A New Orleans resident was filmed defacing a pro-Palestinian mural on the corner of North Claiborne and Esplanade avenues last Wednesday night (Oct. 2) in a video that’s gone viral.
“Happy Rosh Hashanah,” said Jakob Schanzer in the video — which was posted on Thursday (Oct. 3) — as he spray painted over the mural.
The mural features a character with green skin and pink eyes looking to the side. Palestinian flags are painted into the character’s pupils. The character’s eyes are directed at a magenta speech bubble with the words “All Eyes On Gaza” inside of the bubble.
“What are you doing defacing our local art here?” asked Heather Awyan, who filmed Schanzer defacing the mural.
“Yeah, it’s antisemitism,” Schanzer said as he continued to scrawl on the painting.
“No, it’s not antisemitism,” Awyan said in response.
“Jews fight back, get used to it,” Schanzer told Awyan.
Awyan told Schanzer that she was not okay with him defacing the mural, to which Schanzer replied by calling the artist antisemitic. Schanzer said he would be at the mural every night to deface it.
The video, which has nearly 3,500 likes and over 2,000 comments, in the days since it was posted to the newtralgroundz Instagram account last Thursday (Oct. 3), highlights the tension between supporters of Palestine and Israel in New Orleans. In the year since Israel ramped up attacks on Palestine following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel and Israel’s ensuing war in Gaza — which has left more than 40,000 Palestinians dead — there have been protests and counter protests, an encampment set up on Tulane University’s campus, vandalization of an Israeli flag on a New Orleans City Council staffer’s home and a months-long campaign to push the City Council to adopt a resolution supporting an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
People on both sides of the issue have shared and commented on the video. Some who support Israel’s war have lauded Schanzer’s actions and called him a hero. And supporters of Palestinians, including the artist, expressed sadness and outrage that he defaced the mural.
Disappointment and disgust
Hugo Gyrl, the pseudonymous artist who painted the mural, told Verite News he was disappointed with Schanzer.
“I think what’s really sad about what Jakob did is that it’s just so ineloquent to scribble on something that you disagree with,” the muralist, who declined to provide his legal name, said. “Like, if he really felt some kind of way about the mural, he should have painted his own mural, painted something that was pro-Israel.”
Hugo Gyrl told Verite that he lived in New Orleans for 20 years but recently relocated to New York City. During his time here, he painted pro-LGBTQIA+ and feminist murals around the city, which typically include the tag “You Go Girl.” That phrase appeared on the original version of the mural, which he painted in 2020. In February of this year, he repainted the character green and changed the quote to say, “All Eyes On Gaza.”
“I wanted to do something that would be beautiful and kind of uplifting for the community,” said the muralist. “Even when I was making the message about Gaza, I wanted to keep it something that was more of a question, more open-ended.”
The mural was painted on a wall of a property owned by Oscar Perez, the site of a 24-hour tire shop that was closed down by the city earlier this year after several shootings. Hugo Gyrl said he did not have permission from Perez to paint the mural. Verite News reached out to Perez for comment but he did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A spokesman from the NOPD said that they have not received any complaints about the mural defacement.
Blu DiMarco, a member of Loyola University’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, said he was disgusted by seeing that the mural was defaced and Schanzer’s reasoning behind it.
“For someone to say that they’re doing that in the name of Judaism is really nasty because that’s just not true,” DiMarco said. “It’s antisemitic to say that Zionism and Judaism are the same thing.”
The muralist said it is ironic that Schanzer called him antisemitic because he’s what he calls a “Cashew” — Catholic on his father’s side and Jewish on his mother’s side.
“What is antisemitic about bringing attention to an issue that you care about?” Gyrl said. “In fact, I think that’s very Jewish, and I think it’s very important to focus on injustice, even if it’s an uncomfortable issue for some people.”
Verite contacted Schanzer for comment, to which he replied with a video statement he released on Saturday (Oct. 5). In the video, he defended his actions and called on others to do the same.
“I go out and cover antisemitic messaging I see all around town,” said Schanzer, a PhD student at Tulane University. “On the eve of the Jewish New Year, I was covering a mural calling for violence against Jews.… I encourage all Jews and all Americans who cherish our liberal values we hold in the West to stand up and do the same.”
Confrontation on Claiborne
Awyan said she was passing by in her car on Oct. 2 when she saw Schanzer scribbling on the mural. She said unhoused people in the area made her aware that someone might be out defacing it.
“I had to exercise a lot of restraint to keep calm and keep the conversation on why he was defacing art in our community, rather than talking too much about the political nature of things,” Awyan said.
In the video Schanzer posted on Oct. 5, three days after he was filmed defacing the mural, he accused Awyan of holding a baseball bat while confronting him. Awyan wouldn’t confirm to Verite whether she was holding a bat, but said the following:
“I will reiterate that you can clearly see in the video that at no time did he feel threatened, or did he appear to feel threatened, or did I exhibit any signs of threats,” Awyan said.
Several people who were upset with Schanzer’s actions publicly called for him to be disciplined by Tulane University, where he’s a PhD student.
Verite reached out to Tulane officials to ask whether they were aware of the incident. Michael Strecker, assistant vice president for news and media relations, said the university takes reports about student misconduct seriously, but that federal laws prohibit them from discussing matters related to individual student conduct.
Hugo Gyrl said that he will be back in New Orleans in a few weeks and he plans on restoring the mural then.
“When I’m back I want to do a really good job to restore it because it’s tricky,” Hugo Gyrl said. “I mean there’s a lot of shading, it needs some personal love.”
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