A child of Gaza.
There is no such thing as a Palestinian people. It is not as if we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn't exist. ~ Golda Meir, statement to The Sunday Times, 15 June 1969.
Oh the horror! Palestinian children were using their art in a campaign against Israel. But, now we see why Israel must enforce their blockade. They absolutely must keep dangerous crayons from getting into the hands of children in Gaza.
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Past flotillas to Gaza have carried art supplies among other innocent items to be given to the children of that beleaguered hellhole of deprivation. But these items were seized when the boats were captured or damaged, or whatever abhorrent action was taken by the Zionist entity to prevent art supplies from reaching their intended target.
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Of course this was a very wise move. Art, by children, can be an extremely volatile weapon and, at all costs, Israel must defend herself! Suffering? At the hands of Israel? No, perish the thought. It is all a bid for Western sympathy towards HAMAS!!!! (Or so might say war criminal Tzipi Livni)
Perhaps some of these artistic weapons for expression reached their destinations, perhaps not, of this I am unsure. However, someone slipped the children of Gaza art supplies and the result was a powerful art exhibit, “A Child’s View From Gaza.” This exhibit has garnered controversy wherever it was shown, of course due to the objections of local ever-overly-vigilant Zionist watchdogs.
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I imagine somewhere along the line it has been called anti-semitic but let’s not go there for the moment. Remember, only human beings (Jews) have feelings. What others, the chattel/cattle, feel is a weak imitation and hardly worthy of notice. It has ever been so.
For several months, MECA and the museum had been working together on the exhibit According to the Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA) site:
“A Child’s View from Gaza” was scheduled to run from Sept. 24 until Nov. 20, and offered, an “Unprecedented collection of drawings and paintings depicting the realities and dreams of children ages 8-14 living in refugee camps in the Gaza Strip. This marks the first West Coast exhibition of these works.”
The free exhibit, co-sponsored by nearly twenty local organizations and was to feature special activities for children and families, including a cartooning workshop by world famous political cartoonist Khalil Bendib, and poetry readings.
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But the Zionist entity has shot down the enemy again and the exhibit, as was planned and advertised, is not to be. As previously mentioned, children’s art is a very dangerous thing, it touches the heart and soul of the viewer, especially with such, (pardon the unintended pun), explosive material. On September 8, 2011, MOCHA cancelled the project. The Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), which was partnering with MOCHA to present the exhibit, was informed of the decision by the Museum’s board president on Thursday, September 8, 2011.
Museum officials said the exhibit space is in a multiuse area that brings in children as young as 2. While art should "provoke people and generate emotion," the museum couldn't handle the divisive issue in that space, said Hilmon Sorey, the board's chairman.
"Our aim, as with all exhibits, is to foster insight and understanding," Sorey said in a statement. "However, upon further review and engagement with the community, it became clear that this exhibit was not appropriate for an open gallery accessible by all children."
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Ahem, Mr. Sorey, children are children whether in Gaza or Tel Aviv. Two year olds in Gaza are being fried regularly. Two year olds are being exposed to all kinds of violence on TV. So what is the excuse again? The Zionist entity can try to pretend Gaza children don’t exist but those children’s voices will never go away. Imposed gags such as this makes the silencing of their voices deafening.
This exhibit would not have been the first time the museum has featured wartime art by children.
In 2007, it exhibited paintings made during World War II by American children in the Kaiser shipyard child care center. The art featured images of Hitler, burning airplanes, sinking battleships, empty houses and a sad girl next to a Star of David. Depicting Jewish children as victims is permissible.
In 2004, art by Iraqi children hung on the museum's walls. The pictures, made shortly after the U.S. invasion, included a picture of a helicopter shooting into a field of flowers.
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Could those Stars of David on the plane be anti-semitic content?
The art by the Palestinian children was similar in content.
In one colorful picture, a row of buildings burns as five tanks move through the area. In the foreground, women and children are crying as are trees and the sun. What looks like a small, abandoned teddy bear lies face up in the street.
In a simpler image, a frowning girl with a bandage on her forehead faces out from behind prison bars.
"Even while the children in Gaza are living under Israeli policies that deprive them of every basic necessity, they managed through art to express their realities and hopes," said Ziad Abbas, the associate director of MECA, in a statement. "It's really very sad that there are people in the U.S. silencing them and shredding their dreams."
