Once again, Minister of Culture and Sports Miri Regev made a big threat. Once again, she was blocked. On Jan. 10, Regev demanded that the general manager of the Haifa Museum of Art remove the McJesus sculpture, featured in an exhibition titled “Sacred Commodities.” According to Regev, “The cheapening of symbols sacred to the different religions and their many believers around the world by using them in an act of artistic protest has no legitimacy and cannot serve as a work of art in a cultural institution supported with state funds.” What Regev was actually insinuating was that if the piece was not removed, the budgetary sword wielded by her office could very well be raised. But then Deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber informed her that she may not deny the museum support from her ministry, solely because of the work’s content.

The artwork in question was created by Finnish artist Jani Leinonen. It depicts Ronald McDonald, the iconic clown of the McDonald restaurant chain, in the position of a crucified Jesus. The artist was attempting to challenge consumer culture and the infatuation with predatory capitalism, which he believes has reached a level of genuine religious adulation. The Haifa Museum of Art borrowed the piece from a gallery in Finland, and it has been on display since August 2018. But it is only now, one month before the end of the exhibition, that it actually caused an uproar. It happened after a photo of the sculpture was shared tens of thousands of times on social media. Apparently, when it was exhibited at the Finnish gallery, no one considered Leinonen’s work to be particularly controversial or groundbreaking. In Israel, however, any attempt to use religious symbols in art could be interpreted as sacrilege. And, in fact, it was by Haifa’s Christian community.

On Friday, Jan. 11, some 200 people demonstrated outside the Haifa Museum of Art, calling for the work’s removal. The demonstration turned violent, with someone throwing a Molotov cocktail at the building and others pelting policemen with rocks. Three policemen sustained minor head injuries when they pushed back demonstrators who tried to force their way into the museum. In a rare occurrence, the religious protest in Haifa succeeded in bringing the heads of the city’s Greek Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches together. They filed a joint petition with the Haifa District Court, asking that it ban the display of the McJesus piece and one other work. “Exhibiting these works is a crude assault against the Christian religion and a serious insult to the faith. As such, it is not covered by the definition of freedom of expression as allowed by Israeli law,” the petition argued.

Surprised by the violent outburst, the museum’s management placed a black curtain over the entrance to the exhibition space, to keep anyone who might be offended by the work from being exposed to it. The curtain was removed once it became clear that it did nothing to calm the mood. As a result of the unrest, the artist himself demanded that his work be removed, claiming that he was coming under pressure from the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.