UN removes 'antisemitic' painting from display after backlash

The United Nations removed a quilt panel artwork after facing backlash claiming it called for the extermination of Israel.

As per Fox News reports,the painting had a map of Israel without the West Bank or Gaza partition along with the Palestinian flag.

On the left side of the map in the painting, the phrase "From the river to the sea" was written followed by the right side that has the other part of the phrase that said "will be free".

The phrase "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" from the 1960s has become a slogan for Palestine supporters against the Israeli occupation in Gaza after the October 7th attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war.

The painting drew the attention of Israel's representative to the UN, Danny Danon, who called the artwork a "disgrace" and demanded the authorities to remove it from the display.

The display was part of an exhibition called "Peace Flags" which was a way to "re-purpose fashion waste for positive impact," the UN said.

The UN told Fox News that a staff member informed the organisation a few displays, along with the one with the phrase, could not be displayed.

After which the painting was kept covered in the second week of October but "someone removed those covers" earlier this week.

To criticise the painting by calling it the UN's lack of leadership, Danon took to X and wrote, "Yesterday, I exposed the hypocrisy of the UN through an exhibition featuring children’s drawings where the State of Israel was erased and filled with hateful imagery."

He further added, "After firmly addressing the UN leadership this exhibition was fixed, and these antisemitic drawings were removed from the walls. We will stand up for truth, and each time we witness acts of antisemitism and hypocrisy, we will confront them head-on."

(With inputs from agencies)