On November 1, 2023, Adam Budak posted a picture of the Palestinian flag in the shape of a heart on his personal Instagram account. Within hours he received messages from board members of Kestner Gesellschaft saying that there would be “consequences” if he did not remove the picture. The following day, his post was featured in the local newspaper Hannoversche Zeitung. Budak says he explained to the journalist that the purpose of the post was to show sympathy for civilians being subjected to genocide in Gaza. The board confronted him about the Instagram post during a board meeting in late November 2023, stating that private donors were threatening to withdraw support for the museum if he continued in his position. He was told that it was time to "part ways."

Catrin Kuhlmann, a spokeswoman for the Kestner Gesellschaft, justified the dismissal by saying “Without private contributions from board members, the Kestner Gesellschaft would have already been in danger of going bankrupt... [so] it was necessary to terminate the contract.""

The members of the art association criticized Budak's dismissal and the board's withholding of information. 

Further, on October 29, 2024, the Kestner Gesellschaft announced in a press release that the planned exhibition “Between Past and Future: About Hannah Arendt. Eight Exercises in Political Thought” had been canceled. It was the last exhibition for which Budak was responsible. The truth and details of his dismissal were ignored in Germany and only later picked up by Norwegian press. Budak was replaced as director by Eva Birkenstock in 2025.