Philip Weiss Embarrasses Journalists...Again

Philip Weiss, supposed journalist, creator/editor of the barely read Mondoweiss blog and seeming chest hair enthusiast, has written about Artists 4 Israel again (See Here). He wrote about us at least one other time (See Here). Both times, his blog is wrong, irresponsible and below journalistic standards. Both times, his politics are wrong, irresponsible and below moral and/or educated standards. The first time I let it slide. This time, I don't.

In his most recent posting, Philip paraphrases his guide to say that we went to Hebron "at the behest of the Jewish National Fund to cover up racist graffiti left by Jews..."
Well...um...wrong. First, we were not and have never been sponsored or behested (behesterred? behestering? bestedo?) by the Jewish National Fund. We would LOVE to be though - those guys are awesome!! Among many, many other things,they plant trees and assist Israel in becoming one of the most environmentally friendly countries n the world. I'd say more about them but this is my blog, not theirs.

Philip, do you have any hook-ups at the JNF? Tell them we would love a little ol' behestevestin.

Second, we were not there nor did we see nor cover-up any racist graffiti. We were there first to show our international artists Hebron in person so that they could see it for themselves and learn the truth about this very controversial area. You see, it seems that a few poorly read blogs (some run by truth-less journalists) lie about, distort, manipulate and otherwise maim the truth to spread misinformation about the Jewish presence in Hebron. We get it, Israel is so morally upstanding that people need to throw stones (quite literally) at its people.

Speaking of stones, we were also there to provide some color and joy for the Israeli soldiers who must stay stationed there, protecting our men, women and children from rock throwing and assault by our neighbors. In fact, while there, UTAH and ETHER were both attacked by stones. Two of our female friends who travelled with us were set upon and needed to run to safety.

Well, Philip, to a man (and woman) every single artist came back supporting Israel and supporting the Jewish people in Hebron. Oh, they were also like totally against being attacked. It seems that your little misinformed blog loses when faced with the light of truth.

Speaking of truth - um, well, isn't that what journalists are supposed to do? Aren't they not supposed to lie about organizations that seek to create art and beauty, like Artists 4 Israel? Aren't they not supposed to hide behind hearsay by unnamed tour guides as a way of spreading their lies? Aren't journalists not supposed to promote a report that has been renounced by its' own author and every other serious academic, historian and journalist? Just wondering.

I do know, however, that journalists are not supposed to make broad and inaccurate generalizations such as saying that our mission statement hints at a plan to cover up (non-existent) racist graffiti. I mean, I beg of you, Philip, to actually read the section (or all) of our Mission Statement that you posted and tell me where, how and in what alternate reality where journalists create news out of whole cloth, we hint at anything of the sort?

Whatever. Philip, you are a much more well-known blogger than am I. So, keep putting our name in your mouth. We love the hits!

VIDEOS OF OUR TRIP CAN BE FOUND HERE and HERE.

Alice Walker: Best Boycottin' Hair Nominee

Entry Numero 2 for Best Boycottin' Hair goes to Alice Walker, the author of The Color Purple (which may be the only book to ever be better as a movie - thank you Oprah Winfrey) who refuses to let her seminal work be translated to Hebrew and published in Israel. A writer who hates languages - odd.

Although Alice has since gone to a shortened, natural look (that vaguely reminds me of my Grandmother) her most famous 'do was this LLoyd from Dumb & Dumber bowl cut.




But, oh, I am not done yet. I figure, considering her rebel without a clue style, that these locks were supposed to be dreads. Really? They look like anorexic worms. Yeah, I said it. Anorexic. Worms. In fact, they sort of remind me of Andy Samberg's riff on all the Trustafarians at Liberal Arts colleges. That would make sense considering that it is those sort of institutions where Alice gets paid to sprout her "Israel and America are terrorists" nonsense. Silly Alice, those kind of sentiments are best left for spoiled little rich kids using Mommy and Daddy's money to feign disaffection and seem radical-chic. It is sad when you become a caricature of yourself.

Now, some are going to get mad at me, Dreyfus Amadeus Diallo, for making this about looks but when a once respected author defames herself by making absurd allegations comparing Israel's treatment of its terrorist neighbors to the Ku Klux Klan not only does she make herself silly (as silly as my Best Boycottin' Hair award) but she greatly insults the victims of the KKK, the victims of America's institutionalized racism of the 1960s and the actual apartheid of South Africa. More than enough educated, rational people will take Alice to task with great insight and truth. Me, I am just here to find a winner of the BBH award.

