Midav
01-18-2004, 01:59 AM
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Agencies
The Foreign Ministry on Saturday backed Israel's ambassador to Sweden after he turned off the lights of, and damaged, a Stockholm art exhibition that depicted a Palestinian terrorist as Snow White.
Zvi Mazel was captured on video unplugging electrical wires around the exhibit's basin. A spotlight appeared to be pushed into the tub that was filled with red-colored fluid and on which a boat carrying a picture of Hanadi Jaradat, the woman who killed 21 Jewish and Arab Israelis at Haifa's Maxim restaurant in October 2003, floated.
Mazel was unrepentant about damaging the "Snow White and the Madness of Truth" exhibit at Stockholm's Historical Museum. "My wife and I stood there and began to tremble," he said on the Ynet site. "There was the terrorist, wearing perfect makeup and sailing placidly along the rivers of blood of my brothers and the families that were murdered."
The envoy told Haaretz that his protest was not spontaneous; he had planned the act after learning about the exhibit in the local press. He said he could not understand how an exhibition devoted to preventing genocide can feature a work that casts the murderer of 22 Israelis as Snow White. "In my eyes, that's not art; it's abominable," he said.
The incident made headlines in Sweden's media on Saturday, and most, but not all, commentators criticized the ambassador's behavior.
Foreign Ministry officials defended Mazel's action on Saturday, denouncing the "atrocious" exhibit and saying its presentation cannot be excused by appeals to artistic freedom. The ministry said in an official statement that the exhibit violated an understanding that an international forum to be held next week in Stockholm called "Preventing Genocide: Threats and Responsibilities" would not be linked with intifada conflict. The Historical Museum exhibition is being held in tribute to the conference.
"The exhibit that glorified the actions of a suicide bomber who murdered 22 people is a violation of understandings; and if it is not removed, Israel will reconsider its participation in the conference," the statement said.
Sweden summons Mazel to explain actions
Israeli officials predicted Saturday that Sweden's government will reprimand Mazel on Monday during a clarification meeting convened by its Foreign Ministry.
Mazel "will have the opportunity to explain why he did what he did," Catherine von Heidenstam, chief of protocol at the Foreign Ministry said.
The exhibit is the work of an Israeli expatriate musician and artist, Dror Feiler, who has been active in "Jews for Israeli-Palestinian peace," a Stockholm-based group opposed to Israeli activities in the territories. As background music to his exhibit, the Tel Aviv-born Feiler mixed music from Bach's 199 Cantata "My Heart Swims in Blood." Feiler castigated Mazel's action as vandalism.
"At last, he managed to render something which caused a political outcry - that's what is called artistic terror," Buki Greenberg, a friend of Feiler's and fellow musician-artist, said Saturday.
Historical Museum Director Kristian Berg said that the exhibit will remain on display. "You can have your own view of what this piece of art is all about, but using violence is never, ever allowed, and it is never allowed to try to silence the artist," he said.
In recent months, Israel's Foreign Ministry has invested considerable effort to ensure that the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is kept off the agenda of the genocide conference. "The goal has been to prevent the Durbanization of this conference," a top Foreign Ministry official said Saturday, referring to the eruption of anti-Israeli protests at the 2001 human rights conference in the South African city.
Israeli officials were infuriated Saturday by reports that organizers of the genocide conference invited Feiler to exhibit his work at the museum. A senior ministry official reiterated last night that "the Swedes are well aware that this exhibit infringes our agreements with them."
Israeli MK Ahmed Tibi (Hadash) attacked the Foreign Ministry on Saturday for defending what he called Mazel's "reprehensible act of bullying."
"The government that uses bulldozers in the territories, demolishes houses and uproots trees also relies on bullying in its diplomacy," Tibi said.
Public Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi on Saturday said that the Israeli ambassador should be awarded a citation for intentionally damaging the artwork.
"If there is a situation in which an ambassador should act in an undiplomatic manner, this is it," the Likud minister said, adding that he was "proud of the ambassador."
Hanegbi said that Israel's ambassador to Sweden behaved as he did in order to shock public opinion and to emphasize the insanity in which a mass murderer is portrayed as a heroine.
"This is the ambassador's duty, and in [Sunday's] government meeting I will call for him to be awarded a special citation for his actions, even if they were extreme," the minister said.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/383944.html
This is in bad taste. Those people responsible for showing such "artwork" should apologize imo.
