Berlin's Jewish Museum has been harshly criticized for using a controversial poster to advertise an exhibition on Jerusalem that opened last month. The poster, which ironically highlighted the city's Muslim symbols rather than its Jewish ones, sparked outrage among Germany's Jewish community.
"Jerusalem is now in Berlin," the poster reads in German. Attached to the letter "A" is a minaret with a moon on top, an obvious symbol of Islam. Jewish symbols are nowhere to be found on the poster.
Other advertisements for the exhibition also shockingly downplay the Jewish character of Jerusalem. A model of Al-Aqsa mosque is touted in a promotional brochure as one of the exhibition's main attractions, instead of any Jewish site.
After the grand opening of the exhibition on Dec. 11, it became clear the museum had trimmed the city's Jewish history in the modern age, adopting an Arab-Palestinian narrative of Muslim ownership instead, especially in the Old City.
Other sections of the exhibition present the Zionist movement and Israel as aggressors that wrested control over Jerusalem and the land of Israel from the Palestinians. Meanwhile, acts of terrorism committed by Palestinians receive only minimal coverage and are explained away as a "choiceless response" in light of the "violent" Jewish takeover.
The Jewish Museum in Berlin, one of the main tourist attractions in the German capital, is a public institution funded by the German government and the Berlin Municipality.
Last month, the Bible House in Frankfurt canceled an exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls that had been scheduled to open in the fall of 2019, citing "political developments."
The move followed the German government's refusal to guarantee the safe return of the scrolls to Israel if the Palestinians petition courts for ownership over them. Several days later, German artists in Berlin portrayed Palestinian and Arab terrorists in Israel as tortured saints.
