A new temporary exhibit about borders and ethnic conflicts that opened a few days ago at the Jewish Museum Munich includes material that is being described as anti-Israel for its portrayal of Israel's policies on "making the desert bloom," which is one of the central tenets of Zionism.
The exhibit, by Afghani-American photographer Fazal Sheikh, who lives in Switzerland, includes 12 images that, according to the explanatory material included in the exhibit, focus on the "violent and devastating effects of Israel's settlement and cultivation policy in the Negev [Desert] towards the local Bedouin population."
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
The images, according to the museum, "tell of the forced evacuations of 'unrecognized' Bedouin villages, narrating the intricate policies and actions which have been employed to displace the local communities for whom the desert has been both a home and a source of livelihood for generations."
The exhibit goes on to claim that the Jewish National Fund "flattened Bedouin villages, uprooted trees and gardens, [and] leveled the terrain."
According to the exhibit, "the alteration of the land through militarization, industrialization, settlement, and afforestation demonstrates just how unnatural a 'natural' border can be."
The exhibit has generated outraged responses from Jewish groups in Munich. However, the museum has allowed the Israeli curator of the exhibit – artist and left-wing activist Boaz Levin – full discretion. The exhibit catalog notes that Levin is a native of "Jerusalem, Israel/Palestine."
The JNF has categorically denied the allegations made against it in the exhibit.
"The museum is becoming part of a system that has made it a goal to cause damage to the oldest Israeli environmental organization," the JNF told Israel Hayom.
"The exhibit presents claims that border on libel. The JNF never destroyed communities or carried out any actions like that. The accusation that the JNF assists in the militarization of Israel is a pure insult. We take care of water sources, forestation, and the development of an ecological approach to nature," the JNF said.
Jaffa Flohr, president of JNF-Germany, called it "insufferable" for a German museum to support baseless accusations against the JNF through an art exhibit, and when we are talking about a well-regarded Jewish museum, it's even more painful. We demand that the museum put out an immediate clarification of these false claims. It would be regrettable if the museum unintentionally became a tool for unilateral incitement against the JNF and the State of Israel."
Non-Jewish museum employees agreed that the exhibit included anti-Israeli incitement.
