‘Kidnapped by Hamas': Graffiti activists cover Culver City building with images of hostages 

A studio building in Culver City is now covered in posters of the 173 people who have been kidnapped by Hamas. 

The building was donated by a Hollywood producer to graffiti activists. 

In Culver City, on the side of the Ample Entertainment building at Washington Place and Washington Boulevard, there is a canvas that can’t be ignored or easily vandalized.

The side of the building shows the 173 kidnapped hostages, remembered in vinyl images ten times the size of the posters that had been placed on power poles and store windows.

“We want the hostages returned, and secondary to that is we dare you to try and take this down. You will not stop us and you will not stop the message from being spread,” said Craig Dershowitz, CEO of Artists 4 Israel. 

Now in its 13th year, Artists 4 Israel, has engaged in humanitarian relief in ten different countries and allowing artists from around the globe to express their own creative impressions of Israel. 

The Culver City project was done with help from the “combat anti-semitism movement.”

Part of the exhibit is a series of street level mirrors, to engage the viewer or the passive passer-by.

“We wanted to make it so that they interact. So as they walk by they see themselves inside this kidnapped poster and it changes their perception. It makes them be part of it and hopefully to act and fight for the release of these prisoners,” Dershowitz said. 

But while Dershowitz says this is a call for freedom for those taken and held against their will, others see this as a political statement that must be stopped.

Already there have been several attempts to rip them down.

“The poster simply communicates the message that we want them returned home. If someone can make a political statement out of saying someone should not be held captive, that kidnapping and murder is wrong? Then sign me up to be political,” Dershowitz said.