Hall That Hosted Palestine Booth
In this mindset, Jewish victimhood does not count
[The Editors is called The Editors, plural, not The Editor, singular, for a reason. When I launched it, a shrewd friend advised, “it can’t just be you.” I’m delighted to start including some additional voices. Today’s comes from Michael Mosbacher, who is associate comment editor at London’s Daily Telegraph. He is a past editor of Standpoint and The Critic, having co-founded both British magazines.—Ira Stoll.]
King Charles visited Auschwitz January 27 to participate in the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of its liberation. The occasion was significant both on a personal level — Charles was visibly moved and affected by what he saw — and a symbolic level. No serving British monarch had previously visited that murderous place.
Queen Elizabeth had avoided Auschwitz and also never set foot in Israel, though she did visit at least 117 countries — including many in the Middle East — during her 70-year reign. Views on why this was the case vary. Many think it reflected advice from the UK’s Foreign Office, seeking to curry favor in the Arab world. Others fear it might, sadly, have shone a light on Elizabeth’s own private sentiments.
So the king’s part in the commemorations last week was a welcome reaffirmation of the British state’s recognition of the horrors inflicted upon Jews, just for being Jewish.
But other decisions have been pointing in the opposite direction. The National Holocaust Centre and Museum was refused permission to display its touring exhibition “Vicious Circle” in the Houses of Parliament’s Westminster Hall on the grounds that the exhibit’s displays are too political. They were offered a much less prominent and more everyday location within Parliament instead.
The parliamentary authorities argued that Westminster Hall — what is left of the original medieval Palace of Westminster, it is where Elizabeth’s body lay in state in 2022 and mourners filed by — is a “politically neutral space and activity which could be perceived as campaigning/lobbying or trying to influence political opinions would not be permitted.”
This is despite the fact that the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the co-organizers of London’s near weekly, hate-filled, anti-Israel marches, were allowed to set up a stall in the very same Westminster Hall location last summer. Magically, this did not fall foul of the rules.
What is it about “Vicious Circle” that the parliamentary authorities objected to?
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