This is an action alert call to anti-Zionist BDS activists in Lebanon to protest the participation of the Israeli artist Amit Sha'al in the World Press Photo 11 taking place in Beirut DownTown Old Souks.
Israeli photographer Amit Sha'al was born in 1974 and works as staff photographer on the daily business newspaper Calcalist. He also works as an independent photographer on long and short term documentary projects. Sha'al's photographs have been featured in major magazines and newspapers in Israel. His awards include a Series of the Year in Israel's premier press-photo contest, Local Testimony. Sha'al has had solo exhibitions in Israel and Ireland and has participated in numerous group exhibitions. He is based in Tel Aviv.
Israeli photographer Amit Sha'al was born in 1974 and works as staff photographer on the daily business newspaper Calcalist. He also works as an independent photographer on long and short term documentary projects. Sha'al's photographs have been featured in major magazines and newspapers in Israel. His awards include a Series of the Year in Israel's premier press-photo contest, Local Testimony. Sha'al has had solo exhibitions in Israel and Ireland and has participated in numerous group exhibitions. He is based in Tel Aviv.
Sometimes in Lebanon when people call to boycott someone coming from Israel or related to it, or has ties of some sort, some arguments may come up that this person has nothing to do with Zionism or is neutral in the struggle, or doesn't see us enemies. There are plenty of arguments that those of no moral standing make, in order to justify bringing the people to Lebanon. I have never agreed with any of these "special case" arguments, but EVEN IF DID,
ReplyDeleteTHIS IS NOT ONE OF THOSE CASES!
When i read about the issue a few minutes ago, I assumed that for the organizers to do something as crazy as bringing an Israeli photographer to an exhibition in Lebanon, then he must be one of those few Anti-Zionists or something along the lines of Ilan Pappe but as an artist.
Through a quick Google search I found his website, and two of his albums really shattered my assumption.
The most striking reason was this album: http://tinyurl.com/3djnmac
He first of all says "A journey through time and place in Israel. The name of the series ("Altneuland" = Old-New Land) refers to Theodor Hertzl's book from 1902.
It tells the story of two men, one Austrian and one German, on a journey to a Pacific island. On their way, they stop in Palestine.
After 20 years on the island, they sail back to Europe and stop again in Palestine. There, they discover a land drastically transformed, showcasing a free, open and cosmopolitan modern society, and boasting a thriving cooperative industry based on state-of-the-art technology.
In the two decades that passed, European Jews rediscovered and re-inhabited their Altneuland, reclaiming their own destiny in the Land of Israel. In this series, black and white photos from 1926 to 1979 were collected and the exact spots where they were taken across Israel were located."
If people are bringing this guy to Leabnon the least he should have done in such an album was to contrast places and lives pre-Nkba and post-Nakba. There will definitely be more powerful contrasts of the same place. He does not do this. It is not even as if 700,000 people were forced out of their country, and had their villages destroyed. No, a Nakba never happened. The only image that clearly shows a Palestinian is this http://tinyurl.com/3djnmac
where the old man in his tradition clothing, is in front of a mosque that is still present, in an attempt to whitewash the Nakba show how "multicultural" "Israel" is. Even though the mosque still stands, there is no way of knowing that this man's children or grandchildren probably fled from that exact location to refugee camps in the surrounding countries, in order to save themselves from Zionist massacres.
In this album http://tinyurl.com/3fmkdfe he speaks as if transfer and Apartheid are two normal while stating that it is the only case in "Israel" of such a wall being built to divide two neighborhoods in a city is this one, he fails to condemn it. He also doesn't miss an opportunity to degrade the Palestinians with their clan "blood vendettas" and drug trafficking (forgetting that is the Zionist economic, social and political marginalization of the indigenous population which remained after the Nakba that probably drove them to drug trafficking.) It seems he is only interested in the wall dividing the town because he as an artistic interest in the contrast "Between two neighborhoods".
Saying that this man should not come to Lebanon due to BDS and in the spirit of anti-normalization does not come close to what must be done. This artist should be made an example of internationally and condemned for subtly being a Nakba denier, the same way Holocaust deniers are tarred and feathered every so often in the media.
Thankfully the day is coming when denying will be considered a crime, after the refugees return home.
Sometimes in Lebanon when people call to boycott someone coming from Israel or related to it, or has ties of some sort, some arguments may come up that this person has nothing to do with Zionism or is neutral in the struggle, or doesn't see us enemies. There are plenty of arguments that those of no moral standing make, in order to justify bringing the people to Lebanon. I have never agreed with any of these "special case" arguments, but EVEN IF DID,
ReplyDeleteTHIS IS NOT ONE OF THOSE CASES!
When i read about the issue a few minutes ago, I assumed that for the organizers to do something as crazy as bringing an Israeli photographer to an exhibition in Lebanon, then he must be one of those few Anti-Zionists or something along the lines of Ilan Pappe but as an artist.
Through a quick Google search I found his website, and two of his albums really shattered my assumption.
The most striking reason was this album: http://tinyurl.com/3djnmac
He first of all says "A journey through time and place in Israel. The name of the series ("Altneuland" = Old-New Land) refers to Theodor Hertzl's book from 1902.
It tells the story of two men, one Austrian and one German, on a journey to a Pacific island. On their way, they stop in Palestine.
After 20 years on the island, they sail back to Europe and stop again in Palestine. There, they discover a land drastically transformed, showcasing a free, open and cosmopolitan modern society, and boasting a thriving cooperative industry based on state-of-the-art technology.
In the two decades that passed, European Jews rediscovered and re-inhabited their Altneuland, reclaiming their own destiny in the Land of Israel. In this series, black and white photos from 1926 to 1979 were collected and the exact spots where they were taken across Israel were located."
If people are bringing this guy to Leabnon the least he should have done in such an album was to contrast places and lives pre-Nakba and post-Nakba. There will definitely be more powerful contrasts of the same place. He does not do this. It is not even as if 700,000 people were forced out of their country, and had their villages destroyed. No, a Nakba never happened. The only image that clearly shows a Palestinian is this http://tinyurl.com/3djnmac
where the old man in his tradition clothing, is in front of a mosque that is still present, in an attempt to whitewash the Nakba showing how "multicultural" "Israel" is. Even though the mosque still stands, there is no way of knowing that this man's children or grandchildren probably fled from that exact location to refugee camps in the surrounding countries, in order to save themselves from Zionist massacres.
In this album http://tinyurl.com/3fmkdfe he speaks as if transfer and Apartheid are two normal while stating that it is the only case in "Israel" of such a wall being built to divide two neighborhoods in a city is this one, he fails to condemn it. He also doesn't miss an opportunity to degrade the Palestinians with their clan "blood vendettas" and drug trafficking (forgetting that is the Zionist economic, social and political marginalization of the indigenous population which remained after the Nakba that probably drove them to drug trafficking.) It seems he is only interested in the wall dividing the town because he as an artistic interest in the contrast "Between two neighborhoods".
Saying that this man should not come to Lebanon due to BDS and in the spirit of anti-normalization does not come close to what must be done. This artist should be made an example of internationally and condemned for subtly being a Nakba denier, the same way Holocaust deniers are tarred and feathered every so often in the media.
Thankfully the day is coming soon when denying the Nakba will also be considered a crime. The day is coming when the refugees will be back home.
Altneuland
amitshaal.com
Amit Shaal - Photographer
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Jawad Rizkallah