Anti-Israel discrimination suspected in Louvre

The prefect of Ile-de-France, the region of greater Paris, sent a letter to the municipal attorney’s office over the weekend over suspicions that the management of the Louvre Museum discriminated against Israeli students from Tel Aviv University who wanted to coordinate a visit to the museum and to the Sainte-Chapelle cathedral.

According to a report in French paper Liberation, Prof. Sefy Hendler, an expert in Italian Renaissance art, wanted to book a group tour of Paris at the end of June for 12 History of Art students from Tel Aviv University.

On May 11, Hendler wrote to the reservations department of both institutions. He received prompt responses from the two venues, and they were negative. “Unfortunately, we have no possibility [of accepting you] on that date, the management of Sainte-Chapelle wrote back. The answer from the Louvre arrived only three hours later. “We have no availability on the requested date.”

“This seemed bizarre,” Hendler told the French paper, and decided to conduct his own test. After a few days, he again sent the two institutions requests for a group visit, one coming from the bogus Florence Institute of Art and the other from the just-as-fake Abu Dhabi Art History College. Both institutions received responses just as rapidly as did Tel Aviv University; both were answered in the affirmative.

The Louvre said that the refusal was the result of an overflow of reservations. “In a way, we are victims of our success. We receive on average 400 reservation requests per day and offer 15-minute-long visits. But demand is twice as large as supply.”

At Sainte-Chapelle however, the system is not automated. Philippe Beleval, president of National Monuments, told Liberation that an internal investigation found “repeated malfunctions” and that “disciplinary measures” will be taken. He emphasized that “it cannot be established that discrimination took place” and pledged that the person responsible for reservations “never expressed hostility to Israel.”