Zack Polanski urges investigation into Israeli settlement-linked sponsor of Bayeux Tapestry exhibition

Zack Polanski urges investigation into Israeli settlement-linked sponsor of Bayeux Tapestry exhibition Submitted by Imran Mulla on Fri, 09/11/2026 - 11:03 Billionaire sponsor of landmark British Museum show donated to community centre in West Bank settlement now under UK sanctions Green Party leader Zack Polanski reacts at the Gorton & Denton byelection count and declaration event at Manchester Central Convention Complex on 26 February 2026 (AFP) Off Green Party leader Zack Polanski has urged the UK government to investigate the sponsorship of the British Museum’s Bayeux Tapestry exhibition by a billionaire who has funded a community centre in an illegal Israeli settlement.

Middle East Eye reported on Thursday that Igor Tulchinsky, a Belarus-born billionaire who has backed the exhibition in a deal estimated to be worth £5m ($6.75m), unveiled a “therapy yurt” in November 2025 in Efrat, an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Home to around 12,000 Israeli settlers, Efrat is built on land seized from four Palestinian villages and is now under UK sanctions.

Tulchinsky has been identified as the primary sponsor of the yurt, which is part of a "community resilience centre" serving Gush Etzion, a bloc of illegal Israeli settlements 12km southeast of Jerusalem.

The billionaire unveiled the yurt alongside Efrat’s mayor, Dovi Shefler, and reportedly dedicated the facility to "Israel's brave warriors and their families".

Now the British government is being urged to investigate Tulchinsky's sponsorship of the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition, which opened to the public on Thursday.

'If the Labour government wants to get beyond symbolism and new rhetoric, it must investigate whether this is a breach of the sanctions it announced this week' - Zack Polanski, Green Party leader "Last week it was Peter Thiel given private access to this great treasure," Green Party leader Polanski told MEE.

"We now learn of the sponsorship of another billionaire who's been involved in supporting what the Labour government has itself now finally described as ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.

" Polanski added: "If the Labour government wants to get beyond symbolism and new rhetoric, it must investigate whether this is a breach of the sanctions it announced this week and take necessary action.

" Last month, the Guardian revealed that the British Museum gave a private view of the Bayeux Tapestry to Peter Thiel, the billionaire founder of Palantir, a tech firm that supplies the Israeli military with advanced AI and data-analysis software.

MEE asked Downing Street whether it was appropriate for major British public institutions such as the British Museum to partner with, and take significant donations from, someone funding a settler project in the occupied West Bank.

The prime minister's office did not answer but referred MEE to the Foreign Office, which did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

'A worrying pattern is emerging' Last week, Tulchinsky attended the official reception for the Bayeux Tapestry alongside guests including King Charles, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, as well as Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.

A portrait of the billionaire sponsor is going to be hung in the British Museum for the duration of exhibition.

Its artist, Jonathan Yeo, said Tulchinsky was a privilige to paint as an extraordianry person and brilliant mind.

Nandy's Department for Culture, Media and Sport declined to comment on Tulchinsky's involvement with the settlement project.

It said the British Museum receives public funding through the department, but operates independently of the British government, which means that sponsorship decisions are made by its trustees.

The museum has not responded to MEE’s repeated requests for comment about Tulchinsky’s sponsorship of the major exhibition.

On Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband declared the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and said the government recognised the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Igor Tulchinsky: Sponsor of British Museum Bayeux Tapestry exhibition funded community centre in West Bank settlement Read More » He announced both comprehensive sanctions on Israeli settlements and a ban on all arms licences and other exports that "materially contribute to the occupation".

The government would "take action against specific companies and individuals who provide services such as construction, infrastructure financing or real estate for settlement expansion", Miliband promised.

"So to those who finance or facilitate illegal settlements, let me say this: You will face the full force of UK sanctions. Settlements are illegal.

They should not be promoted in our country.

" The British Museum has also recently faced calls from MPs for an investigation into its removal of several references to Palestine in its galleries, as well as criticism over controversial sponsorship deals.

Labour MP Kim Johnson, a prominent campaigner in parliament for the government to take stronger action on Israel over breaches of international law, told MEE: "First, Palestine is scrubbed from displays following political pressure.

"Now we learn the British Museum has accepted significant funding from someone reported to have funded a settlement project in the illegally occupied West Bank. " Johnson argued that a "worrying pattern is emerging.

The British Museum should be preserving history, not allowing political interests or money to shape whose history is told - or whose actions are legitimised.

"Is this really who our national cultural institutions should be taking money from?

" MPs have previously called for an investigation into the museum over an MEE report in July which found that the terms “Palestine", “Palestinian” and “Israelite occupation” had been removed from a number of displays following complaints and social media posts by individuals and organisations supportive of Israel.

Asked for comment and sent detailed questions ahead of the publication of MEE’s investigation, the museum shared a press statement originally released in February.

It said: “It has been reported that the British Museum has removed the term Palestine from displays. It is simply not true.

We continue to use Palestine across a series of galleries, both contemporary and historic.

” Efrat breaches even Israeli regulations Neither the museum nor Tulchinsky's investment firm WorldQuant responded to requests for comment on the remarks made by Polanski and Johnson.

The nature and extent of Tulchinsky's support, whether financial or otherwise, for the community centre is unclear, and MEE has received no response to requests for comment directed to WorldQuant.

The Efrat Development Foundation confirmed Tulchinsky was a donor but said he did so through a separate organisation that it declined to name.

On Wednesday, MEE revealed that Tulchinsky also has a defence tech-focused venture capital fund based in Israel headed by a recently retired army commander who has promoted the use of remote-controlled vehicles in Gaza.

These vehicles have been described by one rights group as a “direct tool for committing genocide” and implicated in the destruction of entire neighbourhoods of Gaza and Lebanon, including priceless cultural heritage.

In an interview with the Jerusalem Post in March, Tulchinsky said he had provided financial support to the Israeli army since the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks and the start of the Gaza war, and said he visited the country regularly.

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