A British Museum talk on ancient Israel, which was cancelled last month over concerns it could be disrupted by anti-Israel activists, is set to go ahead this week.
The lecture, which was supposed to take place on May 28 to coincide with Jewish Culture Month, had to be postponed due to “security concerns” after the museum learnt that a “significant proportion” of registered attendees were planning to disrupt the event.
The decision to first cancel and then reschedule the event drew criticism from some Jewish groups at the time, but organisers said the decision was reached “to protect the event — not to diminish it”.
"Following discussions with organisers and security partners, a joint decision was taken to postpone the event to a later date when it can take place in an environment that properly safeguards both the audience experience and the integrity of the programme itself,” added a museum spokesperson.
Ancient Israel and Judah in the British Museum will now take place this Thursday, June 11 from 3.30pm to 4.30pm. Tickets are expected to sell out quickly, but a livestream of the event will also be available.
The talk is expected to focus on how archaeological artefacts help historians understand the two ancient Hebrew-speaking kingdoms of Israel and Judah, which existed in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age, between roughly 900 BC and 50 BC.
Much of what historians know about the states, which occupy a central place in Jewish history, comes from a combination of archaeological discoveries across the Middle East and biblical texts.
The talk will be led by Dr Paul Collins, Keeper of the Department of the Middle East. Collins previously held curator positions at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and is the current chair of the British Institute for the Study of Iraq.
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