One of the three new Banksy art works in Gaza (all images via banksy.co.uk)
The elusive street artist Banksy has released a two-minute video (posted below) featuring his new art works in Gaza which highlight the plight of the area’s 1.8 million Palestinian residents. “Gaza is often described as ‘the world’s largest open air prison’ because no-one is allowed to enter or leave,” his website explains. “But that seems a bit unfair to prisons – they don’t have their electricity and drinking water cut off randomly almost every day.”
Another Banksy work, this one representing a figure from ancient Greek mythology, Niobe.
This isn’t the first time the artist has highlighted the Palestinian struggle. In 2005, he placed work on the controversial Israeli West Bank barrier, which in Arabic is called the “Wall of Apartheid,” and the images went viral soon after they were made. At the time, Banksy said the following about the project:
“The segregation wall is a disgrace. On the Israeli side it’s all manicured lawns and SUVs, on the other side it’s just dust and men looking for work. The possibility I find exciting is you could turn the world’s most invasive and degrading structure into the world’s longest gallery of free speech and bad art. And I like to think I can help with that bit.”
He added: “Besides, I love Palestine – all of the giant walls, the dirt and the falafel stalls remind you of Glastonbury.”
In this art work, children swing from an Israeli watch tower.
The first image of the Gaza project, representing the Greek myth of Niobe, was published on his Instagram account (@banksy.co.uk) this morning, while the video and photographs were released later in the day. Animal New York was able to confirm with the artist’s publicist, Jo Brooks, that the new social media account is indeed real. In Greek mythology, Niobe was the Queen of Thebes who had 14 children and taunted Leto, who only had two children, Apollo and Artemis. In his rage, Leto sent his children to kill all Niobe’s offspring.
During last summer’s bombing of Gaza by the Israeli military, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that 2,205 people in Gaza were killed, including 1,483 civilians, while the Gaza Health Ministry reported that an additional 10,626 people were injured. During the 49 day conflict, Hamas and other Islamist forces fired rockets and mortars at Israel. Sixty-six Israeli soldiers and 6 civilians were killed during he fighting, while 469 soldiers and 87 civilians were wounded.
A text-based work by Banksy in Gaza.
They could always, y’know, stop attacking israelis.
I’m sure that you’d think they same should a foreign army occupy your homeland on the command that it’s land “promised to them by God.” I mean, right?
I mean, what could you do when there is no justice or freedom? I mean, if you give-in to the demands of foreign invaders, who have no authority over you, then you become their subject, like an object or an animal. That’s intolerable!
Death is better than inferiority; just ask Locke, the “father” of Liberal Democracy. Locke argued that, in a state of nature, those who are overtaken by force into captivity or servitude have every right in the natural order to resist in whichever way… whichever way! If that’s wrong, then America owes King George a posthumous apology, no?
It’s ridiculous how ignorant so many in the West are to the history of this conflict. It essentially boils down to Zionist thugs breaking into a private residence and then claiming ownership of said residence “by decree of God.”
Remember, the Zionist state is very much a theocracy, complete with religious courts and religious laws! How is it NOT apartheid when there ARE separate courts and separate laws for Jews and Palestinians; when only Jews can in certain neighborhoods and Palestinians cannot; or when only Jews can be employeed and Palestinians cannot?
Banksys is right, however, in acknowledging one thing about the West — that it intends, like Pontius Pilate, to “wash its hands” of this grave injustice; but just like Pontius Pilate, nobody is free from judgement!
The level of ignorance of your statements are incredible. Only in israel and nowhere else in middle east do all religions and groups including arabs have the right to work in any field. Israeli universities have affirmative action to include more Arab students. Israels leading surgeon is an Arab. It has supreme court judges that are arabs. Etc. The highest standards of income and life expectancy in the Arab world is in the westbank. These are all facts. Demonizing israel won’t change this.
I like the cute way you get the crucifixion theme into your comment which on the other hand avoids the historical fact that this country was inhabited and governed by Jews before the Romans suppressed the Jewish Bar Kokhba Revolt in the year 135 CE. Hence the country is the literally the historically homeland of the Jews whence Jews were driven out by Romans and which was conquered by Arabs in the 7th century CE.
