I was curious about all the fuss over a portrait of Yasser Arafat currently being exhibited at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Was it merely another jab at Culture Minister Miri Regev for proposing a law denying state funds to artists who defame Israel and glorify terror, or was it something more?

The Arafat portrait is part of an exhibition of the work of Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto. In it, the Nobel Prize-winning terrorist is portrayed as a thoughtful visionary. It is being displayed alongside similar portraits of Vladimir Lenin and Pope John Paul II. None of the portraits are actually of real people. Instead, Sugimoto photographed the mannequins made in the likeness of these men and displayed at the Madame Tussauds wax museums. Speaking with the exhibition’s curator, Raz Samira, I asked her point-blank whether choosing a portrait of Arafat was an act of protest, to which she responded with a resolute “no.”

Samira went on to explain that, if anything, the portraits are Sugimoto’s critique of Madame Tussauds’ particular brand of historical narrative, which not only...

Israel Today Membership

Become a Member

• Read all member content

  Get exclusive in-depth reports from Israel.

• Get exclusive in-depth reports from Israel

  Connect with Israel, right from your home.

• Lift up the voice of truth and hope

  Support Jerusalem-based Zionist journalism.

Become a Member

Already a member? Login here.