Hundreds of Christians have called for the removal of a "McJesus" sculpture, which depicts Ronald McDonald crucified on a cross, in an Israel art exhibition.
The display of the sculpture has prompted fierce protests outside the Haifa Museum of Art in the northern city of Haifa last week.
Images of the work, created by Jani Leinonen, started circulating on social media last week, which sparked protests that wounded three police officers.
Israeli police allege protesters hurled a firebomb at the museum and threw stones at police officers. Police responded with tear gas.
'McJesus" hanging in an Israeli gallery. Source: AP
Two Molotov cocktails also hit the museum in recent days, police said.
After a series of meetings with Christian leaders, the museum resolved to install signs warning of "offensive content" at the exhibition's entrance, a spokesperson for the institution said on Monday.
The proposed solution, however, did not satisfy Christian leaders, who petitioned the Haifa district court to order the museum and municipality to remove "McJesus" and "Ken Jesus Christ" from public display.
The works are part of an exhibition dealing with religion and faith in the culture of consumerism, the museum said.
"McJesus", created by a Christian artist, has been displayed "in many European museums," and "is about the cynical use of religious symbols by giant corporations," the museum spokesperson added.
Hundreds of Christians calling for the sculpture's removal protested at the museum last week. Source: AAP
It shows how Ronald McDonald "has become a symbol of popular culture, reaching the level of religious worship".
But while "McJesus" might be taken primarily as a critique of capitalism in other parts of the world, in the Middle East such visual imagery was blasphemous, said Wadie Abunassar, advisor to church leaders in the Holy Land.
"We're not in Europe, we're in Israel," said Abunassar.
"To us, as Arabs and Christians, this is an affront to our symbols, and we demand their removal."
'Would be taboo'
There are approximately 130,000-140,000 Christians in Israel, according to Abunassar, most of them Arabs, making them a minority within the minority of the overall Arab population.
"In Israel such displays against Muslims and Jews would be taboo, but against Christians they're allowed," he said.
Another person demanding the removal of "McJesus" was the artist who created it.
The attention the Christian campaign drew to the exhibition surprised Leinonen, who said he had in September demanded the museum remove it "as a protest against Israel's human rights violations".
Ronald McDonald. The "McJesus" art work is supposed to stir up debate about consumerism. Source: Supplied
"Israel overtly uses art exhibitions like this and culture in general as a form of propaganda to whitewash or justify its regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid over the Palestinian people," he said in a statement to AFP.
Following last week's protests, Leinonen contacted the curator again to have "McJesus" removed.
"I insist the museum takes my artwork out of the exhibition immediately," he said.
The museum spokesperson said "McJesus" was on loan from a Finnish gallery on terms that allowed its display in Haifa.
"The museum was never requested by the gallery to remove the exhibit," she said.
