Museum manager fired for plot to block Israel celebration

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Museum manager fired for plot to block Israel celebration

Laura Raicovich / Stephen Yang

The head of the Queens Museum and a top deputy have been ousted after a boneheaded move last year to try to prevent Israel from celebrating its 70th anniversary at the facility.

The board of trustees was shocked to learn that its top manager turned out to be a fierce opponent of Israel, according to a bombshell investigative report.

Last year, the Israel Mission to the UN asked to rent space at the museum since it was the temporary location where the United Nations actually took the vote that led to the creation of the Jewish state.

Israel was able to hold the event only after museum officials reversed a decision to reject the requestfollowing a public outcry.

But the controversy gave the museum a black eye.

Upset at what happened, the board of trustees then hired an outside firm to conduct an independent probe into why its own staff sought to block the commemoration and the dubious explanations given to board members to justify it.

The investigative report found that museum director Laura Raicovich and deputy director David Strauss “exercised poor judgment” and “knowingly misled” the board.

As it turned out, Raicovich had a massive conflict. She was a staunch critic of Israel and did not disclose her hostility to the museum’s board, the report said.

She co-edited a book that backed the boycott and divestment movement against Israel and allowed the museum to become a “fiscal sponsor” for a different museum critical of Israel.

Raicovich even wrote a foreword to the book that said the anti-Israel goals discussed in it are “complemented by programs, exhibitions and educational initiatives” at the museum.

She also paid a co-author with museum funds and even placed the book for sale in the museum’s gift shop.

“She volunteered to communicate the museum’s declination of the event to the Israeli ambassador even though these facts would leave the museum vulnerable to accusations that it’s decision was driven by anti-Israel animus,” said the pro-bono report conducted by the law firm KattenMuchinRosenman.

Queens Councilman Rory Lancmann was infuriated by the findings.

“Raicovich used our museum as a vehicle for her anti-Semitic, anti-Israel views,” he said.

Raicovich “showed immediate hostility” to hosting the Israel event before consulting with the board and then Strauss concocted lame reasons why the board should reject it, the report said.

“Mr. Strauss told the Board that the Museum had a longstanding written policy prohibiting the Museum from renting space for political events — which was not true,” a summary of the report found.

The investigators then said Strauss tried to cover the lie by adding the political prohibition to the board’s website “only after the request for the event was already under consideration by the Board.”

Strauss also reported to the board that the NYPD advised that the museum would have to be closed for a week in order to provide security for the event. But that explanation was only based on a preliminary phone call in what was deemed a “worse case” scenario.

“Mr. Strauss made false statements to representatives of the Permanent Mission [of Israel] regarding the Museum’s concerns about hosting the event,” the report said.

The board accepted Raicovich’s resignation and fired Strauss after reviewing the findings.

The report doesn’t let the board off the hook, saying trustees should establish clear written policies and procedures for renting the museum.

Board members should have been “more skeptical” of the explanations given by the museum staffers and realized it has the authority to set or change policy.

Museum manager fired for plot to block Israel celebration

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