Activists occupy British Museum over Tulchinsky’s links to Israeli settlements

Activists occupy British Museum over Tulchinsky’s links to Israeli settlements Following a Middle East Eye investigation into billionaire Igor Tulchinsky’s financial links to an illegal Israeli settlement, pro-Palestine activists have occupied the British Museum’s Great Hall during the opening of its Bayeux Tapestry exhibition.

Tulchinsky sponsored the exhibition and funded a community centre in Efrat, an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank that now faces UK sanctions.

Middle East Eye’s findings prompted Green Party leader Zack Polanski to call on the British government to investigate Tulchinsky’s sponsorship.

Members of Energy Embargo for Palestine staged Saturday’s occupation to demand that the museum end its relationship with BP and allow staff to determine future sponsorships and partnerships.

The group has set out four demands: an end to all ties with BP, the creation of a democratic staff-led body to oversee partnerships and events, the renaming of the BP lecture theatre and a commitment to reject funding from fossil fuel and arms companies.

Lila Azad, responding to the museum’s relationships with Tulchinsky and BP, said: “When we protested against the British Museum’s Israeli Independence Day event, the Museum wrongly claimed that they cannot detract from British foreign policy.

Now that sanctions have been placed by the UK government on Israel, the Museum still insists on partnering with billionaires invested in illegal Israeli settlements.

The Museum has a track record of aligning itself with billionaires and energy companies fuelling genocide and climate breakdown.

We demand that the British Museum discloses full transparency on Tulchinsky’s sponsorship and that they end their partnership with BP, a company fuelling genocide in Palestine.

” Another Middle East Eye investigation found that the museum removed the words “Palestine”, “Palestinian” and “Israelite occupation” from displays after months of lobbying in 2026.

Energy Embargo for Palestine also plans to unveil a “People’s Tapestry”, created with the Camden People’s Museum and Camden Friends of Palestine, showing the local community’s vision for presenting history.