Nobody ever heard of a “palestinian people” as a distinct nationality or people before the mid-1960s. The Arabs traditionally did not call the country “palestine” or “Filastin” before the 20th century. In the Arab and Muslim geographic traditions the land was seen as an indistinct part of ash-Sham, that is Greater Syria or the Levant. The Arabs did not see any “palestnian people.” The notion of such a people only emerged in the 1960s with the founding of the PLO in 1964. The notion of such a people is a psychogical warfare invention,
Let Banksy go try that self-important nonsense in Mosul. And David Webb, you don’t know anything about Israeli law: there is the same civil law for Jews, Muslims, Christians, and anyone in between. However, Israel is the ONLY Middle-Eastern country, with the exception of Lebanon (and how’s that going?) that does NOT define itself as a one-religion state. Go read the constitution of, say, the Palestinian Authority, or Egypt, or Jordan. Seriously. Go read.
“David Webb, you don’t know anything about Israeli law: there is the same civil law for Jews, Muslims, Christians, and anyone in between.”
Lies! Israel refused to recognize an Israeli nationality at the beginning of the ocupation in 1948, making an unusual distinction between “citizenship” and “nationality.” Although all Israelis qualify as “citizens of Israel,” the state is defined as belonging to the “Jewish nation,” meaning not only the 5.6 million Israeli Jews but also more than seven million Jews in the diaspora.
The special status of Jewish nationality has been a way to undermine the citizenship rights of non-Jews in Israel, especially the fifth of the population who are Arab. Some 30 laws in Israel specifically privilege Jews, including in the areas of immigration rights, naturalization, access to land and employment.
SOURCE: http://electronicintifada.net/content/lawsuit-challenges-israels-discriminatory-citizenship-definition/8767
FURTHERMORE, here’s a POV documentary on this EXACT issue, aptly titled “The Law in These Parts” — got anymore LIES to debunk?
Jews are from Judea, an archeological fact, 2000 years before the birth of Mohammed who was from Arabia. There are Muslims in that land because they’ve conquered 8.5 million square miles of the Middle East. So who is occupying who’s land? Jews by comparison are claiming 12.5 thousand square miles. Why is the more recent claim of the Palestinians more valid than the older Jewish one? Does history start 100 years ago? 500? There were two states of Israel historically before they were conquered and called Palestine by the Romans. Which religion proselytizes at the barrel of a gun? Have Jews conquered Northern Africa, Indonesia, parts of Europe, etc? Do Jews kill each other in any significant numbers? Do we use children as offensive weapons? Israel has adopted some ugly behavior, but the alternative for Jews is being stateless and at the mercy of Christians and Muslims. Which historically hasn’t worked out so well for us. The Palestinians have had 70 years to live in peace with Jews. They are where they are because the Arab states continue to fund and encourage a war they can’t win to get rid of Israel. Those oil rich states could also allow immigration of Palestinians into their countries where people speak the same language and practice the same religion. Israel will take any Jew as a matter of state law. Where is the comparable compassion between Arab brothers? As for Israel being a theocracy, which neighboring country isn’t also a theocracy? Try being Christian or gay in Iran and see how that works out. Jews are not foreigners in Israel. There has never been a time when there were no Jews in Jerusalem. We’ve had an uninterrupted presence there for 4000 years.
Hey bud, appreciate your passion… But the Israeli State is not a Theocracy… Maybe that’s what they use to market it… But it’s a corporate fascist state. If you don’t understand what I mean by that… I’d like you to watch “Ethos” hosted by Woody Harrelson. Thanks.
Well, sure, but most political states these days behave like “corporate fascist states.” We don’t follow flags anymore, we follow currency flows.
Officially, the Zionists’ present themselves as a “Democracy”; which is beneficial for when they go knocking on the doors of other so-called Democracies to guilt them into padding their military budgets.
In practice, however, Rabbinical courts preside over matters of citizenship, inheritance, marriage, and can even interject themselves into matters of employment, property ownership, and banking. They also have limited veto power over their Parliament, just like in Iran.
That’s an effective Theocracy, if you ask me!
Right, but when Bibi pulls shit like what he did at US Congress the other day… that indicates how cosmopolitan his work really is. His life is decided by the amount of money he helps generate for all these corporations: So he calls for Jewish immigration to stimulate demand and therefore increase supply in settlement building for example. Instigates Jewish paranoia to stimulate military demand. It’s really amazing what people have learned from Edward Bernays!
Edward Bernays? You know about Edward Bernays?
+1,000,000 “Likes” for you, Ahmad!
I’ve actually seen his house in Hartsdale, NY where he formulated his first theories while marketing Betty Crocker products. Beautiful neighborhood. You’d never know the monster that lived there!
