It seems the city bought special equipment to remove the graffiti in a better way. Interestingly, the city workers were busy working on the graffiti as they were being protected by the police from the local bystanders crowding around expressing their opposition to the removal. Many of the bystanders (some right there and some a bit further back) upset were not wearing masks, and while the police could have bothered them for that, they did not (that I could tell) and were simply keeping them at bay.
That neighborhood could be as beautiful as most of the city is, but instead it looks like a public bathroom stall. I find this very sad. And that is separate from the hurtful messages painted all over the place there.
The biggest issue with this is that it is an exercise in futility. By tomorrow all the graffiti, and more, will be back, and possibly with even more hurtful messages. This has been done before and will be done again. This is a useless move, though it too must be done.
The city has to find a more useful way of dealing with this. They can't choose to ignore it entirely, because of the court order, but just removing it without dealing with the root of the problem is futile. I dont have the solutions but they likely include actually using the installed security cameras and heavily fining violators, along with talking with community leaders and coming to an understanding.
As futile as it is, removing the graffiti is at least a good start.
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel ------------------------------------------------------
