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# Met Museum Staff Urges Leaders to Address Israel’s Attacks on Gaza
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/met-museum-staff-urges-leaders-to-address-israel-attacks-on-gaza/
- Published: 2024-03-11T20:55:01.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:08:56.000Z
- Description: Over 150 workers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art say the institution must call for a ceasefire and take a stand against the destruction of heritage sites.
- Author: Maya Pontone
- Tags: News, Gaza, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-large, #Import 2025-11-24 09:36 (2023, 2024, part 2)

Workers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art are calling on the museum's leadership to address the widespread destruction of Gaza's cultural heritage sites.

Today, March 11, a group of 158 museum staff, fellows, and volunteers calling themselves Met Workers For Palestine delivered an [open letter](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfC93s-KUpdkbmj1ywfUPiVCMAywcKchyBqAmhURmernrpPNQ/viewform?ref=hyperallergic.com) to the institution’s Director and Chief Executive Officer Max Hollein urging him to publicly call for a ceasefire and make a statement about Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Palestinian communities and cultural heritage.

In addition to the more than [30,228](https://www.ochaopt.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 attacks, the group letter calls attention to over 200 sites of cultural significance that have also been decimated, encompassing [museums](https://hyperallergic.com/video-of-israel-soldiers-handling-gaza-antiquities-raises-outrage/), [religious centers](https://hyperallergic.com/after-hamas-assault-israeli-strikes-destroy-mosques-and-buildings-in-gaza/), and [public spaces](https://hyperallergic.com/gaza-art-gallery-reportedly-destroyed-by-israeli-airstrike/). 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2024/03/robe.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2024/03/ensemble.jpg)

Left: a 19th-century Palestinian silk robe, currently not on view; right: a 19th-century embroidered linen ensemble, consisting of a robe, scarf, and headdress (both images public domain via the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

The missive echoes recent letters from staff at other New York institutions, including the [Brooklyn Museum](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdu5HG0OOdcPMpxForRAjtKzMwg1OpFUpNp8YMcgHofDQIZ6A/viewform?fbclid=PAAab8Oi7kghfbVOzi-nnkr5cmW%5FPdJ46Nr8So7k7isVf1W9pNHHrj567nTMY%5Faem%5FAayGliRKINz-XxwzaR7xt2-https://hyperallergic.com/875659/brooklyn-museum-and-pen-america-accused-of-silence-on-gaza-ceasefire/&ref=hyperallergic.com) and the [Museum of Modern Art](https://hyperallergic.com/moma-workers-open-letter-urges-museum-to-address-israels-attacks-on-palestine/). Met workers pointed out that the museum has a history of speaking out on the necessity of protecting cultural heritage sites, such as in 2001, when the Taliban [planned to destroy Afghanistan’s Buddhist Bamiyan Statues](https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/03/world/un-pleads-with-taliban-not-to-destroy-buddha-statues.html?ref=hyperallergic.com); in 2020, when former President Donald Trump [threatened to destroy Iranian sites](https://twitter.com/metmuseum/status/1214235688289349633?ref=hyperallergic.com) of cultural significance; and in 2022, following [Russia’s invasion of Ukraine](https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/articles/2022/3/supporting-ukraine?ref=hyperallergic.com). 

Museum workers are also requesting that The Met take steps to better showcase its Palestinian art collection — much of which is not on view, such as its traditional Palestinian dress collection — as well as protect museum employees who have signed onto the letter from potential retaliation.

“There's a will in the staff to do the right thing, but from an institutional perspective, because no public statements have been made, any mention of Palestine is shunned, stigmatized, or viewed as a very political statement,” one Met staffer, who asked to keep their name anonymous to protect their job, told *Hyperallergic*.

“I think a public statement could be serve as a beacon of hope for the greater art world and all the visitors that come to the Met,” the staffer continued. “Ultimately, that's what a museum should be.”

Andrew Smith, a security officer at the museum who worked on the letter, told *Hyperallergic* that many of his colleagues at The Met are “spooked" given the numerous recent cases of institutional silencing and suppression in the art world, specifically surrounding voices supporting Palestine.

While Hollein has not yet responded to *Hyperallergic*’s inquiry, he has provided an initial response to workers, who told *Hyperallergic* that he “has not made any firm commitments.”

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2024/03/scarf.jpg)

A 19th-century Palestinian headscarf made of embroidered linen and silk, currently not on display (image public domain via the [Metropolitan Museum of Art](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/86251?ref=hyperallergic.com))