“If we wash our hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, we side with the powerful — we don’t remain neutral.”
Except that the Zionists are NOT powerful — they who deceive with the media, with false witness, and with threats; they who bomb from afar while families must take whatever opportunity they can to defend their homes from the streets!
The people of Palestine have LOVE in their hearts — Love for their faith, for their land, for their culture and their people. The Zionist knows only HATRED for others and LUST for their possessions, and that is why the Zionists will fail and be sent back into exile to wander the earth again, as their God had punished them until Christ returns.
“Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” ~ Gospel of St. Matthew 5:3-10
Scary your level of hatred for the jewish people…
“Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”
Golda Meir
Why are you only quoting part of the line? It is “We can forgive [them] for killing our children. We cannot forgive them from forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with [them] when they love their children more than they hate us.”
It’s fascinating what amusing rhetoric is afforded to those who can afford a speech writer, isn’t it?
In any case, it means nothing when the other side can say the same just as well, except with more of its own shed blood to show!
Hrag that is the quote I looked up. Perhaps it was said at different times by her in different ways. Either way same point. Hrag the comments on here go way beyond casual criticism of Israeli policy and veer into demonization and delegitimization of Israels right to exist. I ask that whatever your stance on the conflict is you please insure that your distinguished magazine which I enjoy remains free from incitement demonization and anti semitism. Please.
“… incitement demonization and anti semitism.”
Ha! Is that what you Zionists call speaking truth, you who deal in lies?
Hatred for Jews? No. Love for Justice? Yes!
It would be just and righteous to speak out against anyone that would have instigated this conflict and that continues to perpetuate it still. That it happens to be Jews is not my doing, but theirs!
by the way, you quote from the New Testament in which the name “palestine” never appears, because the Romans called the country Judea and the Book of Matthew 2:20-23 calls the land The Land of Israel.
Be that as it may, Israel has greater military power than Hamas but so does the USA have greater military power than ISIL. In Israel’s case, since these so-called “palestinians” are Arabs –whereas several Arab states have mucho oil— and they are Muslims, the PLO & PA get diplomatic support from the Arab League and OIC [organization for Islamic cooperation] which number more than 1/4 of UN. So the Arab side is stronger than Israel diplomatically and that strength is reinforced by the traditional Judeophobia of the West, of most of the main EU states. So economically and diplomatically the side favoring the Arabs has the upper hand over Israel.
So in those respects Israel is the weaker party. Hence by your logic you should support Israel.
People conveniently see this as a conflict between strong Israel and the weak Palestinians. They conveniently ignore the 22 Arab States surrounding Israel, the 49 majority Muslim nations in the world, the 1.5 billion Muslims vs 13 million Jews in the world. Those people would see us again adrift in a world that offers us no protection from antisemitism and hatred. And they can’t deal with us finally defending ourselves. So it’s a no win situation. We can either be hated and feared or hated and dead. I prefer the former.
What about the power the leaders of Gaza have over their own people? Using them as human shields and leaving them to die while they rule from afar and leave the war to the poor? The people of Gaza won’t tell Banksy about them. They’re too afraid their whole family will get killed. There are powerful people you don’t speak of Banksy. If you want to defend the helpless make sure to get every side of the story.
Then why don’t the Israelis, as the supposedly “civilized” belligerents of this conflict, take that into effect and not bomb indiscriminately into civilian centers; or use illegal munitions like flechettes, White Phosphorous and, yes, even mines?
What about that side of the story? If you recognize these people being used as human shields than you also recognize them being victims; so why not take an appropriate approach the way that a “civilized” people would? Why victimize them further?
Have you seen the image of the IDF soldier sticking a bayonet into a pregnant woman? It’s true, they boasted about it, and an IDF general defended the act!
Hmm. Maybe the Jews aren’t as “civilized” as they’d like us to think?
I respond to you only to not let your lies stand unchallenged.
According to commander of British forces in Afghanistan Col.) Richard Kemp Israel’s ratio of civilian to military casualties in Operation Protective Edge in gaza was only one-fourth of the average in warfare around the world. Kemp pointed out that, during the operation, there was approximately one civilian casualty for ever terrorist killed by the IDF, whereas the average in the world is four civilians for every combatant, and that, when taking into consideration Hamas’s use of human shields, this shows how careful the IDF is.
“No army in the world acts with as much discretion and great care as the IDF in order to minimize damage. The US and the UK are careful, but not as much as Israel,”
Ha! You respond only to plaster the holes in a failing defense for an illegal, racist apartheid state!
