To Shuki Sadeh and Haaretz - An Open Letter

...If only you could see what SKI saw. If only you could see the country through the wide-open eyes of an unbiased observer. But, you can't because you were not there. You weren't even there when you wrote this article. If only you could remove your destruction-tinged glasses that want only to strip and break. But, you can't. You can't because there is something else going on here.

Artists 4 Israel..
21 June '13..

In regards to THIS ARTICLE.

My name is Craig Dershowitz and I am the Executive Director of Artists 4 Israel. Since you have failed to print my comment to Mr. Sadeh's article, What's between the JNF and pro-Israel graffiti in Hebron (or, alternately, Spray-Painting Over a Problem: What's the connection between a right-wing organization that spray-paints graffiti in Hebron and the Jewish National Fund), I am forced to write this open letter. As there are slight differences between your online and print copy, this letter will address them in combination.

I do not write nor speak on behalf of the JNF and, although I do speak for Artists 4 Israel, this letter is not on their behalf. As an author and a proud supporter of freedom of press, I write on behalf of journalism. What you have published is not an article, it is not reporting, it is a thinly and insultingly poorly veiled editorial. It is out of date, fallacious, inflammatory and flies in the face of journalistic standards. Oh, yeah, and it is really, really poorly written.

At your own words (words you use twice in one sentence - high school writing 101 mistake), Artists 4 Israel is a "small organization", yet, you spend a whole half a page above the fold decrying our work. Must have been a slow news day or, perhaps, there is something more here. After all, if you are going to give us so much press (PS, thanks for that), you should at least really make your accusations sting and not just ridicule our size. Yet, the best you do is describe us as "right-wing" (again, using that phrase twice - seriously, can we buy you a thesaurus - maybe the JNF will pay for it) yet your only proof of this political orientation is that we paint "Pro-Israel" messages. Your equation then is that "Pro-Israel" is synonymous with "right-wing". We do not ascribe to a notion of right and left wing as such divisive politics is an invention of bigots like yourself who choose to separate and alienate. We choose to unite. We believe that beauty of art is pan-wing. However we do see your bias through this false equivalency. Yours is a sad belief which paints (pun intended) everything life affirming with the gloomy sepia of politrix (typo very much intended).

Spray-paint (I want to write "sic" here but I think it is more relevant to point out that you don't even copy edit your own work. It is spray paint - two words, no hyphen) is a form of creation. It is creation, like the Third Temple might be. It is creation like our paintings in Judea, Samaria, Tel Aviv, Ariel, Shiloh, Arab villages across Israel, mixed schools and community centers. We have created art in child daycare centers, in refuges for battered women and homes for at-risk children. It is creation like the JNF's planting of trees, building of parks, growing of flowers, green grass and a hopeful earth-driven future. It is the opposite of your attempts to destruct and to destroy. Grab a can of spray paint (hyphenate if you must) or a handful of seeds and earth and create something other than the fictions in your reporting. No one can hate life that much so, maybe there is something else going on here.

Washington Square Park - Bomb Day

Aaron Herman
reviewmeplease
28 March '11

From 1pm until 4pm on March 28th , THE BOMB SHELTER, an immersive multi-media installation exhibit was open to the public. A periodic siren will sound and participating park goers will have 15 seconds to get from where they are in Washington Square to the shelter - the same length of time that those facing rocket attacks in Israel have to reach safety.

"The artists wanted New Yorkers to viscerally feel what Israelis went through this week during the bombing of a Jerusalem bus stop and repeated rocket strikes," says Craig Dershowitz, President of Artists 4 Israel, the non-profit that created the installation.



As soon as visitors line up to enter the shelter, the deceptively calm Tzeva Adom warning begins to sound. This is the same siren that gives residents of Sderot in southern Israel notice that they have just 15 seconds to find shelter before the rockets launched from Gaza by Hamas begin falling. Then, like in Sderot, visitors will hear the sound of explosions. As they rush into the shelter amidst the blasts, immersive video continues the heart pounding experience as an actual Qassam barrage hitting Sderot unfolds around them - all from the perspective of being in the crowd suffering through the attack.

