Lush knows it's not an Israeli doing this. But he uses anti-Israeli sentiment as a means to maintain his antisemitism and the support of the hotel workers who like him. They think because he's painting images on the wall, he is helping/supporting Palestine. That's it. If you don't like the images, simply, you're Yahoudii. He knows this and plays it, openly shouting "YAHOUD!" when others are around. Yes, a white man from Australia is behind a group of upset Palestinian men shouting "YAHOUD".

The hotel is either not nuanced in the context of alt-right or whiteness, etc (or they don't care)...and understandably so. It's not really a priority. Why would it be? This guy comes to the hotel. Pays money. Paints. He is a nice guy, khalas. Any resistance is met with a closed-group mentality and seen as supporting Israel. That's simply how it is: Art of the wall = helping Palestine get more attention, therefore good. It is not complicated, but it is perfectly logical. There's this false belief of "awareness" of the cause through this kind of work.

But there's nothing really mysterious about this man. He's tall, grimy lookin', long blonde hair. He is a stereotypical entitled white male alt-right walking garbage can: Antisemitism, Western-Centrism, and the entitlement of patriarchy. There is nothing new or nuanced or wild about his work and the positions they speak too. He has painted numerous images over long-standing Palestinian artwork, completely erasing those who have invested in it, centering his own brand (though he in at least one case he received permission from the artist). When corrected or challenged by Palestinians, he blocks them or directs his fan base to harass them, often with racist, orientalist, and/or sexist insults. He knows what he’s doing. He actually does oppose the Occupation, but for anyone who knows even a fraction about Palestine, you know what little that can actually mean.

After numerous conversations with Palestinians here and abroad who are displeased, a small group of people, Palestinians and foreigners, sought to cover it. Paint over it, nothing else. Just his. Interesting conversations ensued with those passing by. However, some felt compelled to tell the hotel. We were abruptly stopped and forced to go home, as if they owned it all. They also stopped my friend (a Palestinian) who was leaving and forced him to delete his camera. Essentially, they have decided all of the wall in that area is a commodity, and they are the gatekeepers of that capital- which is something that was criticized when the hotel opened.

This is not the perspective of everyone on this issue. Many people are displeased with the entire nature of the venture and what it's inviting. There will never be a consensus on this issue, which why later that night several other people went back.

During this period of time, two people who witnessed us being asked to leave were there. They began to protest my friends actions. However, he is very persuasive. By the end of the interaction he has them up on the wall with him covering the murals WITH him and even agrees to meet some of them the next morning.

View that here.
Read his brilliant explanation about why he did it here. 
Review some of the initial criticism the artist's racism here.


The next morning, the same few guys who forced us to stop earlier the day before confront him. By the end of THIS conversation: he has them offering him resources from their arts store for FREE. That's how where we are now.

LushSux truly believes he's here "helping" the "poor Palestinians" with "Wall tourism" as if everyone's coming here to see his work. White saviorism.

فلسطين مش لوحة رسم

فلسطين مش لوحة رسم

If you're not familiar, Lushsux, is some garbage ass Twitter artist who's been using Palestine as a canvas for his handle & career.

You can catch up on that here, especially from those Palestinians offering insight in the comments.

In short, he is using western celebrities and "humor" in English only all over the wall. There are multiple large scale "murals", erasing nearly all Palestinian presence in the process and relegating what is left to an auxiliary appearance. There's also some low-key antisemitism.

To offer some context here, this is about Fantasy Occupation and the entitlement many westerners have when coming here.

"Palestine is not a drawing board" for your career, nor for other people's entertainment. It is not an "illegal border wall, Rick". It's fucking Apartheid. Your "art" is not a commodity here. Go away. It's not OK to do this.
















But there's a story that goes with this as well, reflective of the same issues regarding entitlement.

