To think this so called art exhibition in Margate is nothing short of a hate crime

Why is Collings as a non Jew pontificating on the needs of Jewish people for their homeland? What right does he have? What are his qualifications in this matter?

The woman from Cheshire was jailed for a couple of years.
This artist was exonerated by the police by not having the images removed.
Chalk and cheese cases.

Indeed- It couldn't be evidenced that Collins demonstrated hostility towards the Jewish race or that his art as exhibited was motivated by hostility based on the Jewish race - as the law requires.

His art - he claimed is against Zionism, i.e. a political ideology that advocates for a Jewish homeland whereas Jewish people an ethno- religious group.

Not all Jews are Zionists and not all Zionists are Jews- Zionism is a political choice whilst Jewish identity is a fundamental identity. Political choice is protected by free speech laws in the UK- as the police statement clarified.

There’s freedom of expression and blatant hate crime dressed up as art.

We are making judgements on an exhibition we have not seen, except for one or two pictures.

In a complex world where people take sides, the different opinions here are hardly surprising.

and its probably worth a reminder that many who have posted here have elaborated at length how prosecuting those hate SM posts that followed the July 2024 anti muslim riots had gone over the top, etc. etc,

and how could a nice lady of Cheshire possibly be prosecuted for suggesting all the adults in a mosque should be killed. remember?

You cant have it both ways. You either protect the right for freedom of expression even when you don't like it

(within limits of course, and `I have outlined that I think some of the paintings should be removed)

or you follow the course of closing the parts of freedom of expression that you personally dont like.

Oreo

Never heard of the guy but I did read about his so called artworks.
Do Thanet Council have the power to stop it? The police aren’t backward at coming forward for hate crimes these days so why aren’t they refusing to have blatantly antisemitic works on public view?

A very good question!

Unfortunately antisemitism wrapped up and disguised as anti Zionism is alive and kicking.

I am disgusted, disappointed and afraid for the Jews in the U.K. and around the world.

Nobody in authority on their side apparently 🤬🤬🤬

TerriBull

There isn't a lot of difference between those of the far right and the far left who espouse this sort of hatred, only in that the element of the Far Left appear to perceive they alone occupy some higher moral ground, the Far Right will know they don't. There will no doubt have been some who marched on Saturday who wouldn't similarly turn out in solidarity for our Jewish community. The rationale appears to be they must bear the collective guilt of whatever Israel is inflicting on Gaza. It's clearly obvious from a cohort within, the far left of The Greens and Labour, whatever prejudice the Jewish community suffer they deserve that. Theirs is to put up with a three pronged onslaught from the Far left, the Far right and extreme Islamists.

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Allira

So anyone is free to exhibit paintings etc of Hamas and their despicable crimes of October 7th 2023 as typifying Palestinian people as long as they call them artistic interpretations, political in nature and they would be protected by free speech laws?

At least that is clear, thank you.

These are people who have beheaded, dragged corpses around streets tied to vehicles, and chucked their fellow citizens off buildings. Imagine those images depicted as art

And of course, in his ‘art work’ he hasn’t demonstrated any hostility towards race or religion ( yeah right!)

As usual, these threads descends into ad hominem attacks. I am now being criticised for going on the Together Alliance march and defending the right to use art as a protest again war and genocide (as many artists have done in the past) as if the two should be mutually exclusive.

Replying to Wyllow who addresses the legal aspects.

For the CPS to prosecute a hate crime there has to be a victim.

The police and the CPS have agreed the following definition for identifying and flagging hate crimes:

Any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice, based on a person's …. religion or perceived religion.

(For brevity, I have deleted the other categories, disability, race etc).

Kent Police have said that no criminal offence has been identified.

Collings has made it very clear (in a social media post I attached upthread, My show is against Zionism not Jewishness.

Anti-Zionism and anti-semitism are not the same thing.

Now you can chose to believe him or not but if a “victim” were to bring charges and the CPS were to prosecute, then that would be his defence.

Under the Human Rights Act 1998, artistic expression, political speech, and political art are all protected under the right to freedom of expression. Courts have repeatedly ruled that this still applies even if the art or expression “offends, shocks, or disturbs.”

He could possibly be prosecuted under the Public Order Act for stirring up racial hatred.

Section 17 defines “racial hatred” as hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to colour, race, nationality (including citizenship), or ethnic or national origins. This can and has been interpreted by courts to include Jews as an ethnic group, so antisemitism would fall within this provision.

Section 18 refers to the use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour or any written material.

