Egypt museum changes ‘Israel’ title of a 120-year-old pharaonic artifact

Egypt announced on Monday that they were cancelling the title of “Israel” from a 120-year-old pharaonic artifact and renaming it to “Merneptah’s Victory” instead.

Sabah Abdel Razek, Director General of the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, said the identification card on the specified artifact from King Ramses II (reign 1279-1213 BC) time was changed from the “Plate of Israel” to the “Victories of Merneptah”.

“We had to change the title after the news Following stirred controversy. A committee was formed from the museum where it was confirmed that there was a mistake in the naming of the plaque in question. Last week, the name was changed to Merenptah's victory,” Abdel Razek said.

“The name of Israel engraved on the plate of his Merenptah's victories meant the children of Israel or a tribe that was resident in Canaan or Ashkelon in Palestine,” the museum director clarified.

The Merenptah Plate was discovered by historian Flinders Petrie in Luxor in 1896 and is made from granite stone with a height of about 310 cm, and 160 cm wide, 32 cm in size.