Israel is trying to rewrite ancient history. In Palestine, Israel has systematically destroyed ancient heritage and made colonial land grabs of archaeological sites like the ancient Palestinian town of Sebastia, near Nablus. Beyond Palestine, global institutions – including museums and universities – are at risk of aiding and abetting them in this rewriting project. Yesterday UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) announced that they had written to the British Museum to encourage them to remove references to ‘Palestine’ in the gallery panels and labels of their collections. I recognised UKLFI’s ideological mission immediately: they were trying to recruit the British Museum...