Row over pulled football photo exhibition in Cardiff

Ahead of the Wales versus Israel European Championship qualifier on Sunday, a photographic exhibition called “Low football – Jewish-Arab football: diversity and coexistence through lower-league football” was to be displayed at Cardiff’s Central Library.

The exhibition was taken down less than 24 hours after it started in a local library, with officials saying citizens may accuse the Council of being biased in favor of Israel.

Liberal Democrat councillor Judith Woodman branded the decision as censorship at it worst.

The photography exhibition demonstrates the ability of soccer to bring Israel’s diverse populations together – and it has been pulled just before the team is due to arrive. “This is a democracy after all”.

Describing the project the pair said: “From forgotten Arab villages in the north to dusty Jewish neighbourhoods in the south, we visit places where the seemingly ever-present tension between cultures evaporates, and where diversity is embraced, encouraged and celebrated”.

Their photographs have been shown across the U.S. and south-east Asia as well as the United Kingdom – including the QUAD arts centre in Derby.

“What message does it send to Arab and Jewish Israelis who want to make progress and make peace?”

Israel’s honorary consul in Wales Philip Kaye said: “I hoped this weekend would have been about sport and the possible historical moment in football, but alas there are some who wish to hijack the occasion and politicise the event”.

More than 400 anti-Israel protesters were expected to march from the Cardiff City Hall to the stadium as party of a rally organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Eitan Na’eh, charge d’affaires of the Embassy of Israel in London, said: “Tolerance towards intolerance is cowardice, and this is the unfortunate sight we witnessed in Cardiff, in the face of vile threats by a small group of thugs”.

The group’s secretary, Adam Johannes, told the Guardian: “We welcome Cardiff council’s decision to cancel an exhibition sponsored by the Israeli embassy that whitewashes the reality of football in the Middle East. Israel wages war on Palestinian football”.

A spokesperson for the Cardiff Council said Friday that the body chose to close down the show after it received a complaint, adding that the decision was also affected by protests planned for Sunday’s match between Wales and Israel. “How can a country be allowed to compete in worldwide matches when it prevents another Fifa member from playing football freely?”

But the council maintained the decision to shut the exhibition was taken by officers on “operational” grounds.

“Our libraries are buildings which promote free speech, but it was felt that running this exhibition could lead visitors to suppose that the Council was displaying bias”.