You’ve no doubt seen them around the city. Whether on a streetlight, a wall, or increasingly, on the ground. Red and white posters, emblazoned with the words KIDNAPPED and a plea to help bring them home alive. In the middle, a photo of an adult, a child, sometimes even an infant, each one of the nearly 250 people currently held hostage by Hamas.
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The posters started as an effort by Israeli artists Dede Bandaid and Nitzan Mintz to bring attention to the abducted, but since then it has blossomed into a global movement, with passionate activists putting up posters (and others tearing them down) across the world, from London to Sydney to right here on the Upper West Side.
ILTUWS ran into one of those activists, Shira Leonard Shailin, as she was hanging one of those posters on a streetlight on 66th and Columbus Avenue. After verifying that we weren’t there to tear her posters down, assault or scream at her, she agreed to speak with us, telling us about her motivations, her story, and what brought her to that streetlight that day.
“I’m all for my country, trying to help from here, from away,” said Shira, who lives in the city but was born and raised in Israel. “Cousins, aunts, parents, everybody’s in Israel right now.”
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An Israeli flag on her back, her nails painted white and blue, and her ring finger bearing a tiny Star of David, it was clear that Shira was proud to, quite literally, wear her heritage on her sleeves.
“I walk with the Israeli Flag with no fear” she said. “They’re not afraid, we should not be afraid.”
“I want the world to understand how wrong it is to take a child and put him underground away from his family, he doesn’t know where he is. It’s a trauma for his entire life.”
She was carefully gluing posters of some of those children to a streetlamp when we first encountered her. Gluing, she said, as opposed to taping, in order to keep them safe from some in the anti-Israel movement, who have taken to tearing them down.
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“If you just put tape it’s an easy rip off but if you spread glue, like Gorilla Glue instead, it’s really hard for them, they don’t have the patience to try and take it off.”
Which is important, because it’s increasingly become clear to her that taking them off is exactly what a lot of people want to do.
“I think some people are just waiting for me to leave so they can rip up the posters,” she told us. “I had one lady when I was with two of my children…telling me Free Palestine and [getting] really mad.”
““I tell them ‘these are just civilians, why would you rip that off, I mean we don’t want to hurt any civilians.’”
Among these civilians are some of Shira’s own relatives.
“We do have a relative that was kidnapped and both of his children were kidnapped,” she said. “The house is completely burnt.”
For now, the only way she can be there for them is to hang posters, but soon, she prays, she can be there for them in person.
“I hope they’re found and I hope they get home, once they do I’m on the next plane to hug each and every one of them.”
If you’re interested in donating to the fundraiser that has been set up for Shira’s relatives, you can find it here.
Can I ask, legitimately, what these posters achieve, in New York City? Does someone believe that information about the kidnapped people will be found on the streets of the upper west side? I understand the concept of raising awareness but I feel like the whole world already knows about this and the posters aren’t going to find a solution on the upper west side…
The posters provide faces to some of the victims of this war.
Understandable, to a degree. But I have never seen posters of victims of any other wars, including American victims not to mention any of the innocent Palestinians. It just seems that the whole point is to incite controversy and that is exactly what it is doing. Not that that excuses the people ripping them down. Just find the whole thing pointless
It’s a large amount of people who were killed brutally raped , babies were burnt in the oven just like the holocaust, people were abused shot and got injured. Then they were kidnapped by brutally and barbaric terorists.
I would like to remind you that when 9:11 happened, they open the museum with all the pictures of the people died.
The same cause happened in Israel.
This is not fight to get the land. This is a fight to try and kill all Jewish people.
Hamas want one thing- just like the Nazis, they want all Jewish people to die.
But unfortunately, they don’t even care about Palestinians.-they also kill them threaten them. They didn’t even let them medication and fuel -they use all for themselves .
Also, when children are being kidnapped in the United States, you can even see their posters in Walmart in the newspaper and all over the place because you know it’s a crime.
Thank you for your reply. I think you summed it up perfectly in your last sentence – children kidnapped in the US, you see their posters everywhere. Which makes sense in the same country as there might be vital information on the streets. However people kidnapped in Australia, china, England… we never see posters in New York City, because what good would that do!
