Norfolk, United Kingdom – Matthew Collings, an English artist in his 70s, sketches on the papers in front of him at his home in the scenic coastal county of Norfolk.Over the past six years, since moving away from the art commentary and criticism that he focused on for decades, he has made more than 3,000 drawings.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listSince October 2023, a good third of them have focused on Israel’s genocide against Palestinians.Many were to be displayed in a May iteration of his show, Drawings Against Genocide, at a London gallery this month. However, the show was abruptly cancelled following an intervention by a group called the UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), which claimed the images were anti-Semitic.The exhibit, which debuted under its current title in Margate earlier this year at Joseph Wales Studios, is comprised of 130 drawings that depict violence against Palestinians, with various blood-bathed military, political, and business leaders.“It’s very clear in the title what they’re against, they’re not against Jews,” Collings said of his artworks in an interview with Al Jazeera.“They’re against genocide. The genocide isn’t committed by Jews. It’s committed by Zionists. It’s committed by Israel, which is a state that would not exist were it not for Zionism,” he added, referring to the nationalist, political ideology that called for the creation of a Jewish state. “Nothing in my drawings for genocide is remotely anti-Semitic.”The allegations of anti-Semitism have focused on the p …
