Activist Destroys Benjamin Netanyahu Wax Sculpture at Mexico City Museum

The sculpture was reportedly housed at the Museo de Cera in Mexico City.

Museo de Cera in Mexico City. Photo courtesy of Museo de Cera.

A masked activist allegedly destroyed a wax sculpture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a museum in Mexico, according to video footage shared online.

The Instagram account for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement in Mexico shared a photo of the sculpture on the ground at the Museo de Cera in Mexico City with red paint, simulating blood, on the floor around it. A Palestinian flag is also seen in the picture.

Netanyahu, who is facing legal challenges centered around allegations of corruption, has a warrant out for his arrest from the International Criminal Court regarding allegations of committing war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza.

Netanyahu wax sculpture is seen on the floor after it was attacked by a hammer

A masked activist allegedly destroyed a wax sculpture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a museum in Mexico, according to video footage shared online.

“We don’t know who did it,” BDS Mexico said in its post, questioning why there was a statue of a “genocidal maniac” at the museum. Museo de Cera, founded in 1979, houses about 260 wax sculptures modeled after famous artists, actors, sportspeople, world leaders, and mythical figures.

BDS Mexico later shared a video of the incident online, in which the man said, “Long Live Palestine, Long Live Sudan, Long Live Yemen, Long Live Puerto Rico” as wax depictions of the British royal family look on.

The person or the group behind the protest action have not been identified. Artnet News has reached out to the Museo de Cera and the Mexico City Secretariat of Citizen Security for more information but did not hear back by press time.

Israeli and Jewish media quickly sought to describe the protester as a “pro-Hamas activist.” There is no evidence that the protester has expressed support for the Palestinian militia, which is considered a terror group by Israel and the United States.

Meanwhile, Israel has been accused of “deliberately” targeting archaeological and historical sites in Gaza amid the war, including many museums that contain art and artifacts.

In September, Israeli media reported that police in Norway “saved” another wax sculpture of Netanyahu by the Norwegian artist Morten Viskum after a person reported to police that the figure, which had been left in the artist’s car, appeared to be a person in distress.

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