At least the people of Palestine don’t go around telling stories that “God wants us to have this land.” For a generation that’s quickly falling away from organized religion worldwide — due in part, ironically, to atheist voices of Jewish descent — that “coupon” is quickly expiring.
In the next few years, after “finders-keepers,” the Zionist excuse for occupying those lands will rather blatantly have to be that “the strong do as they will” — which is exactly what they believe now, truth be told!
what is your source for charging an unnamed Israeli soldier with bayoneting a pregnant Arab woman? And for charging an unnamed general for approving such act?
What you ought to do is to explain to Radiorara why the Hamas built bunkers and tunnels for its leadership and its rockets but did not build bomb shelters for its people.
I’m not your secretary, but if you must know it was on the BBC during Operation Cast Lead in 2009. You can read about similar acts in “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe.
And despite what non-state actors (like Hamas) do on their own, Israel — as a “civilized” people — are no-less bound to the Geneva Protocols, are they not?
If the Israelis want to be recognized by the international community as a legitimate state, they need to start acting the part instead of acting out the violence they claim to be fighting! What about “two wrongs,” again?
its sad david Webb how you seem to feel it’s perfectly justified for Palestinians to blow up buses cafes and shoot rockets indiscriminately into israel. These are all indisputable war crimes by the way. You do not seek peace bc in your opinion the original sin is israel existing. There is no compromise good enough for you only victory for Palestinians at any cost. And since israel is not about to dismantle itself to appease anti Semites like you there really is nothing anyone can say to you here. Israel is a sovereign nation and has a right to defend itself. The UN deemed it’s blockade of Gaza as legal. The ICC which has no binding jurisdiction over israel does not like the separation wall in westbank. But Israelis also don’t like being blown up while they attend Passover Seders in hotels or while they ride the bus to work. And so until the Palestinians dismantle terrorist organizations which they are obligated to do by Oslo accords the wall will stay.
Maybe the barbarism of Christians and Muslims has forced us to behave this way to stay alive. The message of the Holocaust was received loud and clear. The world is not going to defend the Jews so we’re going to have to do it ourselves.
The barbarism of Christians? Excuse me, but do you mean to say Catholics or Protestants, as the two are NOT the same…
Since you presume to be such a scholar of history, then you certainly don’t mean to indict the Catholic Church!
Certainly you know that when Nazis occupied Rome in September 1943, Pope Pius XII endeavored to save as many Jews as possible, immediately directing all convents and monasteries to open their doors to protect Jews. They were even given refuge inside the Vatican itself!
Pope Pius XII furthermore invited Jews and other refugees to join the Vatican Palatine Guards; whose number soon increased into the thousands, giving Jews a real chance at self-defense.
Everywhere in Europe, persecuted people, the Jews especially, appealed to Pope Pius XII. Gary Krupp, founder of the Pave the Way Foundation, recalls how Pope Pius XII “was able to gain transatlantic crossing out of Europe [for Jews.] …
“This happened at least twice a year, asking for over 1,600 visas per year for Jews escaping from Portugal and Spain. Archbishop Ferrofino also further helped these refugees to get into Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Cuba. He saved, through Pius XII’s direct instructions, over 10,000 Jews.”
When Archbishop Giovanni Montini (later Pope Paul VI) was offered an award for his rescue work by Israel, he said he had only been acting on the orders of Pius XII.
In Lyon, France, Cardinal Gerlier had defiantly refused to hand over Jewish children being sheltered in Catholic homes, for which he was arrested.
Eight Jesuits were arrested for sheltering hundreds of children on Jesuit properties, and Pius XII’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Maglione, appealed to the Vichy Ambassador to the Vatican that “the conduct of the Vichy government towards Jews and foreign refugees was a gross infraction.”
Owing his life to the charity of Catholics, Israel Zolli — chief rabbi of Rome from 1940 to 1945 — converted from Judaism to Catholicism in February 1945. Zolli was christened “Eugenio Maria Zolli” in homage to Pope Pius XII.
Of course, the list goes on. So, clearly, we know that you do not mean to suggest that Catholics displayed ANY “barbarism” to Jews during the Holocaust, or even since!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_of_Jews_by_Catholics_during_the_Holocaust
A Banksy cheap-shot of cashing in without understanding the nature of the
conflict. What about the 850,000 Jews who were forced to flee Arab countries without any compensation? A peace agreement is only possible when the Palestinians stop spreading hate and terrorism and recognize Israel’s right to exist. As the late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir said in 1957, “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate
us.”
