Latest update January 22nd, 2020 10:43 PM
Sep 08, 2019 Amnon Peery Art and Culture 0
ISRAEL – The Samarian settlement of Dolev, northeast of Jerusalem, will soon receive a visit by some of the world’s greatest female graffiti artists who will be painting a memorial as well as doing other service projects across Israel. The artists were moved by the story of Rina Shenrav, the 17-year-old girl slain at the end of August by a bomb while hiking with her family at the natural water springs near her home.
Rina had no voice in the politics of Israel or say on who owns the Judea Samaria, but for some, she has become a symbol of the constant courage that girls everywhere display in navigating environments outside of their control.
Now her story is bringing some of the biggest names in urban art – including Nicole Salgar, Mandi Caskey (“Miss Birdy”), Ledania and Adore – to Israel to honor Rina’s memory with a mural capturing her spirit.
Graffiti is still a male-dominated art and these female graffiti superstars feel a kinship with women pushing the boundaries. They will be traveling throughout Israeli connecting with some of the country’s most inspiring women.
In addition to Dolev, their itinerary includes painting giant murals in the Muslim, Christian and Druze village of Abu Snan, artwork in the predominately Jewish region of Granot, hanging out with the Jerusalem Skate Girls, meet with the Israel Law Center’s founder Nitsana Darshan-Leitner to learn about her work fight terrorism through the courts, and visit an IDF military base to meet with an all-female unit of soldiers.
The artists have never been to Israel and their trip is organized by the non-profit Artists 4 Israel. Says Craig Dershowitz, CEO of Artists 4 Israel comments, “Artists 4 Israel is inspired by the bravery of so many women making their way in male-dominated fields – when we first began using urban, contemporary art forms as a tool for social change and Israel advocacy, we too were doing something new and daring and faced backlash from haters and traditionalists. Just as the artists who make up our team continue to succeed against all odds so do we continue to make important improvements for the men and women of Israel.”
Says artist Emily Gardner, aka “Adore,” “The more woman painting, the less we’ll hear that note of disbelief when they see our beautiful works. Being in Israel is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see an area of land that has birthed civilizations, three major faiths, and continues to be a region of cultural and religious significance. I am humbled to be given the opportunity to contribute small bits of beauty where I can.”
This article was written in cooperation with Lance Laytner of Public Good Relations.
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Menachem Begin in December 1942 wearing the Polish Army uniform of Gen. Anders’ forces with his wife Aliza and David Yutan; (back row) Moshe Stein and Israel Epstein
(photo credit: JABOTINSKY ARCHIVES)
During the inauguration of a memorial to the victims of the Siege of Leningrad in Jerusalem’s Sacher Park on January 24, 2020, before the climax of Holocaust remembrance events at which Russian President Vladimir Putin was given a central platform, we were stunned to hear a rendition of The Blue Kerchief (Siniy
Giant figures are seen during the 87th carnival parade of Aalst February 15, 2015
The annual carnival in Aalst, Belgium, is expected to take place on Sunday with even more antisemitic elements than in previous years.
Aalst’s organizers have sold hundreds of “rabbi kits” for revelers to dress as hassidic Jews in the carnival’s parade. The kit includes oversized noses, sidelocks (peyot) and black hats. The organizers plan to bring back floats similar to the one displayed in 2019 featuring oversized dolls of Jews, with rats on their shoulders, holding banknotes.
Pope Francis waves as he arrives at the Basilica of Saint Nicholas in the southern Italian coastal city of Bari, Italy February 23, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Remo Casilli.
Pope Francis on Sunday warned against “inequitable solutions” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying they would only be a prelude to new crises, in an apparent reference to US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace proposal.
Francis made his comments in the southern Italian port city of Bari, where he traveled to conclude a meeting of bishops from all countries in the Mediterranean basin.
Palestinians walk past a shop selling fruits in Ramallah, Feb. 20, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Mohamad Torokman.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) have reached an agreement to end a five-month long trade dispute, officials said on Thursday.
The dispute, which opened a new front in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, began in September when the PA announced a boycott of Israel calves. The PA exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank under interim peace deals.
Antisemitic caricatures on display at the annual carnival in Aalst, Belgium. Photo: Raphael Ahren via Twitter.
Disturbing images emerged on Sunday of the annual carnival at Aalst, Belgium, showing an astounding number of antisemitic themes, costumes, displays and statements.
Israeli journalist Raphael Ahren documented people dressed as caricatures of Orthodox Jews, a fake “wailing wall” attacking critics of the parade, blatantly antisemitic characters and puppets wearing traditional Jewish clothes and sporting huge noses.
The stench of anti-Semitism always hovers over Switzerland’s Lake Geneva when the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is meeting there. The foul emanations reached a new nadir last week with UNHRC’s publication of a “database” of companies doing business in the disputed territories in Israel.
Following the publication of the list, Bruno Stagno Ugarte, deputy director for advocacy of NGO Human Rights Watch, stated, “The long-awaited release of the U.N. settlement business database should put all companies on notice: To do business with illegal settlements [sic] is to aid in the commission of war crimes.”
One of the many things that annoys me about politicians is how sure they are of themselves. Everything is black and white. Every idea is good or bad. Take globalism, for example. You either love it or hate it. It works or it doesn’t.
Another thing that annoys me is how so much of a politician’s life revolves around power: Do everything you can to get it, and everything you can to keep it.
Why am I ranting? Because, while our politicians have been consumed with power and the media with the fights over power, a threat to our nation has been virtually ignored.
Blue and White Party leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid are establishing their diplomatic credentials in the immediate run-up to Israel’s March 2 election with an insult to a U.S. administration that has arguably provided Israel with more diplomatic gains than any previous administration.
The Times of Israel reported that at a campaign stop in front of English-speaking Israelis, Gantz accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “of neglecting bipartisan ties in favor of exclusive support from U.S. President Donald Trump’s Republican Party,” under the headline “Gantz pledges to mend ties with U.S. Democrats if elected.”
Bipartisanship was in short supply at the State of the Union address earlier this month—with one notable exception.
Nancy Pelosi had been looking dyspeptic, shuffling the papers she would later rip to shreds, when President Donald Trump reminded his audience that “the United States is leading a 59-nation diplomatic coalition against the socialist dictator of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.”
Suddenly, the House Speaker applauded. Trump then introduced “the true and legitimate president of Venezuela: Juan Guaidó.”
The law professor Alan Dershowitz has thrown a legal hand-grenade into America’s political civil war by claiming to have evidence that former President Barack Obama “personally asked” the FBI to investigate someone “on behalf” of Obama’s “close ally,” billionaire financier George Soros.
He made his cryptic remark in an interview defending U.S. President Donald Trump against claims he interfered in the prosecution of his former adviser, Roger Stone.