Bezalel Academy Shifts From Jewish Cultural Hub to Post-Zionist Hotbed Amid Controversy
The Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, originally established in 1906 as a center for Jewish cultural and artistic revival in Jerusalem, has become a focal point for post-Zionist and anti-Israel activism, according to recent investigations and critiques. This shift was highlighted by a police investigation launched this week against Issa Graieb, a Bezalel lecturer and alumnus, following revelations by journalist Ornit Foran Suissa on Channel 14. Graieb reportedly referred to the Israel Defense Forces as "Israeli occupation forces" and labeled Israeli cities as part of "Palestine," while liking extremist social media posts endorsing armed revolution and celebrating Iranian missile attacks on Israel in October 2024.
Graieb's case is not isolated; over the past decade, Bezalel has been embroiled in political controversies. In 2016, a student artwork depicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alongside a noose, and in 2018, a call published on the academy's website described Zionism as a "catastrophe (Nakba)" for Palestinians. In 2022, students formed a group aiming to "restore Zionism to art academia," ironically at an institution founded by the Zionist Congress. Faculty and alumni have also been involved in anti-government protests, vandalism in Jerusalem, and producing politically charged and sometimes hateful caricatures.
The academy's transformation contrasts sharply with its founding mission. Named after Bezalel ben Uri, the biblical craftsman who built the Tabernacle, the institution was intended to foster a Jewish material culture rooted in biblical imagery and the national revival of the Land of Israel. However, since Israel's establishment, Bezalel's art has increasingly embraced abstract, avant-garde, political, postmodern, progressive, post-Zionist, and post-colonial ideologies, moving away from its Jewish and Zionist origins.
Dr. Zvi Elhayani, an architect and member of the Professors' Forum for National Resilience, who has studied Bezalel closely, described this ideological shift as institutionalized. He emphasized that Graieb represents a symptom rather than the cause of the academy's cultural change. According to Elhayani, the academy has evolved from a builder of Jewish national culture to a breeding ground for deconstruction and protest, raising the question of what kind of "Tabernacle" Bezalel is building today.
The ongoing police investigation and public debate reflect broader tensions in Israeli society over identity, nationalism, and the role of cultural institutions in shaping political discourse.
