Jewish Museum Removes Black Panther Pamphlets; Visitors Object to Anti-zionism

The Jewish Museum has removed Black Panther pamphlets from a lobby display because “quite a number” of members and visitors objected to the party’s anti-Zionism and alleged anti-Semitism. But museum chairman David Finn told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the board’s decision was not in any way in response to last week’s threat by the Jewish Defense League to picket the museum if the Panther literature were not removed. Mr. Finn said he had not heard of the threat of the JDL, which considers the Panthers extreme anti-Semites. The chairman said there had been an agreement with the New York Artists Strike Against Racism, Repression and War not to include in its display any material “that is offensive to anybody of any religious persuasion.” The dissident artists, who include Panthers, charged the museum with censorship and unsuccessfully sought to add pro-Israel material to their display as a compromise. Among the “offensive” portions of the Panther material was an attack on “U.S. warmongers in Vietnam, Cambodia and Palestine.” The museum is run by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.