The Jerusalem Post quoted B’nai B’rith International criticizing the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina for politicizing the Sarajevo Haggadah—a Jewish cultural treasure—by falsely accusing Israel of “genocide” and diverting proceeds from its publication and exhibit to fund donations to a non‑existent “Palestinian state.”

Read more in the Jerusalem Post.

The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina has decided to donate the income from the sale of the publication Sarajevo Haggadah – Art and History, as well as the revenue from tickets to see the Sarajevo Haggadah, “to Palestine,” sparking outrage from various Jewish groups.

The Sarajevo Haggadah is a famous medieval manuscript containing an illustrated version of the Passover Seder text, dated to around 1350 and believed to be from Barcelona. It is one of several Spanish-Provençal Sephardi Haggadahs, and is one of the oldest of its kind. It is also included in the UNESCO Memory of the World registry.

The museum has made a new edition of the manuscript available, accompanied by a commentary by Prof. Shalom Sabar. It is being sold for around $60 for the Bosnian language version, and nearly $90 for the English one.

However, the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced that all the proceeds are now to be given to “the people of Palestine who suffer systematic, calculated, and cold-blooded terror, directly by the State of Israel, and indirectly by all those who support and/or justify it in its shameless actions.”

The museum said that as an institution that “deals with the protection of cultural-historical and natural heritage,” it is “obliged to warn [that] the targeted erasure of the cultural and religious identity, primarily of the Muslims and Christians of Palestine, is taking place.”

This, it added, is occurring through a “demolition or takeover,” or by “making it impossible to use religious buildings and historical locations, as well as land and cultivated areas, which should be common, universal, and the protected heritage of civilization.”

B’nai B’rith International “deplored” the announcement in a statement on Saturday.

“We deplore the announcement by the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina that it has chosen to politicize the Sarajevo Haggadah – a Jewish cultural treasure – by falsely accusing Israel of genocide and diverting proceeds from its publication and exhibit to fund donations to a non‑existent Palestinian state.”

“The Haggadah tells the story of Jewish endurance in the face of persecution; using it as a weapon against the Jewish state twists its very meaning,” the organization added.