A debate over where free expression ends and antisemitism begins has broken out regarding a controversial art exhibition in Kent in southeastern England.
The furor concerns the exhibition Drawings Against Genocide by British artist and art critic Matthew Collings, currently on view at Joseph Wales Studios in Margate. Collings – who describes himself as a communist – produced around 100 drawings criticizing Israel, the US, and Jews.
The drawings are graphic. One depicts the owner of Sotheby’s, French-Israeli businessman Patrick Drahi, eating babies alive. Multiple depict Jews as devils with horns or standing on skulls with messages like “we love death.”
Depicting Jews as demons or Jews eating babies are well-known antisemitic libels and tropes.
There are also several that deny Hamas committed rape or sexual violence in its October 7 attacks. One says “no evidence that sexual violence was used as a weapon on October 7,” and “no beheaded babies, no evidence of rapes.”
Collings also writes that rape claims were used by Israel to “justify treating a whole people like animals.”
Another shows David Collier (journalist) and Dave Rich (head of policy at the Community Security Trust). Collings writes, “working for different organizations in the UK, devoted to Zionist apologetics, they share the same MO of demanding all criticism of Israel is antisemitic.”
“Referring to ancient Israelites, the promised land, and ‘the chosen’ – alongside horns is religious and ethnic hate,” said Stop The Hate UK. The group visited the exhibition and said they were “sickened” by what they saw. The curators also yelled “globalize the intifada" at them.
'An insane fever dream'
British-Jewish journalist Zoe Strimpel described the exhibition as an “insane fever dream.”
“Shocked by the use of Nazi imagery – the room is full of the Star of David pasted around figures meant to be Israelis and the Jewish ‘lobby’ spewing blood, to say nothing of blonde yummy mummies wearing ‘globalize the intifada’ shirts,” she wrote on X/Twitter after visiting the exhibition.
Strimpel spoke to Collings about her reaction as a Jewish person. She said he was “instantly aggressive.”
“Anytime I tried to speak (calmly), he said: ‘You don’t mean any of what you said, you’re just repeating ‘hasbarah [public diplomacy] talking points’ because ‘you’re defending a genocide.’ On and on he yelled, in my face. I said: ‘If I was a Black person…’ but couldn’t finish the sentence because: ‘You’re not, are you?’ On the Nazi ideology point, he said: ‘Yeah. Why do you think it’s there? Israel are the Nazis’.”
Following the incident, Strimpel spoke to a Kent police sergeant who said she told her no action would be taken on account of the pictures being “criticism of the Israeli state.”
She wrote on X following this conversation that “as long as absolutely any Nazi-grade bile can protect itself under ‘criticism of Israel,' there will be more and more and worse and worse fire, violence and terror against Jews and Jewish property and organizations – whether by IRGC agents or lone wolves.”
Collings took to Instagram to deny that any of his drawings were antisemitic, saying they refer to Israel and not Jews.
“The exhibition of over 100 drawings at the Joseph Wales Studio is directed against the horrific genocide against the Palestinians being perpetrated by Israel. Zionism is not a synonym for ‘Jews.’”
He accused Strimpel of staging a “transparently rehearsed freakout.”
'This isn’t art. It isn’t free speech. It’s antisemitism'
Israeli Chargée d’Affaires Daniela Grudsky wrote on social media, “This isn’t art. It isn’t free speech. It’s antisemitism – crude, aggressive, and completely indefensible. It should be treated with the full seriousness of the law.”
Labour MP Mike Tapp said, “Not only is this antisemitic and completely unacceptable, the ‘art’ is utter garbage.”
CST’s Dave Rich said, “These are the kind of wild antisemitic scrawls that used to only show up in hate mail incidents. Nowadays, you can get an art exhibition out of it.”
Some of the criticism was also directed towards Thanet Council, which had promoted the exhibition under its Visit Thanet webpage before later removing it.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “This extremist Labour council is supporting an openly antisemitic exhibition. These pictures are dripping with sickening antisemitic tropes, and all those involved in this should hang their heads in shame.”
Notably, Collings has come under fire for antisemitism before. In 2019, shortly before the general election, Collings was nominated as a Labour parliamentary candidate for South West Norfolk. Just a day later, he was suspended by the party and dropped after it came to light that he described claims of antisemitism in the party as “nonsense.”
He also previously described former chief rabbi Lord Sacks as a “notorious hate-filled racist.”
The Jerusalem Post reached out to Kent Police, the Joseph Wales Studio, and Stop The Hate for comment.