Leeds Minster has pulled a tapestry tribute which named people killed in Gaza, after being told that several Hamas fighters were included.
It is thought that 25 members of terrorist groups featured on the exhibition, which was cancelled on Friday before its scheduled conclusion on Sunday.
Attacks by Hamas-led gunmen on 7 October 2023 killed around 1,200 people in Israeli communities, with 251 others taken into Gaza as hostages. Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response; the Hamas-run health ministry estimates that at least 73,600 people have been killed.
Stitch Their Names Together was promoted by the Minster as an “an act of remembrance, honouring their lives and the immense loss to humanity”, featuring fabric panels stitched using the colours of the Palestinian flag.
The Leeds Jewish Representative Council said the Minster had been informed that researchers found the names of terrorist fighters that had been matched to social media posts announcing “martyred fighters”: 17 members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, six from Hamas, and one each from the al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades and Mujahideen Brigades.
The Minster initially went ahead with the exhibition after being assured by the organisers that the names of terrorists were not included, according to Jewish News. Researchers reported being blocked from taking pictures of the panels by stewards at the Minster.
A statement from tapestry organiser Mary Evers alleges the exhibition has been “attacked” by a “brazen attempt to smear and delegitimise”, stating that names of the deceased from the Gaza health ministry are used by the UN and UK.
“To some, it is the fact that we name them at all that is the threat. Naming is a recognition of their humanity and, by implication, a recognition that a terrible crime is taking place right now, on our watch,” she added.
Canon Paul Maybury, of Leeds Minster, said: “Having received this information, we immediately decided to close the exhibition to the public. Leeds Minster categorically condemns all violence and in particular the killing of civilians and the taking of hostages, by Hamas, on October 7, 2023.
“Leeds Minster seeks to work with all faith groups within the city and acknowledges that by hosting this exhibition we have harmed our relationship with some in the Jewish community for which we apologise and now seek to rebuild trust.”
Simon Myerson, from the Leeds Jewish Representative Council, said: “After the trustees of Leeds Minster asserted that they had done due diligence, and represented the tapestry as solely the names of innocents, the right decision has finally been reached.
“It is distressing that the concern expressed by the Jewish community was so condescendingly dismissed. The church should now embark on a public process of reflection and repentance. We do not have any confidence that it will.”
