Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Sunday said his entire government stood behind Israel's ambassador to Sweden after the envoy attacked a museum exhibit featuring a picture of a Palestinian suicide bomber.
Zvi Mazel was thrown out of Stockholm's National Antiquities Museum after he interfered with the piece, the work of an Israeli artist who has lived in Sweden for 30 years.
He ripped out electrical wires around the work and threw a spotlight into a pond of red-colored liquid with a boat carrying the picture of a female bomber who killed 22 people in Haifa. In the background played Bach's 199 Cantata: My Heart Swims in Blood.
Mazel defended Friday's attack on the exhibit, called Snow White and the Madness of Truth, because he said it was "a call for genocide."
"My wife and I stood there and began to tremble," he told the Israeli news agency, Ynet. "There was the terrorist, wearing perfect makeup and sailing placidly along the rivers of blood of my brothers and the families that were murdered."
On Sunday Sharon defended the ambassador's actions as resisting growing hatred of Jews and Israel in Europe.
"I called [Mazel] last night and thanked him for his strength in dealing with increasing anti-semitism, and told him the entire government stands behind him," he told his Cabinet on Sunday.
"I think Ambassador Mazel behaved in an appropriate way ... I think the phenomenon is so serious it would have been forbidden not to have acted on the spot," he said.
Public Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi called for Mazel to be awarded a citation.
"If there is a situation in which an ambassador should act in an undiplomatic manner, this is it," he said.
The exhibit is the work of Tel Aviv-born Dror Feiler, who said he opposes suicide bombings.
"The display itself is against violence," Feiler said.
"It can be summed up by a biblical quote, `He who spills human blood shall have his own blood spilled by man,' and this is exactly what we need to put an end to," Feiler told Israel's army radio. "The ... ambassador caused diplomatic and political damage to Israel."
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was