Gaza is the new Warsaw Ghetto – and Zionist use exactly the same rhetoric that the Nazi’s did to destroy it – remember the destruction of the Ghetto was a police action taken against the criminal gangs that fought back – the Zionist also use the same dehumanizing rhetoric to justify their actions
Never again!*
…
…
…
*Except maybe when we start doing it a decade later. Then it’s totally legit!
Oh, the irony!
Except that there aren’t millions of dead Palestinians. In fact there are millions more than there were 70 years ago. Where are the gas chambers and crematoriums? Where are the train stations? Where are the piles of shoes, glasses, and gold teeth? Armed conflict is ugly. But don’t compare what happens in war with what the Nazis or Khmer Rouge have done. Or those great critics of Israel, the Turks, who killed a mere 1.5 million Armenians.
Except that the jews in the Warsaw ghetto weren’t importing missiles to kill indiscriminately their neighboring country or building tunnels from concrete to send in their “freedom fighters” to massacre civilians and school children across the border. Nor were they electing an Islamic extremist government commited to exterminating their neighbors. If you’d like to make analogies then painting the palestinian as Angels in a two sided conflict is hardly authentic. Try again.
lets see Gaza is walled in, no one may enter or leave, israel controls its economy, IDF enters at will, refuses relief and refuses to allow the housing that they destroyed from being rebuilt – sounds like the Warsaw ghetto o h wait the difference was that the inhabits of the ghetto – who were identified by the nazi’s as terrorist gangs your were only smuggling machine pistols, explosives, ammunition and gasoline. As for the tunnels the defenders of the warsaw ghetto used the sewers and they were mainly communist a socialist activist (radicals) -as for painting anyone an angel there are none – but I am interested in how the Zionist can claim to be the victiom when the death toll is 1Israeli to 1500 Palestines – seemingly using pinpoint bombing and demolish against missiles that are no better than roman candles is a bit extreme –
The Palestinians are not walled in on their southern and eastern borders. They’re more than welcome to emigrate to Jordan ( a Palestinian state) or Egypt. Israel isn’t stopping them from leaving. They’re just not letting them into Israel proper. And neither would you if buses were blowing up every week.
Oh wouldn’t the Zionist love that –
What’s more relevant to someone from your point of view is wouldn’t the parents of Palestinian children love that? Or shouldn’t they?..And that’s the fundamental difference between the two cultures. Jews value this life above all else, and have no promise of afterlife to martyr oneself for. If I were living in the West Bank or Gaza and had children I’d make every effort to give them a chance somewhere else and not in the middle of a war they cannot win.
Two things zionists and Jewish is not synonymous – and the second point is such a logic as yours reflects the same dehumanizing logic that the Nazis applied to Jews, gypsies and Slavs – ie these people are not like us and and as such do not deserve the same considerations – this is basic racist logic
All people on a biological level are basically equal give or take this or that. But all cultures are not equal. Nazism as a culture is not equal to Buddhism. Buddhism is better, in my opinion. I would argue that Hamas ideology and culture, which makes up a significant portion of Palestinian opinion or they would not have won a popular election, is an inferior culture to many others. Training your kids to be martyrs to fight for a piece of dirt is not a good culture. Jews by and large didn’t want to fight to the death to stay in their homes in Germany. We have always been willing to pull up our tents to find a better place for our children. Putting explosives on your kids for a war you cannot win is not a good culture. For the Palestinians that want to live side by side with Israel in peace I certainly don’t believe them to be less human than an Israeli or anyone else. Sadly they are not the majority, or are unable or unwilling to control their violent and nihilistic brothers and sisters…You are quite right about Jews and Zionists not being the same thing. Nobody can define what a Jew is because there is no consensus even among the smartest Jewish scholars. As for Zionism, it’s basically a self determination movement for the Jewish people, rooted partially in religious history, but mostly for the Jews to be in control of their own destiny, in the land from which they originate, and not at the mercy of the goodwill of a world that has never been particularly good to them. Just about every people on Earth have a homeland with little or no fuss. Only the Jews having a homeland seems to be a big problem for everyone.
the irony of this is that what the Palestinians threaten to do – the israelis actually do – they massacre civilians and school children while electing an extremist government committed to exterminating their neighbors
“Nor were they electing an Islamic extremist government commited to exterminating their neighbors.”
