Israel–Palestine conflict: Germany's national gallery removes all rivers and seas

In a controversial move, Germany's National Gallery in Berlin, aka the Alte Nationalgalerie, has decided to remove all artwork depicting rivers or seas from public view, reported hyperallergic.

This decision came as part of a government decree apparently aimed at avoiding accidentally referencing political slogans, the site reported.

The museum's announcement cited concerns about the phrase 'From the river to sea, Palestine will be free' — use of which is banned in Germany — prompting the removal of artworks featuring any number of water bodies, the report added.

Among the removed pieces are notable works such as Gustave Courbet’s 'The Wave' (1869) and Caspar David Friedrich’s 'The Monk by the Sea' (1808–10), said the report.

This action follows a previous proposal to symbolically bury Germany's Rhine river in solidarity with Israel, highlighting ongoing tensions surrounding politics in West Asia — or so the article said.

The article in question was an elaborate April Fool's Day spoof, mocking the extremes Germany seems to be going to in order to dissociate itself from any show of support for Palestine and any criticism of Israel's actions in relation to Palestine, including what several nations consider an ongoing genocide in Gaza — a case brought before the International Court of Justice by South Africa.

While some members of the German parliament support the decision, the article noted, arguing for sensitivity to Jewish historical traumas, others criticised it as excessive — presumably in reflection of the actual divide in German civil society, for the national guilt over Nazi targetting of Jews in the Holocaust certainly seems to have extended the government's control and censorship of anything remotely supportive of Palestine's claims to sympathy.

The move, hyperallergic reported, also garnered praise from several German media outlets, which have seemingly accused international bodies of water of perpetuating anti-Semitism!

As per the report, German media outlets have also targeted the Nile, alleging that it maintains “an ongoing stream of antisemitism”.

Despite protests from the German Left, the decision stands and the removed artworks have been relocated to an underground storage facility, which was a former World War II Nazi bunker, said the article, adding yet another layer of irony to the situation.