A controversial art exhibition set to open in south-west London has been cancelled after complaints by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) about alleged antisemitic content.
The exhibition, Drawings Against Genocide by British artist Matthew Collings, had been scheduled to take place at Delta House Gallery in Wandsworth between 16 and 24 May 2026.
The exhibition already caused a furore last month during its showing at a gallery in Margate, Kent, as covered by The Jerusalem Post at the time.
The drawings in the collection are graphic. One depicts the owner of Sotheby’s, French-Israeli businessman Patrick Drahi, eating babies alive. Multiple depict Jews as devils with horns or standing on skulls with messages like “we love death.”
There are also several that deny Hamas committed rape or sexual violence in its October 7 attacks. One says “no evidence that sexual violence was used as a weapon on October 7,” and “no beheaded babies, no evidence of rapes.”
Collings also writes that rape claims were used by Israel to “justify treating a whole people like animals.”
Exhibition was ‘dripping with Jew-hate’
The Telegraph review of that exhibition was headlined: “Lovely time in Margate? No, it was dripping with Jew-hate” and said: “It should be preserved in the annals of anti-Semitic propaganda alongside that of Der Sturmer.” A Times article was headlined “Jews are openly blood-libeled, yet there’s no hate crime?” and the reviewer said: “After visiting a grotesque exhibition at a gallery in Margate, I cannot imagine what it must be like to be Jewish in this country now.”
Following the Margate exhibition scandal, UKLFI wrote to the owners of the London gallery, Pineapple Corporation and Delta House Studios Ltd, warning that the works proposed for the upcoming exhibition include antisemitic imagery, blood libels and anti-Jewish narratives.
UKLFI pointed out that the material could potentially engage provisions under the Public Order Act 1986 and expose both the artist and the gallery to legal risks. The gallery and its owners would also incur reputational risks.
Following receipt of UKLFI’s letter, the gallery owners confirmed that the exhibition would not go ahead. In an email response dated 24 April 2026, Tom Berglund, chairman of Pineapple Corporation, confirmed that the exhibition had been cancelled and wrote: “We were unaware of this intention for an exhibition as it was arranged without any consultation with the owners of the artist studios at Riverside Road.”
He added, “We all hope the issues on the ground in the Middle East can eventually be resolved.”
Freedom of expression does not extend to antisemitic tropes
A spokesperson for UK Lawyers for Israel said: “We welcome the decision to cancel this exhibition. Freedom of expression is a fundamental right, but it does not extend to the promotion of material that relies on antisemitic tropes, dehumanising imagery, and conspiracy narratives about Jews.
“There is a real danger in normalising antisemitic imagery and narratives in cultural spaces. When material that demonises Jews or recycles classic antisemitic tropes is presented as legitimate artistic expression, it risks lowering the threshold for what is considered acceptable in public discourse.
At a time when Jewish communities in London and across the UK are already facing a significant rise in antisemitic incidents and attacks, it is particularly important that institutions act responsibly.”
In response to the announcement, Collings wrote a post on Instagram debunking UKLFI’s claims.
In response to UKLFI’S statement that his work involves “demonization of Israel and Jews through grotesque caricatures and blood libel imagery,” Collings said Jews are not demonized in any drawing in the show and “blood is depicted because of real bloodshed Israel is responsible for.”
He also disputed the claims of blood libels in the images of Israelis with mouths dripping with blood, ready to “kill inferiors” and waving a skull.
“Dripping blood and a skull symbolise the violence of settler colonialism. Again, it could not be clearer that settler colonialism is the target, not “Jews.” Jewishness is not depicted. Nor is it mentioned in the caption or in words written on the drawing.”
“Jews worldwide, join the widespread condemnation of Zionism as later-day or late settler colonialism, a process of violence and death whereby one nation gains the territory of another, which takes place over time, and involves an implicit view of colonised subjects as inferiors who it is morally correct to kill. “Israel,” in this view, is the name of a created nation, made up of settler colonialists,” he concluded.
No Comment! Be the first one.