I couldn't have reacted in any other way
Zvi Mazel
"
[My wife] came running to tell me... the ambassador was destroying our installation," the
Israeli-born artist told the World Today programme.
"
When I got there, I could see he had disconnected some of the lights."
Mr Feiler said he tried to persuade the ambassador to read the accompanying
text which explained how innocent people had been killed in the attack by the
bomber whose photograph he had used, but had been rebuffed. Anti-genocide
The artwork, Snow White and the Madness of Truth, is included in the "Making
Differences" exhibition accompanying an upcoming international anti-genocide
conference hosted by the Swedish Government.
It consists of a boat carrying a photograph of female suicide bomber Hanadi
Jaradat, floating in a pool of red liquid. The exhibit is accompanied by the
JS Bach cantata My Heart Is Swimming In Blood. I, as any sane human being,
think that suicide bombings are a very horrible thing and totally destructive
Dror Feiler
Jaradat, a 29-year-old trainee lawyer, killed at least 21 people in a Haifa
restaurant in October, one of the bloodiest of the suicide bombings by Palestinian
militants.
Ambassador Mazel was summoned to the Swedish foreign office on Monday to account
for his actions, which led to him being thrown out of the museum.
But he said he did not apologise, explaining that he "acted on behalf
of my feelings and couldn't have reacted in any other way", quoted by
the Associated Press news agency.
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon praised the ambassador's actions,
saying that anti-Semitism was such a problem "it would have been forbidden
not to have acted on the spot".
Mr Mazel said he was surprised that the museum was continuing to exhibit the
work.
E-mailed threats
Danish radio reported that two of the museum's top staff as well as the artist
had received threats.
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It said the artistic director, Thomas Nordanstand, alone had received 400 e-mails
about the installation, most of them abusive and one containing a death threat.
Mr Nordanstand was also shoved down the museum's steps as he smoked a cigarette
outside the building on Sunday but managed to grab a rail to break his fall,
the radio said.
Sweden's Ambassador to Israel, Robert Rydberg, said there had been "a
misinterpretation of a piece of art which may very well be in bad taste, very
bad taste, but which is not a justification of suicide bombers".
In a separate development, Mr Mazel confirmed on Monday that Israel would be
vacating the building that houses its embassy in Stockholm after 50 years,
Israeli radio reported.
He said the building's owners thought Israel's presence was a security risk.
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