Some 400 people took to the streets of Paris Sunday afternoon in front of the Jeu de Paume museum to demonstrate aginst a photo exhibition entitled Phantom Home: Death, which seeks to highlight Palestinian suicide bombers who characterise themselves as ‘’freedom fighters,’’ as well as showcasing “those who lost their lives in fighting the occupation”.
The demonstrators, who were cordoned off by French riot police to guarantee their security, observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims of terrorist attacks.
The exhibition of photos by Palestinians photographer Ahlam Shibli, which is displayed at the museum until September, has provoked outrage from Jewish organisations. French Jewish umbrella organisation CRIF accused the curators of making “an apology of terrorism” in an open letter on the subject to French Culture Minister, Aurelie Filippetti.
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Los Angeles meanwhile had called on the Jewish community “and all friends of Israel and of humanity who fight against terrorism” to join in the demonstration in front of the museum.
Shimon Samuels, director of International Relations at the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, said on visiting the exhibition: “The summary of the exhibition in the musuem’s official catalogue describes Palestinian terrorists convicted in Israel as “failed martyrs who have yet to achieve their unfulfilled suicide missions”.
Arab Israeli volunteers in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are presented as mentally disturbed or handicapped, as well as collaborators in the Zionist effort against the Palestinian cause, he observed. Palestinian prisoners who signed commitments to renounce terrorism in return for their release or exchange were further revealed as imposters, he added.
“This signifies that the formal statements signed by all Palestinian prisoners detained for reasons of security, in return for their exchange or release, and can no longer commit terrorist acts, are nothing more than a hoax – a signature with one hand whilst the other is crossed behind their back, revealed as a hypocritical ploy which invalidates their alleged renunciation of violence,” raged Samuels.
“The glorification of suicide bombing on display at the Jeu de Paume museum can only serve to promote violence,” he added.
Museum Director Marta Gilli told French daily Le Figaro that “the purpose of an art centre is to create debate”. “I am therefore open to all feedback, whatever it may be. What shocks me is the use of threats, insults and harassment,” she added.