“The theme this year is the Shuk, the Israeli outside market, so we really tried to incorporate that along with the art as much as possible,” Madelyne Soltz, chair of the Team Israel Programming Committee for the Jewish Student Union, said. 

Lined along the walls of the Union’s ballroom were a variety of tables containing information on Israeli culture.

New to this year’s Israel Fest, and perhaps one of the more notable inclusions at the event, was the appearance of Artists 4 Israel. A collaborative project that brings together various artists from across all religions, backgrounds, and ethnicities, the group uses a smattering of art styles to express support for Israel and the surrounding peoples in the region.

“Artists 4 Israel is an artists’ rights and advocacy group that supports Israel because Israel supports the cultural freedoms that allow for creation of art,” Craig Dershowitz , the executive director of Artists 4 Israel said.

The group started “accidentally” in New York in late 2009. Dershowitz had organized for about 50 artists to come and do pro-Israel art work to later be sold to the Israeli border cities along Gaza, a one time gig.

Instead, about 500 or so people ended up in the small city square where they were hosting the event.

“It was really amazing dialogue happening about Israel in a constructive, creative way as opposed to a lot of the other yelling that goes on between pro- and anti-Israel groups," Dershowitz said. "We have this amazing opportunity to talk to people, to educate people, and to do so in a way that we’re proud of." 

Coming from a fifth generation American family and born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Dershowitz’s first contact with political activism came through his association with the afro-liberation movement, black rights movement, and civil rights in general. 

“It was at some point where I realized that conversation about people seeking a return to their native home, that people fighting with culture and art to reclaim who they were and to return from the diaspora, that that was really a story of Israel and the Jewish people as well,” he said.

Having conducted several trips to Israel, Artists 4 Israel has participated in numerous beautification projects such as painting murals on bomb shelters “to combat the darkness of the terrorist attacks,” as Dershowitz explained.

Despite the narrow geographical focus of Artists 4 Israel, their ranks are composed of artists from all over the world. One such artist, Yushi Naito, who goes by Pesu, became involved with the organization through pure happenstance.

Pesu described his art style as a hybrid of New York street art and Japanese cultural symbolism. Though he hasn’t been to Israel yet, he definitely plans to go the next time Artists 4 Israel heads out there.

“He (Dershowitz) said that next time he’s going, that’s how he’ll get rid of me,” Pesu said through a laugh. 

Dershowitz stressed that despite its description as an advocacy group, Artists 4 Israel tries to remain strictly apolitical. All artists are welcome, all ideas encouraged, and if any conflict should arise Dershowitz’s solution is simple:

“Keep it on the canvas.”