Israel Matzav

Artists4Israel stoned in Hebron

I think I was kind of vague about my meeting with Artists4Israel on Wednesday night. I think I said I was meeting with some representatives. In fact, we had all 18 of them who are here in Israel over for dinner Wednesday night - the second time we've invited an Artists4Israel group to our home. I strategically seated myself among the artists, a couple of whom were laughing about getting stoned in Hebron earlier in the day (and how the IDF soldiers stood around doing nothing - I told them that was because of the lousy open fire rules under which the IDF operates). I'm happy that the incident ended without anyone being hurt (Hat Tip: Zvi S).

Residents of Hebron woke up Thursday to discover their city painted in bright colors. For the past two days 15 artists from the US and Europe have been hard at work painting large-scale graffiti art on bulletproof cement walls, homes, and IDF bases.

Craig Dershowitz, a Jewish resident of Manhattan and the president of Artists4Israel, told Ynet that most of the artists who worked with him on the project were not even Jewish. "We have no political message," he said.

Danny Cohen, Chabad envoy to Hebron, met some of the group members by chance two years ago, when they painted over Sderot, and invited them to the city.

"They had no trouble with the fact that this is Hebron, because these guys have a goal – which I very much agree with – to take places that have a bad reputation, and are associated with fear and chaos, and insert a little color into them," Cohen said.

"The artists themselves are not really interested in politics. They love this country and don't make any distinction between towns inside and out of the Green Line."

Cohen added that the graffiti painted in Hebron was unique and suited to the complicated atmosphere in the city. "We at Chabad Hebron decided that the visit will be devoid of any political persuasion and more spiritual and historical, without the argument between Left and Right – and this suited them," he said.

The artists paid for the flight to Israel while Chabad offered to pay for all of their needs.

"We had to supply some 700 spray cans," Cohen said. "But the city certainly looks different. You cannot but notice the beautiful drawings everywhere."

Actually, I think 700 spray cans covered only Hebron. According to one of the founders, they spent $20,000 on this trip on spray paint alone. And the artists donate their time, but don't pay for the flight - Artists4Israel pays for that too (a ticket is over $1100 from the US right now). So if you'd like to help out Artists4Israel, please go here.

Labels: Artists4Israel, graffiti, Hebron

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:09 PM