{"id":1639817,"date":"2022-09-13T05:04:56","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T09:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1639817"},"modified":"2022-09-13T05:05:01","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T09:05:01","slug":"fetterman-says-hes-a-friend-of-israel-his-art-gallery-raises-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fetterman-says-hes-a-friend-of-israel-his-art-gallery-raises-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Fetterman Says He\u2019s a Friend of Israel. His Art Gallery Raises Questions."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffetterman-says-hes-a-friend-of-israel-his-art-gallery-raises-questions%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1639817&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/\">Democrats<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Fetterman\u2019s Braddock Collective featured a notoriously anti-Israel art exhibit amplifying slanderous claim that Israel is \u2018apartheid state\u2019<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\"><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\t&#8220;I Am Palestine&#8221; exhibit at UnSmoke\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/chuck-ross\/\" title=\"Posts by Chuck Ross\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Chuck Ross<\/a> \u2022 September 13, 2022 4:59 am<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>On the campaign trail, Pennsylvania lieutenant governor John Fetterman touts his &#8220;unwavering&#8221; support for Israel. But the Senate hopeful operates a nonprofit that hosted an anti-Israel art exhibit that demonized Israel as an &#8220;apartheid state&#8221; and spread slanderous falsehoods about the Jewish State.<\/p>\n<p>Fetterman\u2019s gallery, UnSmoke Systems, hosted an exhibit in 2012 titled &#8220;I Am Palestine,&#8221; featuring a so-called apartheid wall that condemns the 440-mile Israeli-built barrier separating Israel from the West Bank following a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings launched from the territory that left roughly 700 Israeli civilians dead.<\/p>\n<p>The artists featured in the exhibit claimed in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/permalink.php?story_fbid=298429896890282&amp;id=236909369676320\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/permalink.php?story_fbid%3D298429896890282%26id%3D236909369676320&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1663096678423000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3jJ0UBEvSxWngC15o7JcbD\">statement<\/a> accompanying the project that Israel built the wall &#8220;under the guise of security while stealing more Palestinian land and resources.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fetterman\u2019s support for the exhibit calls into question his claim, on the campaign trail in a purple state, to support &#8220;strengthening and enhancing the security of Israel.&#8221; The former mayor has also touted an endorsement from Peace Action, an anti-war group that has promoted boycotts of Israel and urged diplomatic ties with Iran. Fetterman\u2019s opponent Mehmet Oz said the endorsement shows Fetterman is &#8220;no friend of Israel.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fetterman\u2019s campaign defended the gallery exhibit and his views on Israel, telling the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> that Fetterman &#8220;is and always has been a pro-Israel Democrat.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He strongly believes that Israel has the right to defend itself and has pledged to always lean in and support Israel\u2019s security,&#8221; said Fetterman campaign communications director Joe Calvello. &#8220;John is also proud to have helped turn an abandoned convent into a space that brings art and artists to Braddock, creating economic development.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fetterman\u2019s gallery, which is supported by his nonprofit Braddock Redux, also commissioned <a href=\"http:\/\/pghmurals.blogspot.com\/2015\/09\/three-boys-living-in-shadow-of.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/pghmurals.blogspot.com\/2015\/09\/three-boys-living-in-shadow-of.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1663096678423000&amp;usg=AOvVaw39fnzJF9cpvEiotO2sl6qZ\">a mural<\/a> in 2008 entitled &#8220;Three Boys Living in the Shadow of the Separation Wall&#8221; from an artist, Swoon, who is a prominent anti-Israel activist and has called for a cultural boycott of the Jewish state.<\/p>\n<p>One of the artists featured in the 2012 exhibit, Karina Goulordava, served at the time as vice president of the University of Pittsburgh chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a group that &#8220;disseminates anti-Israel propaganda often laced with inflammatory and at times combative rhetoric,&#8221; according to the Anti-Defamation League. The student group often uses apartheid walls at its anti-Israel rallies &#8220;depicting Israel alone as responsible for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,&#8221; the ADL says.<\/p>\n<p>Goulordava, who <a href=\"https:\/\/pittnews.com\/article\/17861\/archives\/student-group-continues-israeli-palestinian-debate-on-campus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/pittnews.com\/article\/17861\/archives\/student-group-continues-israeli-palestinian-debate-on-campus\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1663096678423000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3_qH_ND3L663E1keS7PNp6\">helped organize<\/a> a &#8220;Smash Israeli Apartheid&#8221; event at the University of Pittsburgh, developed the art exhibit with Palestinian activist Fadi Kattan when they worked at the International Solidarity Initiative, a Palestinian advocacy group. Kattan, a celebrity chef, has said he &#8220;won\u2019t work with an Israeli chef as we\u2019re still an occupied country.&#8221; He said last year &#8220;it\u2019s extremely sad to be an Israeli because being Israeli means you\u2019ve come to this land because you could prove you\u2019re Jewish.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fetterman launched UnSmoke Systems in 2008 as an affiliate of Braddock Redux, a charity he founded with support from his father, a wealthy insurance executive.<\/p>\n<p>The artists featured in the &#8220;I Am Palestine&#8221; exhibit invited community members, including children, to write messages on the makeshift wall to mimic the graffiti that adorns the West Bank structure. Video interviews Goulordava conducted with Palestinians living in the West Bank were projected on the wall.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrats Fetterman\u2019s Braddock Collective featured a notoriously anti-Israel art exhibit amplifying slanderous claim that Israel is \u2018apartheid state\u2019  &#8220;I Am Palestine&#8221; exhibit at UnSmoke  Chuck<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1639817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/155"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1639817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1639817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1639817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1639817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}