However, while many may see Collings’ drawings as abusive or insulting, they can only be deemed illegal if it can be proved that he intended to stir up racial hatred. That would be hard for prosecutors to prove when Collings has said his work is about Zionism not Jews.

You might compare this with the Lucy Connolly case. She was charge under Section 19 … a person who publishes or distributes written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting is guilty of an offence if (s)he intends thereby to stir up racial hatred. She used social media to incite people to set fire to hotels.

Collings isn’t doing anything like that.

If any of those so called art works depicted Mohammed, would the police acted differently?

I am mindful of those who lost their lives regarding Charlie Hebdo…

The law recognises five types of hate crime on the basis of:
Race
Religion
Disability
Sexual orientation
Transgender identity

Any crime can be prosecuted as a hate crime if the offender has either:
demonstrated hostility based on race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity
Or
been motivated by hostility based on race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity.

The police can’t be that stupid? But this is turning into a very informed discussion.

So anyone is free to exhibit paintings etc of Hamas and their despicable crimes of October 7th 2023 as typifying Palestinian people as long as they call them artistic interpretations, political in nature and they would be protected by free speech laws?

At least that is clear, thank you.

There isn't a lot of difference between those of the far right and the far left who espouse this sort of hatred, only in that the element of the Far Left appear to perceive they alone occupy some higher moral ground, the Far Right will know they don't. There will no doubt have been some who marched on Saturday who wouldn't similarly turn out in solidarity for our Jewish community. The rationale appears to be they must bear the collective guilt of whatever Israel is inflicting on Gaza. It's clearly obvious from a cohort within, the far left of The Greens and Labour, whatever prejudice the Jewish community suffer they deserve that. Theirs is to put up with a three pronged onslaught from the Far left, the Far right and extreme Islamists.

And I repeat, if the images had been anti Islamic then the police would have acted quickly.
In fact if they hadn’t there would have been a riot outside the gallery.
Because Jews rarely make a fuss it isn’t considered a problem by them.

In that case the legal threshold needs to be changed!

typo- price= police

It appears the exhibition finished yesterday. It also appears the price investigation concluded and found the threshold for a hate crime was not met- according to google:

"Kent Police conducted an investigation into an art exhibition titled "Drawings Against Genocide" by artist Matthew Collings, held at the Joseph Wales Studios (or Gallery) in Margate, Kent, following complaints that it featured antisemitic imagery.

Here are the key details of the investigation as of March 2026:
Nature of the Complaint: The exhibition was accused of displaying "grotesque" antisemitic tropes, including imagery of Jewish people or Israelis eating babies with blood-dripping teeth, demon-like figures, and references to "blood libel" and "Jewish lobbies". Some images specifically targeted individuals and denied Hamas atrocities on October 7.

Artist’s Response: Matthew Collings, 70, described his work as a critique of Zionism and Israel's actions in Gaza, claiming the art was "about raising consciousness about hell". He denied that the drawings specifically showed Jewish people or claimed they eat babies.

Police Findings: Kent Police confirmed that officers attended the exhibition to view the material, but ruled that the work did not meet the legal threshold for a criminal hate crime or a non-crime hate incident (NCHI). The force stated that because the content was "political in nature," "focused on a nation state," and part of "artistic expression," it was protected by free speech laws.

Everyone is entitled to their views however skewed and wrong they are to most of us.
All we can do is continue to condemn antisemitism and hope that in some distant future that it will no longer exist.

ronib, my understanding, I repeat again, was that this exhibition was not brought to the attention of Thanet District Council, who were, therefore, unaware of the content.
Matters, now, it seems, are in the hands of the police and appropriate actions are under consideration.

Good points Oreo. Graphite is singing the praises of having been on the pro left anti right demonstration on Saturday. I didn’t think it was even possible to hold these views…. Such an eye opener.

MartavTaurus

Sounds like he's the one having the hysterical rant, just as much as the media and others he criticises. Of course its antisemitism, couched in the very loose definition of a piece of Art. My foot!

Artworks inciting hatred of Jews are universal and have been around since medieval times. They are particularly present in Germany, France and the UK. The same sculpture I mentioned was 16th century. Its too convenient to say the painting is just a depiction of the current situation.

Yes, exactly and do you remember the Banksy style large mural a few years ago in London, that was cleaned off the wall.

You haven’t said what you think about this exhibition as yet Sixandahalf
At least Graphite is clear about excusing it as art.
There’s no excuse for it of course.