Hate me now.

Arts. Judaism. Israel. WUJS.

"WUJS Israel believes in providing young Jews with a holistic experience that will help them grow personally and professionally, while strengthening their connections to Israel, and carving their own path to Judaism."

I am not one to hype another organization. But, WUJS has proven themselves. Two of A4I's favorite artists (Jenna Gang and Annie Albagli - images below) are alum of this program and both speak very highly of it. So, WUJS gets credibility for that. And, the program sounds awesome too. In fact, it sounds good enough that we might need to do a little WUJS-A4I collabo. Yup-yup!

Before that happens though - consider going on their upcoming 5 month program. Included in those 5 months is a whole lot of artist-ing and Judaism-ing and getting down in a very really way. Basically, you get to learn, grow, study and actually live and work in Israel in your field. What else needs to be said? All their information below.

More information on the Tel Aviv program can be found HERE and on the Jerusalem program HERE.

Jenna and Annie:

Bomb Shelter Museum: The Director's Cut

Please watch this terrific video of the Bomb Shelter Museum at Baruch University

Attack on the Arts 1: Ghazala Javed

Ghazala Javed, a Pakistani singer, has been shot and killed. According to this story, the singer was most likely targeted for violating the Taliban's religious, Muslim decrees against women singing and dancing in front of men.

Attack on the Arts 1

Starting today, we begin our Attack on the Arts series. Each time an artist is killed for the content of their art, we will memorialize them as best we can. This is number 1 - beginning today, June 19, 2012. Let us hope this is as high as we need to count.

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Zakir Hussain Threatened into Cancelling Israel Show

According to this article:

Zakir Hussain, Tabla player and nominee for "Best Boycottin' Hair has decided to pull out of a scheduled performance in Israel due to pressure by the INCABI (I am far too lazy to spell out the meaning of this acronym but considering it is a paid shill organization used so that the parent organization can deny responsibility when they do something hateful, illegal or violent spin-off of the PACBI, you can figure it out).

According to representatives of INCABI, Zakir cancelled his show because of some gobbledy-gook about Israeli crimes and his solidarity with the "Palestinian" people. After all, a man of Indian descent, where the ghost of a caste-system still haunts their social landscape, where Untouchables remain untouchable, where the practice of castration is still used to make beggars more appealing to the 1% and where the disparity between rich and poor is quite large and getting worse every day, should know a lot about oppression. Right? I mean, at least we know that when it comes to oppression, repression and outright discrimination, the INCABI is leading the way in practicing what it preaches against. Forget the Best Boycottin' Hair award, I am nomination the INCABI for "Highest Hypocrit Honors" award.

Well, the above is not entirely true. No, the stuff about India's great racism is. The untrue part is Zakir's reasons for not playing in Israel. According to his own press, Mr. Hussain has "'postponed' his visit because of safety concerns".

Hmmmm....

It seems that is happening a lot these days. Artists who are targeted (interesting choice of words by PACBI and their henchmen) by PACBI and their proxies feel threatened, intimidated and scared. Considering these organizations support the likes of Hamas and Fatah, terrorist regimes with near dictatorial power and waging a one-sided violent war against innocent Israeli civilians, it is not surprising that they are using fear to achieve their objectives. Dear PACBI, we are watching you.

Dressed for Revolution

A picture from today's New York Times of a Syrian rebel in the middle of battle. Please allow me now to make a serious and incredible important observation about this picture and this horrible conflict:

wait for it...

...the Rebel is wearing an Adidas shirt (I await my sponsorship check).

Why is this important you ask?

Well, Artists 4 Israel was the first and is still the only Israeli advocacy organization to recognize the power of the "culture war" to influence hearts and minds. Fashion is part of culture. In fact, A4I considers fashion and design an art. And, in Syria, as in the rest of the world, it has so seeped into mainstream import that, even in the midst of war, revolution and combat, it remains a central element.

Artists 4 Israel cannot alleviate the conflict in Syria as much as we cannot force the terrorists who attack Israel to lay down their arms. But, what we can do is to make the world aware of the power of art to sneak into every conflict and offer ideas for how to use this great power for good.

An A4I clothing line? Not a bad idea.