A Thumb on the Scales of Justice in Israel: A Graphic Story

Illustration from 'A Thumb on the Scales of Justice in Israel'
(Image by Leah Yael Levy)   Details   DMCA

Leah Yael Levy's recent graphic story, A Thumb on the Scales of Justice in Israel, which was posted on The Nib, beautifully summarizes the journey of teen activist Ahed Tamimi. Leah notes in her Feb. 12th blog post, "Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian teenager, is being held without bail in a system where different laws apply to different people."

Illustration from 'A Thumb on the Scales of Justice in Israel'
(Image by Leah Yael Levy)   Details   DMCA

Leah, a mixed media artist, storyteller and educator based in Oakland, CA, was born and raised in Moshav Beit Lechem Haglilit, Israel. She moved to New York City in 2002 to attend the Art Students League of New York.

I asked Leah, "So many of us are inspired by Ahed Tamimi in different ways and for different reasons, what inspired you?"

She responded, "What inspires me most about Ahed Tamimi is her fearlessness. I usually stay away from politics with my art, but Ahed's story evoked too many feelings in me to ignore it. When I talked to friends about it, it seemed most people in my environment haven't even heard of her story. That's when I realized I had to do more.

"I feel this is beyond politics, as it is primarily a human rights issue.

"At various points in the process of working on this piece, when I found myself reading hate-filled comments on articles I was researching, I was confronted with my own fear of 'the internet' and what people may say. I kept going back to that image of Ahed slapping an officer and thinking, if she can find enough courage to do that, surely I can find the courage to speak out about it."

Illustration from 'A Thumb on the Scales of Justice in Israel'
(Image by Leah Yael Levy)   Details   DMCA

Leah Yael Levy's A Thumb on the Scales of Justice in Israel, can be read on The Nib, here.

The Nib is a daily comics publication founded in 2013 by Portland-based cartoonist and Pulitzer Finalist, Max Bors. It runs "political cartoons, journalism, essays and memoir about what is going down in the world, all in comics form, the best medium."

Today, Sunday Feb 18, is the " Free the Tamimis" Global Day of Action.