Shira:
“It’s a large amount of people who were killed brutally raped , babies were burnt in the oven just like the holocaust, people were abused shot and got injured.”
Please provide evidence for the burning babies and rapes statement.
That means links.
“I’m all for my country, trying to help from here, from away,’ said Shira”.
What is Shira supporting for her country?
Supporting the families , the Israeli soldiers, the community in Israel and in nyc .
A lot of volunteer work .
Shira:
Reread my question. You haven’t answered it.
What’s happened to these innocent Israelis is terrible. At the same time, what’s happened to the innocent Palestinians is terrible.
If these signs are allowed to be put up, then signs should go up for innocent Palestinians, too. My question… would people like Shira be OK with that?
That’s a very good question!
Please differentiates between people in Israel, who were killed Palestinians were killed and Hamas .
People are always saying two sides. Unfortunately, there are three sides..
Hamas is a terror organization! Killing Palestinians and Israelis .
Those organizations killed a lot of people in a lot of countries, and we have to make sure that these terror organization will disappear from the world eventually.
To the question if an innocent Palestinian died, you would like to put a poster go ahead. No, it doesn’t bother me..
But please don’t forget we never kidnapped any Palestinian!
The Terrorist prisoners that are in is israeli prison Are all criminals!!!! They are not hostages, but they murdered, innocent people.
Once the world understands that there is three sides to the story, the story will be much easier to be understood.
We cannot cooperate with any terror organization, and this is in the whole entire world!!
Sadly I sense that you have no sympathy for innocent Palestinians killed. I, along with other rational people, believe that what is happening to all groups in this situation is very sad. There needs to be an immediate end to this violence. Leaders of all groups need to come together and end this nonsense.
Shira clearly states above that there are 3 sides to this conflict-Israelis, (innocent) Palestinians and Hamas. And yes, she has sympathy for the innocent Palestinians-and if Palestinians or their supporters wanted to put up posters of innocent Palestinians killed, it would be supported. But you know what, that is not a concern to Hamas or any of the Arab countries or any people world wide. It’s easier to blame Israel-who had 1200+ citizens murdered and 230 people kidnapped. “Leaders of all the groups need to come together”?? Hamas and those supporting them are chanting “from the river to the sea”…what is there to discuss??
UWS lifer:
Her 3 sides are a bit of a reach.
She implies it’s only Hamas killing innocent Palestinians.
Also she makes the preposterous claim that Israel never kidnaps Palestinians.
Her knowledge of basic easily confirmed history is less than solid, or
If you read the article it explains exactly why the posters are important to her “I tell them ‘these are just civilians, why would you rip that off, I mean we don’t want to hurt any civilians.’”
Among these civilians are some of Shira’s own relatives.
“We do have a relative that was kidnapped and both of his children were kidnapped,” she said. “The house is completely burnt.”
To Kevin a river of words explaining what Israel means to the Jewish people would be useless. His comments are pointless
kd,
Almost all of the adult Israelis kidnapped will have served in the IDF. And some from that group most assuredly participated in war crimes against Palestinians and/or Lebanese.
So they’re civilians now, but…
Thank you our angle we need you.
Thank you for doing this Shira!
Shira, as a concerned UWSer — please stop littering our neighborhood with your posters. That space could be used for ACTUAL missing person posters rather than these eyesores.
Littering? Really? The only people littering are the crazed-looking people who viciously tear them down, who, when asked why they’re doing it, parrot the words “propaganda” and “genocide”, and then litter the sidewalk with the shreds. Nice way to trivialize Shira’s intent.
If people want to put up posters about Palestinian people, they are free to do so. Not one Jewish person I know, myself included, would even THINK of tearing them down.
JWalks:
It’s accurate to say that Israel is pursing a genocide in Gaza.
In fact a defense minister in a previous Netanyahu government advocated exterminating or expelling Palestinians — that’s from Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, citizens of Israel included.
The posters are mostly accurate, but they tell just one side of the story and it’s a very limited side; one where history only began on Oct. 7th and then immediately ended.
I hope they think about this country too.
ISRAEL IS FOE EVER!!!!!
miledys:
What’s your point relative to the posters?