The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina accused Israel of “genocide” and said profits from its sale of a publication about a historic Haggadah will be donated to help Palestinian causes.
The announcement about the 14th-century Sarajevo Haggadah, considered one of the oldest of its kind in the world, drew fierce criticism from Jewish groups that accused the museum of “exploiting” and “politicizing” a sacred Jewish text and called the decision an insult to Jews.
Income from the sale of the publication “Sarajevo Haggadah – Art and History,” as well as income from tickets to see the Sarajevo Haggadah, will be used to “provide support to the people of Palestine who suffer systematic, calculated and cold-blooded terror, directly by the State of Israel, and indirectly by all those who support and/or justify it in its shameless actions,” the museum said in an announcement on its website, under the banner of a large Palestinian flag.
“At a time when we cannot justify ourselves with a lack of information, every averting our eyes, every feigned neutrality in the face of everyday examples of killing, starvation, and forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians, primarily women and children, is an expression of acceptance and complicity in the genocide that we are all witnessing in real time,” the announcement said.
The Sarajevo Haggadah, an illuminated manuscript written in northern Spain around 1350, is thought to be the museum’s most important and valuable artifact. Its value was estimated at $7 million for insurance purposes in 1992.
The museum’s decision was slammed by Jewish organizations that said the institution was commandeering a treasured Jewish book for political purposes.
Detail of the ‘Maror’ page of the Sarajevo Haggadah. (courtesy of the Foundation for Jewish Culture)
“The Sarajevo Haggadah, a symbol of Jewish resilience, survived the Inquisition, exile, and the Holocaust,” the American Jewish Committee said in a statement. “Now in Bosnia’s National Museum, its legacy is being tarnished by the museum’s decision to politicize the exhibit’s proceeds. By its recent actions, the museum disgraces itself and disrespects the generations of Jews who read from this Haggadah at their Seder tables.”
The Anti-Defamation League said it was “horrified” by the announcement.
“There is nothing subtle about this. Exploiting a treasured Jewish text to demonstrate contempt and anger with the Jewish State of Israel is disgraceful, disrespectful and downright offensive,” the ADL said. “This action belies this precious text’s legacy of Muslim-Jewish respect and instead sows discord and division.”
While the gesture is primarily symbolic, the decision reflected rising tensions over antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Several hundred Jews are thought to live in the Balkan nation.
In June, a meeting of leading European rabbis was canceled in Sarajevo after a public official said it would give “a message of legitimization of the occupation and systematic destruction of the Palestinian people.”
