Louvre denies claims of anti-Israel discrimination

The Louvre in Paris has denied accusations that it discriminated against a group of Israeli students who wished to visit, saying it was simply a case of bad timing.

Last month, Prof. Sefy Hendler from Tel Aviv University tried to make a group reservation for 12 art history students at the Louvre and the Sainte-Chapelle chapel and was denied.

According to media reports, he was quickly turned away by both for lack of room, despite trying to make a booking on three separate dates.

Surprised, he contacted the Louvre and Sainte-Chapelle again, and attempted to make reservations using false names of educational institutions from Italy and Abu Dhabi, on the same dates he had requested originally. Both institutions responded to Hendler that space was available on his requested dates.

Tel Aviv University complained to Paris authorities who transferred the case to prosecutors, who are now deciding whether to open an official probe.

The Louvre and the French Centre for National Monuments (CMN), which runs the Sainte-Chapelle chapel, denied any hint of discrimination.

The Louvre said it receives 150,000 requests for group visits per year and it has to refuse 80,000 requests due to lack of space.

“The initial time periods requested by the University of Tel Aviv were not available at the time the request was made,” said the Louvre in a statement.

“The time periods later requested by the University of Tel Aviv during its ‘testing’ were accepted because they were still free or had been freed up (the cancellation rate for groups is about 20 percent),” the museum added.

The Louvre said it would be happy to welcome the students from Tel Aviv later this month.

The CMN said there were “very heavy visitor numbers” but nevertheless acknowledged an error in that Tel Aviv University should have been offered an alternative date.

On Sunday, the CMN president admitted to the French daily Liberation that an internal investigation found “repeated errors” in its reservations department and said that “disciplinary measures” would be taken.

Philippe Beleval emphasized that it wasn’t possible to ascertain if discrimination was a factor in the decision, but made assurances that the person responsible for turning down the reservation request “never expressed hostility towards Israel.”

Earlier this week, after both institutions offered unofficial explanations to the media as to why the Israeli students were turned away, Hendler was still convinced that the underlying motivation was discrimination.

“What’s the point? If we don’t see the Mona Lisa, is the [West Bank] occupation going to end? The minute you start deciding who you will let into your museums, the only visitors left will be Westerners who think exactly like you,” Hendler told Haaretz.

Francois Heilbronn, the president of the French Friends of TAU who pursued the matter with French Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin, dismissed the institutions’ initial explanations as disingenuous.