By CANAAN LIDOR

JNS

The museum in charge of preserving Austria’s foremost Holocaust memorial site, Mauthausen, on Monday faced criticism for its handling of an incident Friday, Aug. 7, it deemed a “provocation” concerning Israel.

In the Aug.7 incident, a Jewish visitor to Mauthausen Concentration Camp Memorial confronted a male wearing a shirt bearing the slogan “Free Palestine” and the portrait of Palestinian terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, whose 1978 Coastal Road attack in Israel resulted in the death of 38 people, including 13 children.

In a statement, the museum did not address or mention the terrorist’s portrait, appeared to criticize what it called “the vociferous reaction from one female visitor” and stopped short of criticizing the act of the male visitor, whom the statement described as a participant of an “anti-Fascist youth camp.” The museum’s statement said it was “desirable” for political debates to take place there.

David Roet, Israel’s ambassador to Austria, criticized the museum on X.

“The Mauthausen Memorial states that freedom of expression must not violate the dignity of the victims. And yet it happens again. At a time when anti-Semitism is raising its head in ways not seen for generations, this principle must have meaning,” he wrote, adding: “A concentration camp is not a stage for political provocation.”

According to Roet, “For 3 consecutive years, pro-Palestinian political messages, flags and signs have entered the official commemoration of Mauthausen’s liberation.” Mauthausen is among the places that “must remain beyond today’s political battles, he said.

The Museum’s statement included a reference to “provocations that do not constitute criminal offences,” though it did not say whether this referenced the male or the female’s actions, or both. “Our staff had not noticed this whilst supervising the large group,” the museum wrote about the shirt.

“We treat all visitors with openness and respect their right to freedom of expression and the diversity of opinions, provided that these remain within the bounds of the law, do not promote anti-Semitic, racist or generally discriminatory views, and do not undermine the dignity of the victims,” the museum’s statement read. It did not say whether it regarded the male’s actions as falling within these boundaries.

Mauthausen Memorial serves “as a backdrop for contemporary political conflicts,” the statement said. “In the spirit of reflecting on the significance of the past for the present, this is also desirable at such sites and is in line with the principles of historical-political education.”

The history of Mauthausen and it “dignity,” the statement added, “demand that such conflicts be resolved objectively and with mutual empathy. Provocative behavior by other visitors is not welcome, and the memorial reserves the right to issue warnings in such cases.”

Alain Paul Weber, a political analyst from France who has 80,000 followers, also criticized the museum on X, calling its reaction to the altrecation “downright shocking.”

Some places, symbols and memories “must not be allowed by society to be instrumentalized, whatever the cause invoked,“ he wrote on X.