The British Museum has removed the word Palestine from displays about the ancient Middle East following “concerns” raised by a U.K.-based Israeli advocacy group.
The museum confirmed that it is reviewing and updating some gallery panels and labels after “audience testing has shown that the historic use of the term Palestine … is in some circumstances no longer meaningful,” U.K. Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) said in a statement on Feb. 14.
The group claimed there were “historically inaccurate” references to Palestine in displays covering the ancient Levant and Egypt. It argued that applying a single name across thousands of years “erases historical changes and creates a false impression of continuity.”
According to the statement, responding to the concerns, a British Museum spokesperson confirmed that the institution is reviewing and updating panels and labels on a case-by-case basis.
“For example, the information panels in the Levant gallery, covering the period 2000–300 BC, have all been updated to describe in some detail the history of Canaan and the Canaanites and the rise of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel using those names,” the spokesperson said.
“A revised text devoted to the Phoenicians was installed in early 2025,” the statement added.
The Telegraph reported that “Palestinian descent” has been changed to read “Canaanite descent” in the Hyksos panel.
In its statement, a UKLFI spokesperson said the group welcomed the British Museum’s willingness to review and amend terminology it described as “inaccurate or liable to convey an incorrect meaning today.”
Last week, UKLFI issued a separate statement on the issue titled “British Museum under pressure to change historically inaccurate use of ‘Palestine.’”