Not 30 seconds into doing this, my first interaction is with an older white American woman driving by shouting in an unabashedly mid-western accent "What are you doooiiinnnggg???". I'm not in the mood to accommodate her, so just I give her the finger. She shouts "NO, THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE!" and drives a few meters on, parks, and begins taking pictures of these images. I can hear her complaining to someone else about the audacity of doing this.

An older Palestinian man (we'll call him Issa) comes over and inquires what I'm doing. With my broken Arabic I attempt to communicate why I'm doing this and who I've been talking too about it. He calls his friend over who clearly knows a bit more English. (We'll call guy #2 Yusef)

As I'm talking to them I realize, a lot of folks think this is the work of Banksy. My friend said that to me the other day, as well. I make it clear it is not.

While I'm explaining who this "artist" actually is, the old white lady finally comes over and starts bein' a liberal upset I'm writing over "Mandela's" face. I say this because I don't think she actually realized its Morgan Freeman's face next to a Mandela quote. She starts speaking loudly AT the 2 Palestinian men completely in English.

She starts talking about "vandalism", asking what I'm doing here, questioning my accent- she's confused. She doesn't know how to approach this. Then she says,

"THE TOURIST COME TO SEE..."

I did not let her finish.

"OH, THE POOR TOURIST!" I pointed to what I had just wrote and say "Mish tafhim" (You don't understand). She doesn't. She throws her hands up and can't say shit because she has no idea what this means, so I tell her to "fuck off." Yusef doesn't like me talkin' like that to anyone. He, very un-aggressively, says he'll call the police if I keep speaking like that. Then the first guy (Issa) explains to (Yousef) more clearly what I'm doing and...and the dude, who just said he was going to call the police on me, turned around and...apologized to me. I was floored.

At some point during this interaction, loud white lady whom is standing next to us unable to understand the conversation flashes her "Palestine Press Pass". They are not impressed. At all. She leaves.

I spend a few moments talking to them, getting their names, shake hands, and then make my way onward. They are very kind.

The larger relevance of this story is that it's the same nonsense that makes someone think they should draw these images: Entitlement of their own expectations over actual Palestinians. At no time did the idea of Palestinians being de-prioritized over memes ever occur to the woman I argued with or to this fascist graffiti artist. They just don't factor in beyond a collective object that they claim they're supporting.

10.11.17

6:10 PM  Downtown Jerusalem

The heavily armed Israeli police on the corner, as they often are, holding a young Palestinian man against the car. He was agitated, but not actively resisting. Police were violently
asserting their power over him, claiming his space, making demands. As is often the case, Palestinians need not be doing anything in actual violation of the "law" to be detained. As
the police pressed him, he became more agitated, pulling away when they went to physically put his hands on him. The police took him to the back of the vehicle and began to crowd him,
similar to how US police do when they are trying to agitate you into an excuse for them to pounce. Being handled unjustly, the young Palestinian man did not submit, thus was violently
brought to ground by at least 4 Israelis and cuffed.

You can see it in them, these Israeli fascist pigs. They live for the violence of oppression. You are not seen as human enough to even speak. The inhumanity they can treat Palestinians with makes them
salivate. You can see it in everything they do. I don't know that there are truly words to describe the enraging violation of ones sovereignty they employ.

As a crowd formed, 2 additional officers arrived aggressively threatening those young men who got too close. The police often dragged the young cuffed man with them. He was eventually
placed in the police van.

At some point, a former colleague walked by. I caught her out of the corner of my eye, but really had no desire to say hello her anymore than she had no desire to actually look at the
commotion. She just turned her head away and kept walking. You see, this individual left the country with a tourist visa last year, and then was surprised they wouldn't let her back in,
fucking over her coworkers in the process. SO, she came back on an aliyah visa. An aliyah visa...
She didn't say shit to me either probably because she knew how I'd react, even when we got on the bus to Bethlehem. The Liberal Zionist™ spending time in Palestinian areas is another conversation altogether...

I took a nap for about an hour when I got home. I woke up with these intense feelings of anger and fear.