People like you and the warmongers you support pushed them to that extreme. After all, even a highly-developed nation like America rallied behind a bloodletting cowboy in George Bush after 9/11…
People blinded by fear and rage do irrational things!
A Warsaw Ghetto with film crews from the international news networks and supplied with food by Israel even during the combat? And with the Hamas charter calling for genocide of the Jews based on medieval Muslim sources, the Hadith writings?
Saul, you need to be better informed.
Comparing Zionists to Nazis is the very definition of antisemitism as published by the US Department of State:
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/fs/2010/122352.htm
If Zionists were anything like Nazis, do you think there would be any Palestinians left alive in Israel? Would we have given the Sinai back to Egypt or made peace with the Jordanians? Did the Nazis willingly give land back to the French or the Poles? Israel, like any state, acts violently at times in the interest of its citizens. But they’re no better and no worse than any other state actor. And yet they are held to a much higher standard than any other state. How many of his own citizens has Bashar Al-Assad killed in the last three years?
Smile – did u learn this by route – or did u have it written out for U – listen to the absurdities your spouting – U will go to any extreme to justify Israel’s inhumanity – it’s occupation and oppression – do not point out what others have done to justify ur own guilt – admit that what Israel does is just as terrible it too should end
The key to any relationship is reciprocity. Apparently, the Jews hate the Palestinian People more than they love their children, since they continue to act as belligerents in lands that are not theirs!
Its not surprising, however, how ignorant you are of Zionism; which, according to traditional, orthodox Jews, is NOT Judaism! And the so-called Zionist state of “Israel” is NOT Israel, the Kingdom of Heaven that is foretold to be established on earth (on a mountain in Iran!) with the return of the Messiah!
In fact, according to the same prophets of the same Torah, the Jews MUST wander the earth IN EXILE until that time. This is why orthodox Jews do not fight in the IDF, or support the Zionist state abroad. They call it a “curse” on the Jewish people!
So who do you believe? The line of Jews that observe and practice the Judaism of Moses, Issac, and Jacob; or a politicized Jewish sect established in the early 1900’s with the expressed goal of establishing a Jewish state, despite the Torah?
Isn’t it strange? Zionists defend the existence of their religious state with secular, western legal theory, but organize their government under religious courts, despite the fact that their religion forbids them from having a government until the Messiah returns.
Hmm. It seems that Zionists only refer to their Jewish roots when beneficial and convenient, not unlike some Christian fundamentalists in the West; which, not surprisingly, comprise the largest supporters of Zionist violence…
I suppose “birds of a feather, flock together!”
I appreciate the progressive nature of your hate diatribe against Israel based on traditional Christian Judeophobia and prejudices. As for Orthodox Jews, they come in several varieties, like Christians, and most support Israel.
No one on the left understands the conflict. And I consider myself to be mostly on the left on most issues. They have a default position of siding with the underdog, even when the underdog suffers from all kinds of cultural pathologies like sexism, homophobia, and worshipping armed conflict and death in the name of god. It’s confounding to see all the marxist radical feminists wrap their heads around the conundrum that Israel is the only country in the Middle East where there are gay pride parades or where women have equal rights to men. The only country they would want to live in is Israel and yet they hold it to higher standards than any other country in the region.
Exactly!
Perhaps the article would have some balance if it mentioned the fact that the wall was built after thousands of Israelis were killed and injured by suicide bombers sneaking into israel from westbank. It has nothing to do with apartheid as israel has a large Arab population that is active in every sector of the country including judges on the supreme court. It should be noted that after the wall was built the suicide bombing campaign by palestiniians dropped almost to zero. And israels Supreme Court has closely monitored where the wall is built and has at times made the israeli govt move it to minimize damage to Palestinian economy.
None of what you said has any bearing on the fact that Zionists have no right to occupy those lands! Would it make any difference to you if an intruder broke into your home, seized your home, confined you to the bathroom, and then set-up ad hock “courts” and “committees” to regulate your passage from the bathroom to the kitchen?
No! “Get out of my home,” you’d say — and rightly so. The same applies in Palestine!
For anyone that looks at this issue dispassionately, without looking to push an agenda or make excuses for their favorite, the issue reveals itself as “open-and-shut” case morally equivalent to “forced illegal entry” and “criminal possession of stolen property.”
Unfortunately, “some people” have been tampering with the jury!
Due to domestic security threats Saudi Arabia recently announced it is going to build an Iraq Border Wall.
