Spanish museum faces legal action: Holocaust survivor among Jewish women expelled to chants of 'genocider'

Madrid’s Reina Sofía National Museum of Art may face a lawsuit after three elderly Jewish women from Israel – including a Holocaust survivor – were made to leave for bearing an Israeli flag, Spanish outlet Okdiario reported. The women were visiting the museum last weekend with a local Catholic friend when they were harassed with chants calling them “genociders” and “murderers.” Rather than confronting the chanters, video footage shows a museum security guard approaching the women and asking them to put away the flag.

“Why don’t you guarantee me that you won’t take [the flag] back out?” the armed guard said. “Will you put your objects away?” he added, appearing to refer not only to the flag but also to the Star of David they were wearing.

When the woman who came with them explained that displaying religious symbols or flags in a Spanish government institution was not illegal, they were told to leave because it was “disturbing” to visitors. Speaking anonymously due to security concerns, she described their treatment as “appalling” and “unacceptable.”

“They were wearing completely normal Jewish symbols, which were in no way offensive, just as someone might wear a soccer club shirt or the flag of their country of origin, nothing more,” she explained, adding that they were “subjected to overt hostility from museum staff.”

Dana Erlich, Israel's ambassador to Spain, reacted in a post on 𝕏:

“This weekend we saw how three Jewish women, wearing a Star of David and carrying an Israeli flag, were expelled from a museum in Madrid for displaying these symbols.

My flag is not a provocation.

My flag represents thousands of years of Jewish history.

My flag represents the State of Israel.

It is hypocritical that other flags and displays of misinformation are accepted without a problem in that museum, while my flag, our flag, is considered provocative.”

Este fin de semana hemos visto cómo tres mujeres judías, con una estrella de David y una bandera de Israel, fueron expulsadas de un museo en Madrid por llevar esos símbolos.

Mi bandera no es una provocación.

Mi bandera representa miles de años de historia del pueblo judío.

Mi… pic.twitter.com/FnSAvkJEkd

— Dana Erlich 🇮🇱 (@DanaErlich) February 16, 2026

The Action and Communication on the Middle East (ACOM), which works to strengthen ties between Spain and Israel, said the incident was not isolated. It released a statement announcing intention to initiate legal proceedings against the museum and its director, citing “a repeated pattern of political instrumentalization, indirect discrimination, and possible promotion of narratives of hatred toward the State of Israel and the Jewish-Israeli community from a public institution funded by all Spanish taxpayers.”

In the statement, ACOM emphasized: “The exercise of artistic freedom does not constitute a blank check for institutional discrimination,” calling on the museum’s duty, as a public law entity, to remain neutral and objective.

Earlier this month, the Reina Sofía Museum hosted a seminar titled “Gaza and Aestheticide,” a word the description claimed “accompanied Israel’s genocide and ecocide in Gaza” and described “the conditions of artistic practice in its aftermath.” 

In 2025, Marea Palestina activists displayed “Stop genocide” banners in the gallery housing Pablo Picasso’s renowned Guernica, causing a brief evacuation and remaining in the museum after it reopened.

In 2024, the Palestinian flag was displayed on the museum’s façade as part of a series called “From the River to the Sea: International Solidarity with Palestine,” deemed an indirect call for the disappearance of the State of Israel. The series was eventually renamed to “Critical Thinking Meetings: International Solidarity with Palestine” following backlash from the Jewish community and Israeli embassy.

The incident at the Reina Sofía coincides with a significant rise in reported anti-Semitic incidents in Spain: according to the coalition Observatorio Antisemitismo, 2024 saw the largest increase in anti-Semitic speech, incidents, and attacks in modern Spanish history, rising by 321% compared to 2023 and 567% compared to 2022.