'Bomber' artwork enrages Israel

[Spelca]

'Bomber' artwork enrages Israel

Israel has called on the Swedish Government to dismantle an art exhibit featuring a Palestinian suicide bomber, which it says is an incitement to kill.

On Friday the Israeli ambassador to Stockholm was ejected from a museum for vandalising the exhibit.

Ambassador Zvi Mazel said the work, which has a boat floating in a pool of red liquid, was "a call for genocide".

But its Israeli-born creator rejected the charge, saying the work had a message of openness and conciliation.

Sweden's foreign ministry has summoned Mr Mazel to give an explanation for his actions on Monday.

He was expelled from Stockholm's Museum of Antiquities on Friday after he threw a spotlight at the exhibit.

Called Snow White And The Madness Of Truth, the installation features a photo of Hanadi Jaradat, a 29-year-old trainee lawyer who blew up herself and 19 Israelis in a Haifa restaurant in October.

The work is accompanied by a piece of Bach music entitled My Heart Is Swimming In Blood.

The installation was commissioned ahead of a conference on genocide to be held later in January.

'Free speech'

"It is impossible to justify the incitement and cultivation of hatred as shown in this exhibit in the name of freedom of expression," said Israeli foreign ministry spokesman David Saranger.

"The Swedish Government cannot remain indifferent and should take steps to remove it."

Mr Saranger defended the ambassador's physical attack on the installation, saying no Israeli could "remain indifferent".

Dror Feiler, an expatriate Israeli artist who collaborated on the installation, said Mr Mazel had tried to "stop free speech and free artistic expression".

"I'm absolutely opposed to suicide bombers," he added.

The director of the museum, Kristian Berg, said the installation would remain in place.

"You can have your own view of what this piece of art is all about, but it is never, never allowed to use violence and it is never allowed to try to silence the artist," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3406745.stm

[Stratos]

Latest news is that Ariel Sharon himself called Ambassador Zvi Mazel and expressed his support for Mazel's actions. There's even talks from Israel to boycott the genocide conference held in Stockholm January 26-28. Shows how volatile the entire Middle Eastern issue is.