The British Museum Made False Claims About Erasing Palestine. Its Own Emails Prove It.

The museum told the public that 'audience testing' was behind the removal of 'Palestine' from its displays. Its own emails, released under Freedom of Information law, show the testing never happened: the labels were rewritten within hours of complaints from pro-Israel lobby groups, against internal advice. Demand a public correction, reinstatement of the displays and full disclosure, in one click.

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The British Museum

Director Nicholas Cullinan and the Board of Trustees

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Director Nicholas Cullinan and the Board of Trustees (Chair George Osborne and all trustees, via the Director of Governance). The formal complaint: 14-day public correction, reinstate the four displays, publish the lobby correspondence, independent review.

The museum's press office, which told journalists that 'audience testing' supported t…

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The museum's press office, which told journalists that 'audience testing' supported the changes. Demand it withdraws the claim and sends a correction to every outlet that received the original statement.

Government oversight

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the museum's sponsor department and prin…

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The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the museum's sponsor department and principal regulator. Ask the Secretary of State to require a written account from the Chair of Trustees and steps to correct the public record.

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About this campaign

In February 2026, the British Museum was caught stripping 'Palestine' from its ancient Middle East displays. Its defence to the public was twofold: 'audience testing' had shown the historic use of the term was 'no longer meaningful', and, in the museum's words, 'It is simply not true. We continue to use Palestine across a series of galleries.'

On 2 July 2026, Middle East Eye published the museum's own internal emails, released under the Freedom of Information Act. No audience testing was ever carried out. No visitor research related to the term 'Palestine' exists. The 'testing' the museum cited to journalists was invented.

What the emails actually show is lobby pressure, answered within hours. A complaint about the Hyksos panel arrived on 28 November 2024; the museum agreed a revised panel the next day. Within five hours of a letter from the Board of Deputies of British Jews circulating internally, staff proposed stripping the words 'Israelites' and 'occupied' from the Phoenicians panel. A staff member who advised the complaints could be answered with the museum's standard response was overruled within twenty minutes. The changes went in during January 2025. Complaints came from or were copied to the Board of Deputies, UK Lawyers for Israel and the Anti-Defamation League.