And the point being? Saudi Arabia’s is a legitimate nation with a legitimate boarder; they have every right build a wall on their land.
The Saudis didn’t just come down from Europe, plant a flag in the ground and declare “this is ours now!” The comparison you’re trying to draw just doesn’t stand!
The first Israelite kingdom, initially under Saul and then under David, included Jerusalem and dates back to 1000 BC.
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been in existence since 1880.
The Bedouins, who make up the majority of Saudi Arabia, are the descendants of Ishmael the son of Abraham, the founding father of the Jewish nation of Israel.
Actually they murdered rival clan leaders and made a deal with the British. They have since spawned Wahhabi Islam the inspiration for al Qaida and Isis. But don’t let your jew hatred get in the way of historical facts.
Jews have no right to live in Judea? The land from which their name is derived? That takes a bit of mental gymnastics to get to. It was named Palestine long after it was the ancient nation of Israel. And the Palestinians were named for a Greek sea-going people. They were not Arabs and at the time there were no Muslims. The reason why your thinking is erroneous is because even if Israel removed themselves completely from the West Bank (as they did in Gaza) and even if a Palestinian State was established, the violence would not stop. Because the Palestinians have no ability to control and stop their militants from attacking Jews anywhere in the region. Even in Tel Aviv and Haifa which are uncontroversial Israel proper according to the UN. The wall only exists for this purpose. It’s not meant to be a prison, it’s meant to be a barrier. It’s true that Gaza is a nightmare, but Israel has no control over it’s border with Egypt. So what’s wrong with Egyptians that they won’t allow their fellow Arab Muslim brethren to enter Egypt or better yet become Egyptian citizens?
get your numbers right, isrealis are the ones who kill thousands – but to apologist for Aparthied and massacre such small details do not matter – what matters is the sense of self justification –
Well stated.
Oh, Banksy, you need 5,000 years of accurate history lessons!
Oh, Betsy, you need to go to art school.
Do you see the impassioned discourse above? Aside from the couple idiots attempting to shout down everyone they disagree with there has actually been quite a bit of interesting discussion on this single blog post alone.
Crack open the web and find that Banksy’s celebrity status and mischievous mix of messages cultivate conversations, debates, parodies even.
The very heart of work by folks like Banksy is to get chatter happening in every possible channel. Thinking that you’ve discerned his complete motivations from a handful of snapshots or a quote from his press rep is reckless at best, dangerously demeaning at worst. A great artist is more than a showman, they’re a catalyst for diversified discourse.
In many cases – like this one – chatter is sparked by a sort of fun house mirror approach that magnifies and distorts social issues to get a rise, laugh, or reaction otherwise out of viewers. Open some eyes, then maybe some minds.
Learned that back in art school.
do you mean that an artist is allowed to utter any lie in order to provoke discussion or chatter, as you say? Leni Riefenstahl was an artist, n’est-ce pas? But she was equally a Nazi.
Bansky faked pictures of Israeli soldiers “imprisoning” people of Gaza – the actual images are from Kalandia, near Ramallah
The New York Times on February 26, 2015 reports:
“A publicist for the artist [Banksy] would not reveal where in the region the images were taken, or when.”
I’m guessing you’re unfamilar with Banksy’s work, since he never reveals locations of his works because people track them down, take them, and sell them.
I am familiar with Banksy’s work, but in this case Banksy is purposely obscuring the facts on the ground to score political points.
I’ll answer since you can’t see my eye roll.
Eliyahu100, upon reading your retort – for lack of a better description – I’ve just rolled my eyes. Sorry you weren’t able to appreciate the magnitude of the gesture. I’ve been told I’ve quite the nifty peeps on occasion, and by more than one gender.
I don’t intend to condescend, however unless you start cold dropping some hard facts on a brother, we’re never gonna work it out. Whack scratching name drops and grandiose generalizations won’t cut it for this mash-up.
First question, and perhaps the very vein you’re clearly trying to drill for oil – or blood, the gushy good stuff – the gist you aim to twist, the “crime” you have given time – I could do this all day, isn’t command of a language a delicious and dangerous thing. Might surprise you I took more than art in college. History, architecture, English Literature, the Maths. But I digress.
The first and principle question you appear intent to ask, neigh, demand, it whether or not Bansky is a Nazi. Or Anti-Nazi, since he’s siding with Jews. Or Anti-Jews since he’s calling use of power into question and perhaps siding with the the Not-Jews. it’s all so very confusing, isn’t it, when you start bringing in all the details.
