The National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam canceled a scheduled conference on antisemitism last week, forcing its organizers to move the event to a church instead. The museum cited a planned protest by a group that condemned the conference and planned a protest in front of the museum as the reason for the cancellation.

In an interview with a Jewish media outlet, the conservative Jewish Dutch politician who had organized the conference expressed his bewilderment.

“A Holocaust museum is the best place to speak about antisemitism, so I was surprised by the cancellation,” MEP Bert-Jan Ruissen of the Reformed Political Party (SGP) said in the Tuesday interview. “That’s the place to be.”

He said the museum was concerned about graffiti on its walls ahead of a visit by the Dutch queen and German president.

The museum’s general director, Emile Schrijver, said in a written statement Wednesday that the museum canceled the event because it didn’t want the museum to become politicized, which critics say proves the need for the conference in the first place.

“We will not allow the National Holocaust Museum to become the focal point of a political dispute in the context of a rental event,” Schrijver said. “Protecting the integrity of the National Holocaust Museum should not be a political position; it is our core mandate and one we take seriously.”

The Europe director of the Israel Allies Foundation, Leo van Doesburg, criticized the decision in a sharply worded rebuke.

“How low can a country sink when even the National Holocaust Museum is no longer a place where the fight against antisemitism on university campuses can be openly discussed?” he said.

Ruissen said that about 100 people attended the event at the church as anti-Jewish protesters attempted to disrupt the conference.