The Attack on the British Museum and Biblical Archaeology

 Ancient Israel and Judah—too controversial for modern-day London
By Richard Palmer and Christopher Eames • June 1

“Ancient Israel and Judah” are now such controversial topics that you cannot safely host a talk about them in central London.

This was the title of a scheduled hour-long lunchtime talk for May 28 as part of the British Museum’s Jewish Culture Month. It was postponed due to “security concerns.” The museum said in a statement issued the day prior that “a significant proportion” of those who had tickets planned to “deliberately disrupt the event.”

The lecture was intended to explain how “the histories of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah can be illuminated by the archaeology and art of the wider ancient Middle East,” delivered by Keeper of the Department of the Middle East Paul Collins. Initially, the museum postponed the talk to an unspecified later date, citing the “importance of lawful protest and freedom of expression in a democratic society” as well as the “responsibility to ensure that events hosted within the Museum can proceed safely, securely and without intimidation for speakers, staff and visitors alike.” A May 28 statement says the lecture will take place “early next month.

[…]

“The main issue is not free speech,” wrote journalist Melanie Phillips in her own blog post, titled “War Against Israel Targets the British Museum.” “It’s the need to combat Soviet-style disinformation and psychological warfare that’s resulted in a cult-like grip on millions of minds.” She noted that the postponement “has fueled bitter criticism of the museum for ‘pathetic’ cowardice and bowing to mob rule. It’s also increased alarm among British Jews that Jewish life is rapidly being squeezed out of the country, as the political and cultural establishment seeks to appease Islamist and left-wing pressure to turn Israel and Zionism into pariahs ….”

[…]

“[T]he society that ceases to allow to free discussion of ideas and stops respecting and recognizing the value of scientific and historical sources and facts is a society that will fail,” Montefiore wrote.

Yet there is another angle here—one of some reassurance. While lectures may be postponed or canceled, and open-editing encyclopedias may be changed at will, what does not change are the facts on—and from—the ground. In a motif found several times in the biblical text—serving as the inspiration for the title of our magazine, Let the Stones Speak (a saying oft-repeated by our mentor, the late Dr. Eilat Mazar)—when people fall silent, it is the stones themselves that “cry out” as a “witness” to history (e.g. Joshua 24:27; Habakkuk 2:11).

Full article at Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology