I feel like it’s offensive but don’t know the context. Takes place in Tel Aviv.
Edit: Was sent with a “card you want to get rid of” tag game. They explained how it was controversial and to toss it if I didn’t like it. I’m certainly keeping it as a conversation piece and thank you to everyone for their interpretations.
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I am clueless, too, but for it can be ment aggressive, I would delete it from my wall and I would also delete it here and put the card into the paper bin before bothering too much with it.
Well it’s an artist’s picture eh? the way’s it’s framed & the soldier is appearing to walk into the photo. The artist’s work may be from Tel Aviv, but that’s a picture of the Western Wall or Wailing Wall in Jerusalem that the soldier’s walking into.
And I think it’s referring to this bible verse:
Ezra 1:3 “Who [is there] among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which [is] in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he [is] the God,) which [is] in Jerusalem.”
Not sure of the nuances beyond that though. I think you got sent an artist’s card.
Is there an artist’s name and a title of the work on the back?
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Sorry guys, what is offensive about this card? You may not like the pic, you may not understand the message, but why take offense?
Sometimes we seem to make mountains of momehills. 
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Can you tell us the name of the artist? It should be on the back side of the card. That way we can look up the intention of the art piece.
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Huh. Yeah, the soldier striding towards people praying at the wall does seem potentially unsettling–I’m honestly not sure what the artist is going for there but I get your misgivings. I suppose the written message doesn’t give any clues?
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I’m Jewish and I have no idea what this means lol! It certainly looks unsettling. I guess the meaning depends on where the soldier is from?
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I don’t think this is offensive at all. Here we have this Israeli soldier. He is a paratrooper, since it is the paratroopers in the Israeli army who wear the red berets. He is clearly NOT in Jerusalem, as he is on a beach, and Jerusalem is not on the shore. So he is most likely in the Tel Aviv area, or in some other coastal town. The caption reads “Let’s go up to Jerusalem” which is pictured on the inset. So the soldier is “virtually” traveling through the picture to Jerusalem. There’s not much more to it. It’s not offensive because that’s an ISRAELI soldier. He’s there to protect, not attack!
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I don’t think this is offensive.
I find it very touching, because it told me this sotry:
People is praying. The Era we’re living in is hard: no hope, no relief from pain.
Even the wall of prayer is sick … and the soldier is walking to the wall, maybe because he want to say sorry fot the evil he “must” add to the world …
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I would report this, since I consider it offensive.
I interpret this picture as “let’s go to Jerusalem to pray” .The soldier has his gun at the back, he is relaxed. It’s an invite to prayer, as I see it. I see no offense.
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No context, no details … main thing is to feel offended.
We really live in … interesting times.
PS: sorry if my sarcasm is offending.
PPS: sarcasm off
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Why do you consider it offensive? I’m asking out of curiosity, as I can’t understand why
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I personally don´t find it offensive…but nowadays i find that people tend to be offended by the most common reasons…
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You can
a) ask the sender for the meaning of this card
b) google the picture for its meaning
🤷🏻
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I think the sender just was very kind and followed your wishlist:
“Jewish temples and other places of worship !”
Exclamation mark is a quoted one, I would have interpreted it as you really appreciating receiving a card with this subject, including this card you actually received: a Jewish place of worship…
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I’m pretty clueless too, but I think it’s really good that you have a critical mind and question things that you’re unsure of!
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I think so too!
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The card seems a bit odd to me. I don’t see anything wrong with the image (just daily life, I guess). But the text seems a bit weird. It seems happy/joyful and then you see the soldier walking towards the city and soldiers are often associated with war/fighting.
In the end I don’t think it’s meant to be offensive and I wouldn’t take offense. Just contact the sender and ask politely if they could explain it because you are curious.
Also you have “jewish temples and other places of worship” on your wishlist so most likely the person wanted to please you.
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It definitely makes me think about what’s going on in the picture, and try to interpret it, but that’s what art should do. I actually like it very much, as it doesn’t make me feel force fed or hit over the head with its message, whatever that might be.
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