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London activists replace Picasso's 'Motherhood' with 'Palestinian mother'

October 9, 2024 at 4:58 pm

Supporters of Youth Demand activist group cover the Picasso painting “Motherhood” with a photo of a Gazan mother and child, at the National Gallery in London, United Kingdom on October 09, 2024 [Youth Demand/Anadolu Agency]

Two protesters from the group, Youth Demand, targeted a Pablo Picasso painting at the National Gallery Wednesday as part of a direct action campaign calling for a two-way arms embargo on Israel, Anadolu Agency reports.

The demonstrators plastered a photograph of a Gazan mother and her child over Picasso’s 1901 painting, “Motherhood”, before pouring red paint on the gallery floor to symbolise the bloodshed in Gaza.

The pair, identified as 23-year-old NHS (National Health Service) worker, Jai Halai, and 21-year-old politics student, Monday-Malachi Rosenfeld, entered Room 43 of the National Gallery at just before noon.

They affixed the image — a powerful photograph taken by Anadolu’s photo journalist, Ali Jadallah — over the painting’s protective glass cover.

The image shows a distressed and bloodied mother holding her injured child after an Israeli air strike at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in 2023.

Jai Halai, speaking at the protest, said: “I’m taking action with Youth Demand because, at this point, it’s been over a year of seeing my colleagues in the healthcare field decimated by bombs and bullets.”

“We need a two-way arms embargo on Israel now; 87 per cent of the British public support this, but our government continues to arm Israel. Direct action is our duty as young people. We must defend those without a voice today and protect our “future”.

Rosenfeld, a Jewish student at Greenwich University, expressed his moral obligation to speak out, saying: “As a Jew, I feel it’s my duty to call out the genocide being committed in Gaza. This is not being done in the Jewish name. When Keir Starmer says Britain stands with Israel, he’s wrong. We know very well this is not self-defence—this is genocide. The people of Britain say enough is enough.”

A spokesperson for Youth Demand said: “Our government is arming Israel to carry out genocide against the Palestinians and is complicit in the killings in Lebanon. A two-way arms embargo is the least Britain can do to stop the displacement and destruction. Young people “will continue to resist until justice is served”.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

More than 42,000 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 97,700 others injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.

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