The British Museum has postponed a Jewish Culture Month event on ancient Israel and Judah over fears of planned protests.

The talk, which was scheduled for Thursday afternoon, was postponed after the London museum was told a "significant proportion" of attendees were planning to cause disruption.

The museum has said the decision was made to "protect the event - not to diminish it" and later, following criticism, announced it would take place "early next month".

The Campaign Against Antisemitism said it showed that "once again, the antisemitic mob has scored a victory", while Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said Jewish acts were "being routinely cancelled".

The Board of Deputies of British Jews announced last year that it was launching the first ever Jewish Culture Month, with more than 100 events taking place across the country to celebrate Jewish history and culture.

The month of culture began on 16 May, and comes after several antisemitic attacks across London saw the terror threat raised to "severe".

Announcing its decision to postpone the talk, the British Museum said: "In recent days, we were informed that a significant proportion of registered attendees were individuals intending to deliberately disrupt the event, preventing others from participating in good faith and undermining the purpose of the programme."

In an updated statement shared on Thursday afternoon the museum said: "Alongside our partners at Jewish Culture Month, we are pleased that the rescheduled lecture, The Ancient History of Israel and Judah, will take place early next month.

"Booking details will be published on our website shortly.

"We expect strong demand and will also offer a livestream to make the event accessible to a wider audience.

"A respectful and secure environment for our visitors, speakers and colleagues remain our highest priority, and we are working closely with all relevant teams to ensure robust arrangements are in place, as would be expected for an event of this nature."

The museum said the decision to postpone was taken to "protect" the event and it remains "committed to providing a space where history, culture and scholarship can be explored openly, respectfully and without disruption".

The Board of British Deputies of Jews had called the postponement "highly regrettable" and said it was working with the museum to reschedule the event.

A statement on X read: "Jewish Culture Month has seen many of Britain's great cultural institutions partner with us in celebration of British Jewish culture, community and creativity, and we will not allow the actions of extremists to prevent the British public from enjoying these events."

The Campaign Against Antisemitism said the decision to postpone the event showed: "In modern Britain, you can't have a Jewish Culture Month".

"Soon enough, in modern Britain you may not have many Jews either, given the percentages of them who say that they are considering leaving the country," their statement on X added.

"The prime minister recently talked about how Jewish people are being bullied out of the arts: now we're seeing it at the country's leading museum.

"We are still waiting for some brave institution to stand up and say that the Jew-hating mob will not win in their space.

"One wonders if there are any still left in modern Britain."

Earlier, Badenoch called on Sir Keir Starmer's government to step in and tell the British Museum to "do what's necessary" to make sure the event can go ahead.

The Conservative leader added: "Jewish Culture Month is meant to promote awareness of and celebrate Jewish culture in the UK. This decision achieves precisely the opposite.

"Jewish acts and actors are now being routinely cancelled from events across the UK. As with the marches and protests going past synagogues and knocking on doors intimidating Jews, the end result is an erasure of Jews and Jewish culture from Britain's public space.

The lunchtime talk was due to be led by Paul Collins, the keeper of the Department of the Middle East at the British Museum, and centre on the histories of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

The event's online description said: "Material remains - monuments, reliefs, inscriptions and documents - shed light on the political, cultural and imperial forces that shaped the region between approximately 900 and 50 BC. Some of the most significant of these objects are preserved in the British Museum."

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8pk8r79vpo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss