Queens Museum mystery

Despite the worst intentions of someone at the Queens Museum, a celebration of the historic 1947 vote of the United Nations to establish the state of Israel will happen Tuesday at the museum — the very building where the UN’s General Assembly first met. The Nov. 29, 1947, roll call of nations was fraught, with a two-thirds majority needed to approve the plan to divide the territory of the Palestine mandate under British control into a Jewish state and an Arab state.

After furious lobbying, the final tally was 33 to 13, with another 11 not voting. It was enough; less than six months later, when Britain ended the mandate, Israel was born.

The 70th anniversary celebration was also touch-and-go. In June, Israel’s Mission to the UN asked the Queens Museum to use the historic hall and was told yes. But by August, for some reason, the museum reneged.

After a justified firestorm broke out, the museum quickly reinstated the event, with the board promising a probe. Was it anti-Israel bias or just a mix up?

The report, by an outside law firm, was due Monday. New deadline: next month.

That will make is nearly six months that Board of Trustees Chair Mark Coleman and his colleagues have been hunkered down. When they get the report it must be made public, all of it, along with how much it cost and who paid for it.