"The students who have gone on Birthright Israel trips have developed life-long friendships with Israelis and are deeply concerned for them," says Natalie Solomon, Associate Director of the Birthright Israel Alumni Community who is sponsoring the exhibit. "After so many years, it becomes easy for Americans to just read past the headlines. We hope this will help people better understand what it is like to live under terror and renew their passion to see it end."

The bomb shelter exhibit is also a message of hope. It serves as a museum for works of art created by the children of Sderot who have endured more than 10,000 rocket strikes. "You'll see how the kids turned getting to the nearest bomb shelter into a racing game, and hear the song parents made up to help young ones be prepared to move quickly when they hear the siren. The ability of the people to continue to hope in the face of fear and pain is what inspired our artists the most when they visited Sderot last April," says Dershowitz.

Inspired by the resiliency of the children who have suffered through terrorism and how they combat it with art, some of New York's top graffiti artists will cover the outside of the bomb shelter with uplifting images. "It is our way of covering hate with something better," says Solomon.

THE BOMB SHELTER exhibit was open to the public free of charge from 1pm-4pm in Washington Square Park and will next travel to college and university campuses.

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200 = 0: The Great ISPC, Dylan Walshe Charade

Dreyfus Amadeus Diallo
artists4israel.blogspot.com
14 January '11

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign announced what they consider a significant milestone - the 200th signatory to their erroneous, fact-deficient, libelous "pledge" to boycott Israel. Pledges aside, the IPSC are no boy scouts and one must question their pledge-getting tactics. Considering they are attempting to support an area that openly used beatings, torture and hangings during their last election cycle - one hopes, fleetingly, that the IPSC referendum-getting methodologies are more humane.

Whatever they are doing, it is not very effective. After all, getting 200 signatories in 6 months, with the aid of all the press they have received, is a piece of cake. It is yummy, chocolate cake that would not get you fat easy if you consider what they are pledging. 200 artists who were not invited, not wanted, not even known in Israel will not be going there to not perform in a not concert that would have not sold any seats.

I don't play the banjo. But, I am now pledging to not play the banjo in Egypt. Anyone care? Where is the press? I can get 199 more people to make the same pledge if you want. Hello?

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An Open Letter to William Parry and the New Left Project

Dreyfus Amadeus Diallo
Artists4Israel
09 January '11




(Based on this Article)

William Parry reviewed Artists 4 Israel’s website, news articles and blog and, in an article published in the New Left Project, found that we were an organization who supports Israel because Israel has freedoms and rights that support the arts. He saw pictures of children playing and artists creating beautiful works and he got all confused. He made a few determinations that are, to paraphrase his wording, “extraordinary, contradictory and distorting.”

At first he says that our President, Craig Dershowitz and, by extension, Artists 4 Israel are “difficult to take…seriously.” Yet, then, he writes a protracted essay about us. He calls Gaza “besieged,” yet ignores the constant rain of rocket fire from there (over 9,000 since 2001 resulting in 28 deaths) onto the innocent civilians of Sderot and Israel’s south.
He says that when we attempted to paint the Security Fence we were bringing an “artistic siege” against the Arab citizens in the area, yet he supports the tiny few who tried to place a cultural siege against Ariel. He vehemently protests our attempts to paint the Security Fence but champions the artwork on the “Other Side of the Wall.” It seems, so far, that the only issue Mr. Parry has is with constructive dialogue and a peaceful, creative exchange of ideas.



Mr. Parry’s contradictions continue when he claims that graffiti is mostly used by the “dispossessed, the marginalised, as a means of expressing socio-economic-political commentary and undermining authority.” Yet, he then lists the artists whose work he finds so appealing on the Other Side of the Wall. Banksy, Blu, JR, Swoon and Ron English are among the world’s most wealthy and commercially successful street artists. Banksy is one of the world’s richest artists, period. These artists are so rich, partially, because of their ability to market themselves. Doing things like painting in a controversial place gets you more attention which gets you more mentions in books like those by William Parry which gets you more money.

As an aside, it is an interesting question to ask where each of these artists slept, partied and hung out on their trips to the Middle East. Each one spent a majority of their time in Israel. I wonder if this was because the oppressive, totalitarian regimes on the Other Side of the Wall made living as an artist too fearful and dangerous a proposition?

