Seattle museum shut down after staff walkout to protest exhibit on antisemitic hatred

From the New York Post  and the Jerusalem Post

Nearly 30 Seattle museum staffers have shut down the art center in protest of its new “Confronting Hate Together’’ exhibit, claiming portions of the show “conflate anti-Zionism as antisemitism.”

The workers, who form about half of the staff at the Wing Luke Museum, stormed off the job Wednesday, the day the exhibit opened, forcing the site to close and vowing to remain on strike until their demands are met.

“Zionism has no place in our communities and being anti-Zionist goes hand in hand with our own liberation as AA/NHPI,” wrote the disgruntled staffers, who work at the only pan-Asian art and history museum in the United States. “Our solidarity with Palestine should be reflected in our AA/NHPI institutions.”

The 26 striking workers are demanding their employer remove any language from the exhibit that “attempt[s] to frame Palestinian liberation and anti-Zionism as antisemitism,” acknowledge its “limited perspectives,” conduct a community review of it and “center voices and perspectives that align with the museum’s mission and values,” the group wrote on social media.

The exhibit is designed to explore anti-Asian American, Native American and Pacific Islander hate, Black hate and anti-Jewish hate, according to the museum’s website. The show was supposed to run from Wednesday through June 30

The Jewish Historical Society commenced the exhibit by explaining “Today, antisemitism is often disguised as anti-Zionism.”

Despite many experts, including the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, highlighting the intersection between antisemitism and anti-Zionism, the workers insisted that the museum remove any language from the exhibit that “attempt[s] to frame Palestinian liberation and anti-Zionism as antisemitism,”

The museum later issued a statement in support of its staff. “After closing the Museum this week to listen and earnestly engage in dialog with our staff, the Museum looks forward to opening our doors at a future date so that we can continue serving our community in other needed capacities during this time. Please look for updates from us.”

The exhibition is a collaboration between the Black Heritage Society of Washington State, the Washington State Jewish Historical Society and the Wing Luke Museum. The digital form can be accessed here

I can’t see any objections by the Black historians of the Black Heritage Society or the Pan Asian historians of the Wing Luke museum to the Jewish input to the exhibition. So in causing the exhibition to close the pro-Palestinian activists have closed down an important part of the black community’s history and experience of racism. Ditto the Chinese/Japanese/Hawaiian and Pacific Islander’s experience.  Interesting that they have unwittingly revealed more than a prejudice against Jews. Seems that BLM now ranks below Hamas and the PLO.  

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