‘McJesus’ Taken from Haifa Museum; Artist Wanted to Comply with BDS

Following days of demonstrations outside the Haifa Museum of Art in the northern Israeli port city, management has finally acquiesced and agreed to remove the piece known as “McJesus” – a representation of Ronald McDonald, the hamburger chain’s mascot/logo, hanging from a cross in the style of Christ on traditional crucifixes. For days, despite police using tear gas and stun guns to break-up crowds, management had refused to remove what Christians were calling “disgraceful.” But the museum was adamant that it was furthering the freedoms of speech and expression, and refused to take Ronald off the cross. It was a position shared by rights activists but not Haifa’s Christian community. On Wednesday, the case moved to a court where the Greek Orthodox and Catholic churches filed requests for injunctions against the exhibit, but before a ruling was issued, the mayor of Haifa announced the work would be removed. Ironically, the artist responsible for Ronald McDonald’s crucifixion – the theme of which he said was the worship of commercialism – Finland’s Jani Leinonen – wanted his work removed. But his reason was to boycott the Israeli exhibition as part of his commitment to the BDS Movement.