British Museum Admits to Mislabelling Heritage Objects since May 1948 (UPDATED)

They won't even consider repatriating multiple stolen items of other people's cultural property that they have, steadfastly resisting any calls to reconsider. Yet, they cave in the moment they are confronted by one group. In February 2026, the British Museum confirmed it had begun removing and updating references to "Palestine" in its ancient Middle East galleries following a formal complaint from UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI).

UKLFI argued that using "Palestine" as a geographical term was "historically inaccurate". The museum apparently agrees with them, admitting that it had mislabelled these items for so long  (another slipup by the beleagered institution). The BM is now busy altering information panels and maps. 

This decision has led to backlash from critics who view the change as an attack on Palestinian cultural identity and a result of political pressure.

Reportedly,

UKLFI identified a number of maps displayed in the British Museum’s Egypt galleries[...] [that] label the area of modern-day Israel as “Palestine”. [...] According to UKLFI, this wording wrongly applies a much later geographical term to an earlier historical context. [...] UKLFI argues that retroactively applying the name “Palestine” across thousands of years creates a false impression of historical continuity and erases the emergence and existence of Jewish kingdoms and Jewish national identity in the region.

Further concerns were raised about the placement of mid-20th-century dolls described as wearing “Palestinian traditional dress” within the Museum’s Ancient Levant gallery. UKLFI says that displaying modern artefacts in this context risks implying an uninterrupted cultural lineage that is not historically accurate [eh? PMB]. UKLFI pointed out that these curatorial choices are not only misleading for the general public but also deeply troubling for Jewish and Israeli visitors. UKLFI states that the terminology used may create a hostile or offensive environment and could amount to harassment under the Equality Act 2010, which prohibits harassment related to protected characteristics including race, religion and philosophical belief.

Map of Palestine and the Holy Land published in Florence around 1480
 in an edition of Ptolemy's Geographia. Israel is not on this map.

UK Lawyers for Israel issued a statement Saturday welcoming the museum's willingness to revise its displays. The group, founded in 2011 (pro bono legal director Natasha Hausdorff, voted in October 2024, Jerusalem Post's #2 "most influential young Zionist"), describes itself as an association of lawyers countering the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and "to contribute generally as lawyers to creating a supportive climate of opinion in the United Kingdom towards Israel". Now the same UKLFI is complaining that free speech talk of genocide is distressing for Israel’s supporters and if they have their way we'll no longer be able to talk about that either. And yet, I would say that there are far more important issues concerning Israel's relationship with Palestine (recognised - please note - British Museum, as a  non-member observer state) that we should be fretting about than the wording of a few museum labels. 

British Palestine, the land where Kathleen Kenyon
 dug and where the new state of Israel later was created

Presumably many objects IN the "British" Museum got there by means of the Brits occupying a bit of the former Ottoman Empire. During the Ottoman Empire (1517–1917), the general region of what we now call "the Holy Land" was generally referred to by locals and in literature as Filastin (Palestine) or Ard al-Muqaddas (The Holy Land), 17th-century Ottoman maps and documents, such as those by Kâtip Çelebi, referred to the region as Ard-i Filistin (Land of Palestine).

1732 The British Museum was established only in 1753.

Reportedly, the UKLFI ('British Museum under pressure to change historically inaccurate use of “Palestine”...', February 7, 2026 ) has called on the British Museum to conduct a comprehensive review of its labelling "and to amend them so that regions are referred to by the historically accurate names applicable to the specific period in question, such as Canaan, the Levant, the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, Judea, Samaria, or the Galilee". They forgot (accidentally I am sure) - appropriate to period - Coele-Syria, Syria Palaestina, in the Byzantine Period: Palaestina Prima/ Secunda, and Tertia. Then it became Jund Falastin (Palestine military district) when it came under Islamic rule. Let us see Jerusalem referred to properly under its historically accurate names in the same material as well (Rushalimum/Urusalim, Jebus, Yerushalayim, Hierosolyma, Aelia Capitolina, and Al-Quds/Īliyā). I hope the British Museum takes that into account (but also takes into account that the modern visitor - of which it has millions from all over the world and all sorts of backgrounds will need all those terms explaining).

How much are the Israeli/Jewish lawyers contributing to the costs of all this relabelling?

In other news, the entire collection of finds from Sutton Hoo is now about to be relabelled under the Museum's new policy, rather than coming from any part of England, it is now assigned to the  Ēastengla Rīċe. 



References
Craig Simpson, 'British Museum removes ‘Palestine’ from ancient Middle East displays' The Telegraph 14 February 2026.
AA 'British Museum removes 'Palestine' from displays after pro-Israel pressure', en.yenisafak.com, 15/02/2026, Sunday AA

UPDATE
Somebody has pointed out that this is the same group of Karens: Harriet Sherwood, 'London hospital takes down artwork by Gaza schoolchildren after complaint' The Guardian Mon 27 Feb 2023 (" Pro-Israel group objected to display saying it made Jewish patients feel ‘vulnerable, harassed and victimised’ [...].") An exhibition of children's artwork. UK Lawyers must be great at parties.

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