Roger Cukierman, the president of the French Jewish umbrella organization CRIF, has accused a state-funded museum of celebrating Palestinian sucide bombers. A photo exhibition at the Jeu de Paume Museum in Paris calls Palestinian suicide bombers "martyrs" and features dozens of portraits of Palestinian terrorists with anti-Israeli captions that glorify their deaths.
One photograph features a proud mother inside her house brandishing a photo of her son, a suicide bomber who killed 19 people in an attack on a bus in Jerusalem in 2002. A caption on another photo says all the individuals it depicts are "martyrs" since they died "as a result of the Israeli occupation." The exhibition of 68 photos by the Palestinian photographer Ahlam Shibli opened on 28 May. The museum’s website describes suicide bombers as “those who lost their lives fighting against the occupation,” and the exhibition as being about “the efforts of Palestinian society to preserve their presence.”
"This is unacceptable. You have the right to be shocked when an apology for terrorists is made in the heart of Paris," Cukierman was quoted by the ‘Associated Press’ as saying. He added: "And to think this is a state-funded museum. There must be more vigilance. One minute France is fighting terrorists in Mali, and then celebrating the same ones here.” Cukierman also wrote a letter to the French culture minister to protest against the display.
The museum strongly defended its decision to show the exhibit, saying the captions did not represent the views of the museum. Several signs have been put up saying the captions were written by the artist, not the museum. However, the government has advised the museum to make it even clearer that the photo captions only reflect Shibli's views. The Culture Ministry defended the right of the museum to host the exhibit, but also said it posed the question where the limits of the freedom to artistic expression was.
A protest is planned at the museum next Sunday.