A roadside in central Tel Aviv is not the first place you'd expect to find a painted portrait of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein.
But when residents of the Israeli city woke up this morning that's exactly what they found.
The portrait was discovered in a dumpster by the roadside, having appeared mysteriously overnight. Whether it was left there by a resident or an art lover from further afield is unknown.
It depicted Hussein in military garb and several years younger than when he was executed in a gruesome hanging attended by those who had suffered torture or seen their families killed under his 24-year presidency. Drawn in muted shades with an Iraqi flag shown hanging limply in the background, the portrait nevertheless depicted a better time for the deceased tyrant.
#Israel|is taking a selfie with a photo for former #Iraq|i president Saddam Hussein in Tel Aviv.. pic.twitter.com/ispSWD21Sx
— Rami (@RamiAlLolah) 28 May 2016
Many Palestinians are enormously supportive of Saddam Hussein, who provided extensive support to the Palestinian cause. The now dead Ba’ath party dictator fired scud missiles at Israel, welcomed Palestinian refugees to Iraq, and lavished monetary gifts to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. The US-led invasion of Iraq only deepened a sense of affinity to Saddam and Iraq, and several parades were held in the West Bank on his death.
As Israelis posed for photographs next to the abandoned portrait, the immortalised eyes of Hussein did not acknowledge the symbolic humiliation, instead gazing dully at an unknown architectural feature of Tel Aviv. Whether the portrait was removed by a resident or sent to landfill with the rest of the dumpster’s contents is unknown.
