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."
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
RSS