Overview
- The museum updated labels in its ancient Middle East galleries, including sections on Egypt and the Phoenicians, to replace references to Palestine with period-appropriate geography.
- Specific text describing the Hyksos as of 'Palestinian descent' now reads 'Canaanite descent', with further panels under review as part of a planned redisplay.
- A spokesperson said the term Palestine is not always meaningful for ancient cultural regions, with Canaan used for the southern Levant in the later second millennium BC.
- The museum said it applies UN-recognised terminology for contemporary boundaries and will refer to Palestinian as a cultural or ethnographic identifier where relevant.
- UK Lawyers for Israel urged the changes in a letter arguing the museum had retroactively applied the name and implied false continuity, while scholars and campaigners condemned the revisions and pointed to similar UKLFI-influenced edits at Britannica Kids and the Open University.