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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Chris McGreal in New York

‘It’s like a fire in the world’: how the Israeli ‘kidnapped’ posters set off a phenomenon and a backlash

Posters of kidnapped people are shown as people gather outside the Qatar embassy in London on 29 October 2023.
Posters of kidnapped people are shown as people gather outside the Qatar embassy in London on 29 October. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

The visual poet and the graffiti artist never expected to set off a global phenomenon and then a furious backlash.

Nitzan Mintz and her partner, Dede Bandaid, launched the now ubiquitous red and white posters of Israelis abducted by Hamas – each one with a photograph and the age of the disappeared under the banner “KIDNAPPED” – a couple of days after the 7 October attack in an attempt to ensure that the 200-plus hostages were not forgotten in the looming war in Gaza.

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