‘Iconic’ image of Palestinian protester in Gaza goes viral

Editor | October 24, 2018 | Middle East | No Comments

An image of a shirtless young protester in Gaza gripping a Palestinian flag with one hand and swinging a slingshot over his head with the other has drawn comparisons with the iconic French Revolution painting, Liberty Leading the People.

Captured on October 22 by Mustafa Hassouna of Turkey’s Anadolu Agency and published by Getty Images, the photo shows the man seeming to rise out of the thick of a protest against the Israeli blockade.

Flag in one hand and slingshot in another, the protester appears in sharp contrast to fellow demonstrators and reporters in protective jackets behind him, all set against a background of black smoke from burning tyres. The image has been tweeted over 5,000 times.

Iconic

— ????? ???? ??????? (@SultanAlQassemi) October 23, 2018

Laleh Khalili, a SOAS University professor, shared the photo on Twitter on Tuesday, writing: “Holy sh** what an image. “13th attempt to break the Gaza blockade by sea”.”

She followed it up with a second tweet containing an image of Liberty Leading the People, painted by Eugene Delacroix commemorating the July Revolution of 1830, which toppled King Charles X of France.

pic.twitter.com/R4MjVng0wL

— Laleh Khalili (@LalehKhalili) October 23, 2018

In that iconic painting, a woman symbolising Liberty leads people over a barricade and dead bodies of the fallen, holding the Tricolore – the flag of the French Revolution, which became France’s flag.

Several users agreed with the comparison.

“Snapped on the way to storming the bastille,” joked Yousef Munayyer, of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights.

snapped on the way to storming the bastille

— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) October 23, 2018

Ça me rappelle la Liberté guidant le peuple d’Eugène Delacroix.
Une image très puissante!!! pic.twitter.com/4zXNyoZWv4

— Adam (@ATMology) October 24, 2018

Others noted similarities with different paintings depicting the French Revolution, David vs Goliath and Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea who supports the Greeks against the Trojans in the Trojan War.