Louvre Museum, other French sites refuse to book Israeli students' visit - Diplomacy and Defense

Jean-Francois Carenco, the governor of the Ile-de-France region with includes Paris and its environs, has asked the prosecutor's office to launch an investigation over suspicions of illegal discrimination against a group of Tel Aviv University art-history students, France’s Liberation newspaper has reported.

The group is due to visit the French capital at the end of the month, but requests to arrange visits for its members at major cultural institutions there, including the Louvre, have been turned down.

After being turned down, Hendler attempted to make arrangements for a visit on the same dates and times, using names of fictitious educational institutions from Italy and Abu Dhabi in the Persian Gulf – and was told that space was available.

The administration of the Louvre responded that it was “disturbed” over the incident and initiated an internal investigation into the matter, but told Heilbronn added that the reservation system at the world-famous museum is almost entirely automated. By contrast, reservations for visits to Sainte-Chapelle are handed manually by staff.

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