Although as a professor of art and education at Columbia University and research fellow at MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies, I am an expert on the power of visual images, anyone can see the radical difference between the values and aims of Israel and the PLO or Hamas expressed through their emblems. There can be no true peace until the PLO and Hamas change their emblems.
US President Joe Biden said it clearly: “Let’s get something straight here – until the region says unequivocally they acknowledge the right of Israel to exist as an independent Jewish state, there will be no peace.”
“Let’s get something straight here – until the region says unequivocally they acknowledge the right of Israel to exist as an independent Jewish state, there will be no peace.”
US President Joe Biden
The PLO/Hamas emblem
THE PLO/HAMAS EMBLEM is the PLO emblem shared by Hamas. It shows rifles and hand grenades representing death and destruction and the genocidal aims to wipe Israel off the map and slaughter all its Jews. Its background shows a map of Israel replaced by an Islamic state. The PLO/Hamas emblem illustrates the PLO “pay-for-slay” policy that encourages Arabs to murder Jews and rewards them to the tune of millions of dollars. It also graphically represents Hamas’s murderous and genocidal intent as expressed in its charter.
- HAMAS CHARTER: “Israel, by virtue of its being Jewish and of having a Jewish population, defies Islam and the Muslims. Muslims will fight the Jews until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him. I indeed wish to go to war for the sake of Allah! I will assault and kill, assault and kill, assault and kill.’”
“Israel, by virtue of its being Jewish and of having a Jewish population, defies Islam and the Muslims. Muslims will fight the Jews until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him. I indeed wish to go to war for the sake of Allah! I will assault and kill, assault and kill, assault and kill.’”
Hamas charter
Historian of Islamic art Elisabeth Siddiqui writes in the Arabic journal Al-Madrashah Al-Ula that art and design is the mirror of a culture and its worldview. She emphasizes that there is no case to which this statement more directly applies than to the art of the Islamic world. “Not only does its art reflect its cultural values, but even more importantly, the way in which its adherents, the Muslims, view the spiritual realm, the universe, life, and the relationships of the parts to the whole.”
“Not only does its art reflect its cultural values, but even more importantly, the way in which its adherents, the Muslims, view the spiritual realm, the universe, life, and the relationships of the parts to the whole.”
Elisabeth Siddiqui
Israel's emblem
ISRAEL’S EMBLEM shows a menorah and olive branches representing light and peace. It illustrates its Declaration of Independence that extends its hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in peace and good neighborliness.
- ISRAEL’S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: “The State of Israel will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture. We extend our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people in its own land.”
“The State of Israel will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture. We extend our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people in its own land.”
Israeli Deceleration of Independence
The emblems of the six Arab countries at peace with Israel display peaceful images of eagles with national colors of Egypt, United Arab Emirates, and Sudan, jeweled crowns of the kingdoms of Jordan and Morocco, and a decorative abstract image of Bahrain. ■
The writer is author of Educating Artists for the Future: Learning at the Intersections of Art, Science, Technology and Culture (Intellect Books/University of Chicago Press) and Through a Bible Lens: Biblical Insights for Smartphone Photography and Social Media (HarperCollins).