2 Italian artists expelled over protester mural
JERUSALEM — Two Italian artists, arrested over the weekend for painting a large mural of a formerly imprisoned teenage Palestinian protester on Israel’s West Bank separation barrier, left Israel on Monday, their lawyer said.
The two artists — Jorit Agoch and Salvatore De Luise — were arrested on Saturday in the West Bank city of Bethlehem after spending days creating the mural depicting Ahed Tamimi, a prominent protester imprisoned by Israel for eight months for slapping two soldiers.
They were arrested for vandalism, according to police. On Sunday, Israel canceled their visas and ordered them to leave the country within three days.
Their lawyer, Azmi Masalha, said that Israeli authorities did not pursue any criminal charges. Beyond ordering their departure, Israel barred them from entering the country again for 10 years.
A spokeswoman for Israel’s immigration authority did not respond to requests for comment.
Tamimi, 17, was arrested in December after she slapped two Israeli soldiers outside her family home. Her mother filmed the incident and posted it on Facebook, where it went viral and, for many, instantly turned Tamimi into a symbol of resistance to Israel’s half-century-old military rule over the Palestinians.
Tamimi’s case has drawn international attention and she received a hero’s welcome when she was released from prison on Sunday.
Masalha said the artists drew the mural in a sign of “solidarity” with Tamimi.
The lawyer said he viewed with suspicion the artists’ arrest when there are countless works of graffiti on the separation barrier and questioned the timing so close to Tamimi’s release.
“They were arrested on the fourth day of carrying out this graffiti painting despite the fact that there is an observation tower of the military there and they were under this observation point from the first day and it’s interesting as to why this incident occurred on the fourth day,” he said.