Gallery apologises for one-sided pro-Palestinian web statement
‘The gallery isn’t involved in the politics of Manchester – so I don’t know why it’s involved in the Middle East’
AN art gallery accused of being “onesided” after its director wrote an online declaration expressing “solidarity with Palestine” has apologised.
Alistair Hudson, director of the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester, wrote a statement expressing the institution’s stance on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, saying: “We stand in solidarity with Palestine and with decolonisation efforts everywhere.”
The Sunday Telegraph understands that concerns were raised by high-profile supporters of the gallery. After Mr Hudson received several letters of complaint, the statement was removed from the gallery’s website.
“The Whitworth doesn’t even get involved in the politics of Manchester – so I don’t know why it’s getting involved in the Middle East,” one supporter said.
“Of course artists should be free to express their views and their take on politics,” another added, “but it’s very different when an academic institution and gallery takes a one-sided stance on a very complicated issue that’s thousands of miles away.”
The gallery, part of the University of Manchester, has since admitted that the statement was not “handled in a balanced and sensitive way”. It read: “Today we reopen the Whitworth to the public with a new programme that will be unfolding over the years to come, addressing the key urgencies of our times. In this, the gallery will be developed as a site of care and consideration, a convening space for debate, discussion and education around complex and nuanced issues.
“As we open up this week, we are mindful [that] the acts of human rights abuse that are being committed in Gaza are part of a long history of colonial violence in which the UK is complicit.
“As we mourn the lives lost, we stand in solidarity with Palestine and with decolonisation efforts everywhere.”
UK Lawyers for Israel engaged with supporters of the gallery and made representations to Mr Hudson, expressing concerns that the statement “expressed no solidarity with Israelis who had been killed or forced to take cover from rockets, in bomb shelters”.
“We set out our view that the statement was divisive and likely to cause frictions at a time when Jews and Jewish institutions have been the targets of physical and abusive attacks, under the guise of support for Palestinians,” it said in a statement. Mr Hudson assured it that there was no intention to cause division and that “greater consideration will be given to balance in the future”, the group added.
Daniel Berke, co-director of UK Lawyers for Israel, said: “I am pleased how quickly and properly the Whitworth addressed this issue once it was raised, though of course disappointed that intervention was necessary.”
Raphi Bloom, co-chair of North West Friends of Israel, described the gallery’s stance on the conflict as “shocking”. He said: “The Whitworth is also a charity, and by taking a one-sided and biased stance on the conflict, it also went against Charity Commission guidelines. The statement did nothing to build bridges between communities. Rather, it was divisive.”
A spokesman for the Whitworth said: “We apologise for the upset caused by the recent post on our website.
“While it is recognised that individuals have strongly held views on the violence in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, as a non-political organisation it is not appropriate to offer comment on the situation.
“The Whitworth’s purpose as a gallery is to provide a welcoming place where debate and discussion can be held on difficult issues in an unbiased manner. In this instance, we recognise that we have not met those standards.”