Artists' viral 'Kidnapped in Israel' poster project pops up around Bay Area

PALO ALTO, Calif, - Two Israeli artists from New York have started a project that has garnered worldwide attention.

They designed posters showing all the hostages kidnapped in Israel. Now posters are turning up on Bay Area streets, from San Francisco to Palo Alto.

"When you see many of them all next to each other, and it's all different people you're like, 'whoa what happened?'" says Alex Carter, who works in Palo Alto.

It is part of a project called "Kidnapped in Israel."

"Together we decided to create something that we can actually do with our hands and with our bodies because we felt so helpless. So we designed those posters," said Nitzan Mintz along with co-creator Dede Bandaid.

They said that at first no one wanted to help put the posters up. But soon their project went viral, with volunteers hanging posters from Europe to Australia.

"These are people who pick up our call for help and just took it with their own hands. It's very emotional," said Mintz.

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Mintz and Bandaid said the goal is to keep the faces of 200 hostages in the public eye and to push those in power to bring the hostages home to Israel.

"This is our only purpose. It is not a political movement. We just need the help of the public to put some pressure," said Mintz.

But for all the support they've received, there have also been problems. Some people have been spotted tearing the posters down.

"You're not tearing down a poster that says I support Israel. You're tearing down an individual life," said one supporter.

She added, "This is not something that happened and it's done. It's still happening. I think that's why it's important to see it."

Volunteers plan to keep replacing the torn down posters and putting up new ones until the hostages are returned to their families.