Lecturer at British National Gallery calls Biblical Samson a 'terrorist'

The press released also claimed that one of the members' allegedly connected biblical events to contemporary international relations.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Samson and Delilah 370 (photo credit: Wikimedia commons)
Samson and Delilah 370
(photo credit: Wikimedia commons)
A lecturer at the British National Gallery called Samson, the biblical Israelite hero in the Book of Judges that fought the ancient Philistines, a terrorist. The remark, made during a discussion of Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens' painting of Samson and Delilah in the National Gallery, was condemned by Jewish organizations Tuesday, according to a press release from Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) Europe, a religious freedom lobby group.
In a letter sent to the Director of the British National Gallery, Gabriele Finaldi, from Dr. Shimon Samuels, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, it was noted that an confrontation between a member of the gallery and James Heard over a YouTube presentation of the Rubens painting given by the latter, who claimed that Biblical Samson was a "terrorist."
The press release also claimed that one of the members' allegedly connected biblical events to contemporary Israeli-Palestinian relations, suggesting that the modern-day Israelis are 'Israelites', and the Palestinians are 'Philistines.'
In the complaint, Samuels noted that, “this amalgam was inflamed by a YouTube presentation by lecturer artist, James Heard, who, between minutes 7:56 until 8:46 speaks of ‘the Israelite Samson, who in essence was a terrorist who slaughtered 1,000 Philistines’...”
He added that “even more odd is Heard’s statement that Samson 'took 300 foxes, tying torches to their tails' and setting them alight 'sent them into the cornfields of the Israelites'... leading to the conclusion - in the colleagues parlance - that Samson was a 'double agent.'”
The letter further added that "Mr. Heard’s presentation is contentious and erroneous. We urge the National Gallery to request YouTube to remove 'the clip' to avoid any further misunderstanding or politicization.”