He added: “MECA is disappointed in the museum’s decision to deny Bay Area residents the opportunity to view Palestinian children’s art, and is committed to seeking an alternative venue.”
Barbara Lubin, the Executive Director of MECA, expressed her dismay that the museum decided to censor this exhibit in contradiction of its mission “to ensure that the arts are a fundamental part of the lives of all children.”
MECA has learned that there was a concerted effort by pro-Israel organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area to pressure the museum to reverse its decision to display Palestinian children’s art.
“We understand all too well the enormous pressure that the museum came under. But who wins? The museum doesn’t win. MECA doesn’t win. The people of the Bay Area don’t win. Our basic constitutional freedom of speech loses. The children in Gaza lose,” she said.
“The only winners here are those who spend millions of dollars censoring any criticism of Israel and silencing the voices of children who live every day under military siege and occupation.”
“We made a promise to the children that their art will be shown and we are going to keep that promise,” said Lubin.
"They are pictures of what these children experienced. It's their experience," said Lubin.
"They are pictures of what these children experienced. It's their experience," said Lubin.
Such truth must not get out or it could affect the way people feel about Israeli tanks rolling over children.
Unfortunately, this disturbing incident is just one example of many across the nation in which certain groups have successfully silenced the Palestinian perspective, which includes artistic expression.
In fact, some organizations have even earmarked funds for precisely these efforts. Last year, regrettably the Jewish Federation of North America and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs launched a $6 million initiative to effectively silence Palestinian voices even in “cultural institutions.”
The Gaza Strip, which has a population of 1.6 million, has been under siege since Israel imposed a blockade against it in 2006. The United Nations and many human rights organizations across the world have condemned the blockade as an inhumane and cruel form of collective punishment.
The Gaza Strip, which has a population of 1.6 million, has been under siege since Israel imposed a blockade against it in 2006. The United Nations and many human rights organizations across the world have condemned the blockade as an inhumane and cruel form of collective punishment.
Citing pressure from the community, canceled a planned exhibit of artwork by Palestinian youth that depicted the Israeli assault during the 2008-09 Gaza conflict.
The drawings aren’t great art by any means, but their rawness is quite compelling. Drawings in the exhibit were created by children ranging in age from about 9 to 11 and included bombs dropping, tanks and people getting shot. They show helicopters, missiles, tanks (with Stars of David on them), an Israeli boot trampling a Palestinian flag, mosques on fire and lots of fire, smoke, guns, blood and corpses. And everywhere, the fires of hell are the backdrop.
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Museum officials notified Lubin that they were pulling the plug on what had become a controversial exhibit that was pulling the children's museum into the long-standing conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.
It had become a distraction to the main objective of bringing arts education to all children, said museum board member Randolph Bell.
The education of the Zionist boot in Palestine is obviously just too strong a weapon for the exhibit to go on and the museum caved in.
"The pressure was ... well, we were getting calls from constituents that were concerned about the situation," Bell said. "We don't have any political stake in this thing. It just became apparent that we needed to rethink this."
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The complaints came from Jewish groups as well as others in the community, board members said.
One writer, Menachem Wecker, asks: “Would it be too much to hope the show might also incorporate art by Israeli children who have been traumatized?”
Yes, it would be too much. Why is it every time anything that shows Palestinian death and suffering at the hands of Israelis is displayed, Israeli apologists demand that an opposing Israeli viewpoint be shown to mute the response of the Palestinian narrative?
You never see the opposite play out ~ when Israeli artists’ works are shown, there is never a demand to show the Palestinian victims as well.
Case in point ~ there was a show in Silver Springs, MD, last November which displayed the artwork of Israeli victims of terror. Here is a link to an article about it:
Why was this able to be shown without people suggesting that art by Palestinian victims of Israeli terror be shown alongside these pieces?
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It is because Israelis and their supporters want to monopolize all the victimhood, and any time Palestinians can be shown as victims of Israeli policies and actions, the immediate response from the hasbarists is to show at least an equal amount of suffering by Israelis (if not more) so that Palestinians are continued to be dehumanized. This is chapter one in the Israeli hasbara playbook.
The next time an Israeli art shows that depict victims of Palestinian terror is shown in the US, it might be suggested that artwork by Palestinian victims of Israeli terror is incorporated with it. Don’t hold your breath because Israel-firsters will never acknowledge the suffering of Palestinians.
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