Perhaps it’s the chaotic, subversive, and extreme nature that defines the political graffiti here at Worries Graffiti in Jerusalem. Jerusalem in 2020 is ugly. It is also beautiful. It is always tense. The city exists amidst the suffocation. The atmosphere is saturated with prayers and dreams. There is a sense that nothing here is permanent.
Worries Graffiti offers a window into the politics of the street. Slogans compete on walls and signposts. Street art proliferates in Jerusalem. It takes on the flavor of the city.
Consider how street signs have been an arena of political contestation. This has been true since Israel was established. In Jerusalem, this is especially true. Rather than using the city’s Arabic name al-Quds, signs awkwardly transliterate its Hebrew name into Arabic. It sounds something like Urshalim.
Political battles play out in unofficial signage too. Tel Aviv is better known than Jerusalem for its street art. The West Bank barrier famously features work by artists from around the world. Yet political graffiti proliferates in Jerusalem.
In 2004, the Israeli author David Grossman collected slogans from stickers. He used them for what became Shirat HaSticker. The Sticker Song was performed by hip-hop group Hadag Nahash. The slogans testified to the increasingly extreme nature of political discourse in Israel. They separated right and left, Arabs and Jews, and religious and secular individuals.
Walking around the city today, slogans compete on walls and signposts. The graffiti and stickers provide a window into the politics of the street in Jerusalem.
One piece of graffiti reads Bibi, Release Us From You And From The War. The area outside the Prime Minister’s residence on Balfour Street is one of the main sites of protest in Jerusalem. A protest camp was set up there in June. It demonstrated against anti-democratic legislation. The legislation was being rushed through the Knesset. This was done under cover of coronavirus. The camp has swelled to a full-blown national movement. Placards and graffiti litter the street. Thousands of protestors fill the area several times per week.
Another sticker proclaims Rabbi Kahane Was Right. On the central King George Street near Paris Square, a sticker praises the ideology of extremist rabbi and former MK Meir Kahane. It has been stuck over an antifascist football sticker. Kahane advocated the forced expulsion of Palestinians. He also wanted the curbing of democracy for non-Jews.
Another example says Jabotinsky Was a Leftist. Vladimir Ze’ev Jabotinsky founded the Revisionist Zionist movement. Describing him as a smolani is likely a tongue-in-cheek attempt by left-wing activists. They highlight how much more extreme the Israeli right is today than a century ago.
Consider the slogan Leibowitz Was Right. This is a reference to Yeshayahu Leibowitz. He warned against keeping hold of the territories captured in 1967. Leibowitz argued that prolonged occupation of the West Bank and Gaza would lead to a corruption of Judaism.
Another chilling example is Death to Arabs. Usually reserved for incidents of price tag vandalism in Palestinian villages, this graffiti was photographed on the wall of an old house in Lifta.
Stickers proclaim United We Stand. These pay tribute to the all-time high in US-Israel relations during the Trump administration. The city was filled with American and Israeli flags in the summer of 2018. This followed Trump’s decision to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Another slogan says No Arabs, No Hummus. At the height of the Second Intifada, far-right activists popularized the slogan no Arabs, no terror attacks.
Street art in Jerusalem is different than it is in other parts of the country. There have been multiple deliberate projects designed to bolster the presence of graffiti in the capital. To be legal, designs are subject to approval by local authorities and residents. Official guidelines prohibit depictions of political ideologies, violent content, or other unsuitable imagery.
The penalty for illegal street art in Israel can be a fine or up to a year in prison.
Worries Graffiti encapsulates Jerusalem’s visual voice. It is chaotic, subversive, and always politically charged.