Posted on 01/19/2004 5:07:31 PM PST by SJackson
JERUSALEM Ignoring accusations of censorship, Israel warned Monday that it would boycott an international genocide conference in Stockholm next week unless Sweden disowned an exhibit at a related art show
Israeli participation will depend on the Swedish government's willingness to "disassociate itself" from the art work, which depicts a smiling Palestinian suicide bomber, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said at a Jerusalem news conference. "Then and only then will I consider positively what needs to be done," he said.
The conference organizer, Krister Kumlin, has ruled out the exhibit's being removed, saying the Swedish government would never agree to such an act of censorship.
Zvi Mazel, the Israeli ambassador, sparked a diplomatic argument by vandalizing the art work when it went on exhibit at Stockholm's Museum of National Antiquities on Friday.
Despite being ejected from the museum and called into the Swedish Foreign Ministry on Monday, Mazel was unapologetic about his action, saying that the exhibit, which was later repaired, was a "call to kill Israelis."
Titled "Snow White and the Madness of Truth," the art features a tiny sailboat on a pool of red water. Attached to the boat is a photo of the bomber, Hanadi Jaradat, who blew herself up at an Israel restaurant in October, killing 21 Israelis. JERUSALEM Ignoring accusations of censorship, Israel warned Monday that it would boycott an international genocide conference in Stockholm next week unless Sweden disowned an exhibit at a related art show.
Israeli participation will depend on the Swedish government's willingness to "disassociate itself" from the art work, which depicts a smiling Palestinian suicide bomber, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said at a Jerusalem news conference. "Then and only then will I consider positively what needs to be done," he said.
The conference organizer, Krister Kumlin, has ruled out the exhibit's being removed, saying the Swedish government would never agree to such an act of censorship.
Zvi Mazel, the Israeli ambassador, sparked a diplomatic argument by vandalizing the art work when it went on exhibit at Stockholm's Museum of National Antiquities on Friday.
Despite being ejected from the museum and called into the Swedish Foreign Ministry on Monday, Mazel was unapologetic about his action, saying that the exhibit, which was later repaired, was a "call to kill Israelis."
Titled "Snow White and the Madness of Truth," the art features a tiny sailboat on a pool of red water. Attached to the boat is a photo of the bomber, Hanadi Jaradat, who blew herself up at an Israel restaurant in October, killing 21 Israelis.
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