And I have to say that through my experience with the body and progression of Banksy’s work that the work is more about poking at bodies of power and asking for some degree of accountability. Cops. Politicians. Rioters. Big license robots. Or looking to take a piss out of things people take too seriously. Or to get people talking about things instead of accepting them as fact. Because the more people, beliefs, and supposed culture – and yes, add history (his story, her story, their story, so on) to the mix, the more complex and contestable notions of actual fact become when applied to large scale dynamic situations, particularly mercurial and contestable ones.
This is from the armchair as I by no means intend to reflect Banksy’s actual opinions, since I, like you, don’t know them. I’m relatively confident from the ways Banksy has lifted and riffed on popular culture’s leaders, conventions, and icons, that he actually has a fairly informed sense of history, and of an assortment of cultures, and enjoys working in the rough, raw areas where different cultures and social classes needlessly continue rub one another raw.
So I believe your question is unanswerable, I mean, do we even know what the artist looks like yet? If we do, don’t spoil it for me, as I’d like to not start stacking my own predispositions onto his work and efforts based on his rugged good looks or beard of tentacles.
Should he know history? Sure! We all should. Judging from the tone and structure of your comments, what you think is actual history probably amounts to as much detail and depth as the sorts of perspectives held by Westboro Baptists Church members or mall church creationists in Missouri.
So before even going to art school, user handle Eliyahu100, perhaps simply go to a school that afford diverse perspectives and teaches objective thinking. Because there is no hard and fast answer for how to deal with conflicted groups of people. I mean, I’m stone dense on the best of days and still manage to try to know more detail before snapping to any damning conclusions.
I believe lethal force is horrific and would love to see and end to it from all quarters and belief systems. Human life should have some worth at base. That sounds pretty simple until excuses and blame start coming into the discussion. Then boots hit the floor, so to speak.
Hate whomever you want, but keep it to yourself, I say, at the least, at the lowest common denominator. Or bootstrap yourself into a more informed, objective perspective that learns to identify and discuss real issues, rather that post dismissive assertions as though handed to you from on high by whatever flavor of deity or denizen you believe in.
I’ve rambled more than I should, and I apologize to the forum for legitimizing your responses with a reply.
If you want to debate a stranger, don’t come at them with fire in your eyes bandying around words like Nazi. It’s small minded bully tactics, inciting and beneath you, frankly.
Instead of joining in on the bully tactics waving a metaphorical torch around as though you’ve finally cornered Frankenstein – yes, the allusion is deliberate – perhaps take time to read all through the posts, to explore the wide world of search engine accessibility – as you clearly have internet access within whatever ward you dwell in.
Just a suggestion, and artful criticism if you’ll allow. Yes, I’m somewhat of an a-hole, but ultimately well intentioned, and you’ll notice that at time time did I ever take sides, except perhaps to not be particularly on yours.
Again, if you’re still reading and not torturing any domestic animals or flatmates, I’d simply like the violence to stop. Full stop, all sides. Maybe take a year or ten to calm the f’ck down. To set aside absurdly expulsive notions and come up with a plan that makes a living arrangement safe for kids. For children. Tiny ones still to short to reach the remote control or stand up urinal.
Because if the world is safe – and utterly nurturing, perhaps robustly pleasant even – would be a damn nifty world to live in, I’m sure.
Cultures clinging to any dogma or belief system or self-empowered money making schemes to justify or contextualize a culture of war have lost the plot in my book. Because the past is a shit show, and we seem to keep making every excuse to continue reliving it like a comeback tour on the biggest stadium stages we can find.
You want actual history? Want to start pointing and calling people Nazis as a handy, inarguable buzzword? You’re daft, punky brewster.
Let me know when you’re ready to talk using brains instead of brine. Or don’t. Wasted too much time on this already.
Emon XIE: BLAH BLAH BLAH back atcha!
Betsy Glass: Guess before art school you’ll first need to learn to read more than a Twitter post. Your loss, millennial.
“Gaza is often described as ‘the world’s largest open air prison’ because no-one is allowed to enter or leave”
If so, then how did banksy get in there? Or Loren Booth, Tony’s sister-in-law? etc etc. Or the hundreds of international media/press workers?
Nobody that lives there, smartass! Media and others are granted access with or without IDF escorts, depending on the visitors’ country of origin. I’d tell you to research your own questions, but I see you’re just hear to cast doubts and aspersions.