6 November 2-8, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | FLYER ALARM Who’s behind the Israeli hostage posters popping up nationwide? BY ALEX DELUCA A pair of men in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood were captured on video last week tearing down and crumpling up flyers bearing the faces of Israelis abducted dur- ing the October 7 attack mounted by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. One of the poster-trashers, a Miami dentist, was fired after the clip made rounds on social media. Days later, another video surfaced of a woman tearing down the increasingly familiar red-and-white posters while strolling on a Florida sidewalk with her dogs. And on Thurs- day, Local 10 reporter Rosh Lowe shared a clip on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, of two women taking down “kidnapped” post- ers outside a Target store in Aventura. The posters have popped up from coast to coast in the weeks since Hamas terrorists mounted a wide-sweeping attack, killing more than 1,400 Israelis and taking more than 200 others hostage. Americans have re- mained dividedon the conflict and Israel’s re- sponse, which has included an ongoing bombardment of the densely populated Gaza territory. Israel’s siege has left the roughly 2.3 million Gaza residents — nearly half of whom are children — mired in a humanitarian crisis with no electricity, running water, and a dwindling food supply. With more than 3,800 Palestinians already killed in the conflict, Is- raeli soldiers are reportedly preparing for a ground invasion of the region. As more of the flyers appear on utility poles and buildings nationwide, videos like the Miami examples are multiplying. But who is behind the flyers? According to the “Kidnapped From Israel” website, the posters were created by a grassroots campaign of Tel Aviv-based artists led by partners Nitzan Mintz and Dede Bandaid, as well as designers Tal Huber and Shira Gershoni. A website for the project includes instructions for people to print out their own posters and paste them around their communities. “With the clear goal of returning these hostages back home safely and immediately,” the site reads, “thousands of people have been hanging photos of the hostages in dozens of cities around the world, pasting up posters that were circulated via Dropbox for individ- uals to print independently.” The project’s website claims the campaign is “unfunded” and “has become one of the most widespread guerrilla public artworks in history.” The artists say it’s not political but rather a humanitarian project. “I am not happy about what is hap- pening in Gaza. It is awful,” Mintz told the New York Times. “I want the Palestin- ians to be free from Hamas. I want our children to learn to- gether. I want Palestine to prosper and to be wealthy, but they need different leadership.” Bandaid, the artist’s moniker (apparently referencing the U.S. bandage brand), is a graffiti artist described on his personal website as a designer who graduated from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. He is credited with large-scale public art displays, such as a project to paint a large missile target in an empty parking lot during the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict. He also painted giant rows of teeth on the exterior of the Dolphinarium entertainment complex, the site of a 2001 Islamist suicide bombing. Mintz, a street artist, is known for posting short poems in English and Hebrew in public spaces. Some of her installations include the wording, “Bed Bakes My Body Like Bread Filling a Handful of Dreams,” plastered on the side of a residential building, and “The Eye Is a Door” on a yellow door. Her work has appeared in art venues in Miami, New York, Montreal, London, and Paris, among other cities. The people tearing down the posters de- signed by the duo are facing widespread scru- tiny online, firing, and instances of doxxing. Ahmed ElKoussa, the Coral Gables dentist who was recorded alongside his Instagram model accomplice tearing down the posters in Brickell, was fired from his medical practice after the video went viral. ElKoussa claims that he was only trying to “promote peace.” “It’s to de-escalate the situation that we’re going through and make sure that our com- munities are safe,” ElKoussa told reporters. In a statement, his attorney, Hassan Shibly, said ElKoussa’s actions were done following the brutal killing of a six-year-old Palestinian- American boy in Illinois by his family’s land- lord, which authorities allege was a hate crime driven by the Israel-Hamas war. In some instances, it appears the people who post the flyers are standing nearby and re- cording when passersby tear them off. That looked to be the case in the recent video show- ing the woman walking her dog while ripping down the posters. The man behind the camera tells her he was the one who pinned up the fly- ers as he argues with her about which of them is “misinformed” on the Israel-Palestine war, with the woman professing, “I have degrees.” “I don’t support Hamas. That’s a terrorist organization. I’m supporting civilians,” the woman says in the video as the man follows her down the sidewalk. In the incident at the Aventura Target, the man recording the women who are removing the posters appears to threaten their jobs. It’s unclear in the video whether the women are removing the posters pursuant to a store pol- icy or are motivated by personal beliefs. “These people, when they go viral, won’t be in their jobs anymore. I’ve got her face and her name tag, and this is their last day working for Target,” the man recording the incident says. A Target employee who ripped down a poster then flicks him off while walking un- der a hiring sign that says, “Positions start at $15/hour.” Mintz and Bandaid are encouraging peo- ple to download the flyers and “place as many posters as possible in the public space.” The posters are available in 22 languages on the duo’s website. The pair warn participants not to “pro- voke or instigate any conflicts with people or officials.” [email protected] A poster in Brickell features an Israeli family kidnapped by Hamas. Photo by Naomi Feinstein | METRO | “I DON’T SUPPORT HAMAS. I’M SUPPORTING CIVILIANS.”