On the other hand, Artists 4 Israel brings the real graffiti artists, the actual counter-culture forces who, growing up in the economically disenfranchised neighborhoods of Brooklyn, Mexico, Spain, Queens, the Bronx, Puerto Rico and elsewhere truly use their art to express truth and knowledge. That is why, while Mr. Parry’s list reads like a whose-who of celebrity fame monsters, our list of participating artists is a roster of graffiti legends and current kings. We have brought NICER TATS, CYCLE TC5, Sue Works MTA, Belin, Myrhwan, 2ESAE and SKI. We have also been supported by countless others, including TRACY168, COPE2, MED, SMART Crew, Cash4 and many others. We would have brought thousands more artists if only we had money to buy enough spray paint.

(Read full "An Open Letter to William Parry and the New Left Project")

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All Shapes and Forms

Marc Prowisor
Yesha Views
07 December '10

For a long time it has been understood that Israel’s wars are not fought just on our borders. Indeed our “fronts” are many and diverse, as our combatants. A short while back some of those who consider themselves to be residents in the world of the Arts decided to wage war against their own country of Israel, picking the new Cultural Center in Ariel as their first target.

Alas this virus of idiocy spread, as most unfounded deceptive concepts do, back to the bastion of wrong, the good ole so called (fake) liberal anti Israel camps in the US of A (“A” does not always stand for America).

So to add another infectious ingredient to the racist Boycott of Israel and its historic heartland, the concept and truth of Art was defiled.

In Israel, these artists are being shunned more and more, there names being added to the lists of “who not to see”, only for them to find comforts in the treacherous hideaways in parts of Tel Aviv. Never the less their devious voices were heard in the annals of the International Media outside.

Not all accepted this fight, this act of terror lying down, indeed some of the greatness that we see in Israel is that we do fight back against our enemies, sometimes later than sooner. But in this case, the soldiers who answered the challenge, who rose to meet the beast, did not start in Israel, it started from New York.

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Tattooed Graffiti Artists Bring Color to the Judean Hills

Malkah Fleisher
IsraelNationalNews.com
28 November '10

When a group of tattooed professional Jewish and non-Jewish graffiti artists from around the world descended on the quaint biblical city of Beit El, Israel National News TV's "Eye on Zion" was there! Watch as the unorthodox - and staunchly pro-Israel - 'Artists 4 Israel' transform a children's play center into a symbol of Zionism and Jewish pride.

Graffiti Artists Tour in Beit El Paint Israel


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Refreshing: Rock star admits he doesn't understand politics

Elder of Ziyon
27 September '10




From YNet and The JC:

English rock star Ozzy Osbourne arrived at Ben-Gurion Airport on a private plane Sunday evening, along with his family members.

Osbourne and his wife, Sharon, who also served as his personal manager, held a press conference at a Tel Aviv hotel.

Asked whether he had any hesitations about visiting Israel, on the backdrop of the latest cancellations by international artists, he replied that he tries to stay away from politics because "I wouldn't know what I was talking about."

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Artists 4 Israel bring some color to Sderot

Ron Friedman
JPost/Sderot Media Center
29 May '10

“Unfortunately, people here have to live with bomb shelters. We’re here doing a little something to bring some color to something that’s here for an ugly reason,” said American graffiti artist Cycle, summing up perfectly the aim of the Artists 4 Israel mission to Israel.

Tuesday was the group’s third day in Sderot, where urban artists from the United States, Spain, Mexico and Israel have been busy beautifying the bombarded city’s public bomb shelters.

The “Murality Project” is all about sending a message of support to the residents of Sderot.

“We couldn’t be here to build the bomb shelters or fight in the war, but we can help the people fight the debilitating effects, which are just as bad,” said Craig Dershowitz, president of Artists 4 Israel, a nonprofit advocacy group. “We can step in and help reignite the city that has suffered for so long, with our artwork.”

Participating in the project are 25 artists, including some of the top names in New York City’s urban art scene. In Sderot, the group of non-Jewish, American and international artists joined Israelis to contribute their talent to beautify the city.

“Some of the artists here are used to being flown first-class and housed in five-star hotels for commissioned work. Here they sleep on the floor, six people to a room at the local yeshiva building,” said Dershowitz. “They contributed valuable time and art that can sometimes be sold for as much as $10,000, expressing their support for Sderot and Israel.

(Read full story)

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