Mazel tov, part 2

Today’s Jerusalem Post reports that Prime Minister Sharon has expressed support for Ambassador Mazel’s attempt to pull the plug on the “Snow White and the Madness of Truth” exhibit (the link provides the text accompanying the exhibit) at the Stockholm Museum of National Antiquities.
The Post describes the exhibit as follows: “The exhibit, entitled “Snow White and the Madness of Truth,” featured a small ship carrying a picture of Islamic Jihad bomber Hanadi Jaradat sailing in a rectangular pool filled with blood-colored water. Classical music was played in the background.”
The Post quotes Sharon as saying, “I thanked him [Mazel] for standing up against the growing anti-Semitism and I told him that the government stands behind his action. I think that our ambassador acted as was necessary, the phenomenon was so grave that it was impossible not to react on the spot.”
Sweden’s ambassador to Israel Robert Rydberg has responded, well, diplomatically: “I understand the action of Ambassador Mazel. The relations between Sweden and Israel are strong enough to get over this crisis.”
Meanwhile, back in Stockholm, the Swedish government threatens to require Ambassador Mazel to…explain himself. “A Swedish government spokesman said the Swedish Foreign Ministry will ask Mazel to explain why he vandalized the piece of art at the Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Larsson said, ‘We will ask him to explain, and from our side we will maintain that it is unacceptable to destroy works of art in this way.'”
The Post story quotes the mother of one of “Snow White’s” victims, who said she would like to thank Ambassador Mazel: “He did exactly what needed to be done. This may not have been diplomatically or politically correct, but the time has come for people to think about us as well, about our feelings.”
The “artist” remains unrepentant. According to him, “Mazel went crazy like an excited soccer fan. I could not believe my eyes when he started to destroy my exhibit. I think he did a bad service to the State of Israel. People in Sweden who hear about this say to themselves, if this is how an Israeli ambassador who is supposed to be diplomatic and restrained acts, how do the soldiers in the occupied territories behave.”
The museum director likewise remains unrepentant. He said he did not consider the artwork to be a provocation. “It is rather an invitation to think about why such things happen in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
The Post article contains additional information of interest about the incident, but for the moment we give the last word to Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs Natan Sharansky. Sharansky said the installation “plays into the hands of those that wish to destroy the Jewish people. The Swedish government’s attempt to hide behind freedom of expression is directly related to the anti-Semitic incidents Sweden has been infected with this last couple of years.”
HINDROCKET adds: One of the ironies here is that the “art” exhibit is associated with an international conference on genocide which will soon be sponsored by Sweden. Israel had agreed to participate on the understanding that the Israeli-Arab conflict would not be part of the conference, and is now rethinking its participation. But an international conference on genocide should discuss the ongoing effort–now over 50 years old–of the Arabs to exterminate the Israeli people. Where else on the planet is there such a clear example of attempted genocide? And how insane has the world of international conferences become, when it is Israel that must defend against charges that its efforts to protect its citizens from mass, random murder are “genocidal”?

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