Nude pro-Palestinian activists have locals seeing red

Photos posted Wednesday of Spanish pro-Palestinian activists posing naked near Ramallah have been branded “disrespectful,” causing unintended outrage on Palestinian social media.

The group of activists, on a visit to the region from Spain, chose to show their indignation over the West Bank security barrier by standing next to the concrete barricades wearing nothing but comical red noses. Despite their intention to show opposition to the barrier and solidarity with the Palestinian people, the photos provoked angry responses from some Palestinians who deemed the stunt inappropriate and offensive.

Some comments noted the protester’s location not far from a mosque, declaring the gesture was degrading to Islam.

“Where is the respect? This is a disgusting show of solidarity. They are like animals,” read one comment on the photo. Another Facebook user wrote, “Our land is too pure for these pigs to visit.”

The activists are part of a group of Spanish performance artists who have been traveling the West Bank for the past week.

In a statement responding to the criticism, the group said, “The 21st century is the time we need to break barriers and not build new ones. We apologize to the Palestinians whose feelings were hurt in this act. This is not an act against Islam; this is our way of denouncing the barrier,” the Ynet news site reported.