Israel, according to Jonathan Carey, needs a makeover.
While most Americans only hear of the Jewish state in connection with violence, bloodshed and strife, the 38-year-old San Franciscan is hoping to introduce the nation to a different Israel — the Middle East’s oldest, and only, democracy.
Carey designs courtroom graphics for a living, and he opted to defend Israel in the court of public opinion by producing a series of pro-Israel posters.
Much like a chain letter or petition to end all war, images of Carey’s posters quickly wove their way around the World Wide Web, and Jewish professionals from around the globe have printed them out and forwarded them along.
“We think they resonate really well, and I thought, ‘I need to find a way to use this stuff,'” said Shelley Labiner, the director of marketing and communications for New Jersey’s MetroWest federation.
“The things we’re trying to communicate to the public are done in a very easy way here between powerful images and very minimalist copy, which I’m a big advocate of.”
Labiner, who had the posters passed to her by the brother of a staff member, used Carey’s creations to illustrate the federation’s Israel Independence Day celebrations in Whippany, N.J.
Carey’s posters — which depict Israel as a nation where gay soldiers are tolerated, Arab women can votes and citizens are entitled to universal health care — have turned heads west of New Jersey as well.
J. Lauren Foster, the director of academic affairs at the Los Angeles Consulate General of Israel, distributed the posters to every Hillel in the seven Southwestern states she covers. Carey personally distributed the posters at U.C. Berkeley.
Foster also sent the posters to the nine other Israeli consulates and the embassy.
She anticipates the posters will be a major counterpoint to pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations when school starts up again next fall.
“Lots of people associate Israel with tanks. This opens up the real Israel, a democratic, pluralistic, highly tolerant and diverse society,” she said.
“This is the human side of Israel. This is a side that is built very much on the same traditions and values as the United States, and Americans respond very positively when they learn these things about Israel.”
Pro-Israel activists complimented Carey for covering all the bases.
“He’s got a poster for you no matter what your issue is. If your issue is environmentalism, there’s a poster for it. If it’s gay rights, there’s a poster. If it’s women’s rights, there’s a poster,” said Rachel Warach, the Chicago-based youth programmer for Young Judaea’s Midwest region.
She plans to use the posters in an upcoming rally in Madison, Wis.
“They’re so straightforward. It doesn’t feel to me like propaganda, it doesn’t feel shmaltzy, it doesn’t make you try to feel something. It just gives you a lot of information people might not realize.”
And, Warach emphasizes, the posters are free — “which is great, because we’re a nonprofit.”
Carey confirmed that he hasn’t received a cent for his work. He has posted the
images on his Web site —
www.campaignvision.com/pages/1/index.htm — and welcomes anyone to download and use them.
“I’ve been a little overwhelmed with the response. People tell me they love them and want to use them,” he said.
Carey has received e-mail confirmation that his posters have reached Australia, Great Britain and Israel.
“This is getting a lot of airplay, just for a grass-rootsy thing I did for free.”
Foster, however, would like to see Carey creating pro-Israel graphics professionally, and hopes to initiate a speaking tour to complement his graphics.
Carey, however, is happy just to help.
All he wants is for “people to become more aware about Israel’s pro-democratic values. Even Jews. Especially Jews.”