The Foreign Ministry on Saturday backed Israel's ambassador to Sweden after he turned off the lights of, and damaged, a Stockholm art exhibition that depicted a Palestinian terrorist as Snow White.
Zvi Mazel was captured on video unplugging electrical wires around the exhibit's basin. A spotlight appeared to be pushed into the tub that was filled with red-colored fluid and on which a boat carrying a picture of Hanadi Jaradat, the woman who killed 21 Jewish and Arab Israelis at Haifa's Maxim restaurant in October 2003, floated.
Mazel was unrepentant about damaging the "Snow White and the Madness of Truth" exhibit at Stockholm's Historical Museum. "My wife and I stood there and began to tremble," he said on the Ynet site. "There was the terrorist, wearing perfect makeup and sailing placidly along the rivers of blood of my brothers and the families that were murdered."
The envoy told Haaretz that his protest was not spontaneous; he had planned the act after learning about the exhibit in the local press. He said he could not understand how an exhibition devoted to preventing genocide can feature a work that casts the murderer of 22 Israelis as Snow White. "In my eyes, that's not art; it's abominable," he said.
The incident made headlines in Sweden's media on Saturday, and most, but not all, commentators criticized the ambassador's behavior.
Foreign Ministry officials defended Mazel's action on Saturday, denouncing the "atrocious" exhibit and saying its presentation cannot be excused by appeals to artistic freedom. The ministry said in an official statement that the exhibit violated an understanding that an international forum to be held next week in Stockholm called "Preventing Genocide: Threats and Responsibilities" would not be linked with intifada conflict. The Historical Museum exhibition is being held in tribute to the conference.
"The exhibit that glorified the actions of a suicide bomber who murdered 22 people is a violation of understandings; and if it is not removed, Israel will reconsider its participation in the conference," the statement said.
Sweden summons Mazel to explain actions
Israeli officials predicted Saturday that Sweden's government will reprimand Mazel on Monday during a clarification meeting convened by its Foreign Ministry.
Mazel "will have the opportunity to explain why he did what he did," Catherine von Heidenstam, chief of protocol at the Foreign Ministry said.
The exhibit is the work of an Israeli expatriate musician and artist, Dror Feiler, who has been active in "Jews for Israeli-Palestinian peace," a Stockholm-based group opposed to Israeli activities in the territories. As background music to his exhibit, the Tel Aviv-born Feiler mixed music from Bach's 199 Cantata "My Heart Swims in Blood." Feiler castigated Mazel's action as vandalism.
"At last, he managed to render something which caused a political outcry - that's what is called artistic terror," Buki Greenberg, a friend of Feiler's and fellow musician-artist, said Saturday.
Historical Museum Director Kristian Berg said that the exhibit will remain on display. "You can have your own view of what this piece of art is all about, but using violence is never, ever allowed, and it is never allowed to try to silence the artist," he said.
In recent months, Israel's Foreign Ministry has invested considerable effort to ensure that the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is kept off the agenda of the genocide conference. "The goal has been to prevent the Durbanization of this conference," a top Foreign Ministry official said Saturday, referring to the eruption of anti-Israeli protests at the 2001 human rights conference in the South African city.
Israeli officials were infuriated Saturday by reports that organizers of the genocide conference invited Feiler to exhibit his work at the museum. A senior ministry official reiterated last night that "the Swedes are well aware that this exhibit infringes our agreements with them."
Israeli MK Ahmed Tibi (Hadash) attacked the Foreign Ministry on Saturday for defending what he called Mazel's "reprehensible act of bullying."
"The government that uses bulldozers in the territories, demolishes houses and uproots trees also relies on bullying in its diplomacy," Tibi said.
Public Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi on Saturday said that the Israeli ambassador should be awarded a citation for intentionally damaging the artwork.
"If there is a situation in which an ambassador should act in an undiplomatic manner, this is it," the Likud minister said, adding that he was "proud of the ambassador."
Hanegbi said that Israel's ambassador to Sweden behaved as he did in order to shock public opinion and to emphasize the insanity in which a mass murderer is portrayed as a heroine.
"This is the ambassador's duty, and in [Sunday's] government meeting I will call for him to be awarded a special citation for his actions, even if they were extreme," the minister said.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/383944.html
This is in bad taste. Those people responsible for showing such "artwork" should apologize imo.