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Politics : Israel to U.S. : Now Deal with Syria and Iran -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas M. who wrote (4219)	1/17/2004 4:42:26 PM
From: Crimson Ghost	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22250

Israeli Ambassador Kicked Out of Swedish Museum After Vandalizing Art STOCKHOLM - Israel's ambassador to Sweden was kicked out of Stockholm's Museum of National Antiquities after he destroyed an artwork featuring a picture of a Palestinian suicide bomber, the artists said. The incident, widely reported in the Swedish media, occurred at the opening on Friday of the "Making Differences" exhibit, part of an upcoming international conference on genocide hosted by the Swedish government and in which Israel is scheduled to participate. Swedish artists Gunilla Skoeld Feiler (L) and Israeli born Dror Feiler stand behind their restored art installation, called Snow White in Stockholm's Museum of National Antiquities courtyard. (AFP/Sven Nackstrand) Sweden's foreign ministry said Saturday it would summon ambassador Zvi Mazel to a meeting to explain himself. "We will contact him on Monday to arrange a meeting. We want to give him a chance to explain himself. We feel that it is unacceptable for him to destroy art in this way," ministry spokeswoman Anna Larsson told AFP. The art installation, called Snow White and located in the museum's courtyard, featured a basin filled with red water, designed to look like blood. A sailboat with the name Snow White floated on the water, and placed like a sail was a photo of a smiling Hanadi Jaradat, the female lawyer who blew herself up in the Haifa suicide bombing attack in October which killed 21 Israelis. "For me it was intolerable and an insult to the families of the victims. As ambassador to Israel I could not remain indifferent to such an obscene misrepresentation of reality," the ambassador told Swedish news agency TT. According to museum director Kristian Berg, the ambassador went berserk in front of the 400 specially-invited guests when he saw the piece. "He pulled out the plugs and threw one of the spotlights into the fountain which caused the entire installation to short-circuit and made it totally life-threatening," he told TT. One of the two artists who created the work, Israeli-born Dror Feiler, told AFP the ambassador was "totally unreasonable and undiplomatic" and would not listen to his explanations. "He said he was ashamed that I was a Jew," Feiler said. "We see this as an offensive assault on our right to express our thoughts and feelings." The other artist, Feiler's Swedish wife Gunilla Skoeld Feiler, told daily Expressen that the work was "not a glorification of the suicide bomber." "I wanted to show how incomprehensible it is that a mother-of-two, who is a lawyer no less, can do such a thing," she said. "When I saw her picture in the paper, I thought she looked like Snow White, that's why I gave that name to the piece," she added. Dror Feiler was to perform a piece of music but refused to do so as long as the ambassador remained at the scene. "Ultimately we had to escort the ambassador out of the museum," museum director Berg said, adding that 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," he said. The museum's artistic director, Thomas Nordanstad, said he had given the artists the go-ahead to create the piece, and had "hoped it would lead to an artistic dialogue". The artwork was repaired and was on Saturday on view to the public, despite Israel's insistence that it be disassembled. It was not immediately known whether the incident would affect Israel's participation at the "Stockholm International Forum -- Preventing Genocide" conference, which is to take place January 26-28. © 2004 AFP

To: Thomas M. who wrote (4219)	1/19/2004 4:29:01 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22250

There's bad blood between Israel and Britain ever since the latter broke rank with the Judeofascists on the proper course of action vis-a-vis Iran.... Whereas Judeofascists in both the US and Israel press for escalating the anti-Iranian campaign, the Brits have sided with the French and the Germans in appeasing Iran. After the mugging of Lord Levy and the bombing of British interests in Istanbul by the Mossad, Israel appoints a Russian Mafioso as its next ambassador in the UK --what's next? The bombing of a British airliner en route to Egypt? Israeli envoy snub to British Jews Israel snubs British Jews with appointment of ambassador Chris McGreal in Jerusalem Monday January 19, 2004 The Guardian The Israeli government yesterday overrode objections from Britain's Jewish community and appointed a new ambassador to London whose selection has been described as an "insult" because he is said to lack diplomatic experience and speak poor English. Leading British Jews have been lobbying for weeks against the political appointment of Zvi Hefetz, a Russian-born lawyer who is a close friend of Ariel Sharon's eldest son and deputy chairman of a pro-Sharon newspaper. They want an experienced diplomat to fill the post. A delegation from the British Board of Jewish Deputies, which sees poor public relations rather than government policies as the cause of criticism of Israel in Britain, met Mr Sharon in Jerusalem last week. Members pressed for Mr Hefetz to be replaced with a media-savvy envoy able to put across Israel's case in the British press. But yesterday the Israeli cabinet rebuffed those concerns and voted to dispatch Mr Hefetz, even though some ministers said they were uneasy with the choice. Mr Hefetz, 47, is a successful businessman who is co-owner of a leading Tel Aviv basketball team and deputy chairman of Maariv, a pro-Sharon newspaper. He is also the lawyer who represents the fugitive Russian media baron, Vladimir Gusinsky. Alarm bells rang in Britain's Jewish community after Mr Hefetz admitted to a vetting panel that his command of spoken English was limited. There was also unease at his ties to Omri Sharon and the Russian oligarchy. Some Jewish leaders saw the political appointment of Mr Hefetz as evidence that the Israeli government does not take the choice of ambassador to London sufficiently seriously. Last week Joy Wolfe, the president of the Manchester Zionist Central Council and a prominent pro-Israel lobbyist, circulated an email to fellow activists. "I am in despair," she wrote. "Will those responsible for diplomatic appointments in the UK never learn? And do they not care that their inappropriate choices are a total insult to those of us who devote a large portion of our lives to trying to promote Israel's good name? If being an ambassador is just a political gift, then it is time many of us voted with our feet and hearts and walked away." London's Jewish Chronicle ran a fierce editorial against the appointment. The delegation that met Mr Sharon did not name names to but sought a different appointment. "I did not say a word to the prime minister about Hefetz," said Henry Grunwald, president of the board of deputies. "We did make the point that it is very important that the good case that Israel has to meet so many of the unfair criticisms that are made in the world's media has to be put across well and it is necessary to ensure that spokesmen are proficient in the language they need. "Obviously there was concern expressed that as important a position as ambassador to the UK must be filled by someone who meets that." Mr Hefetz will replace another political appointment, Zvi Shtauber, who has also been widely criticised within Britain's Jewish community for his heavily accented English, for rarely appearing in the media and for his poor handling of issues such as the Israeli army's killing of the British peace activist, Tom Hurndall. But he is respected for fighting Israel's corner in the corridors of Whitehall. However, Israeli officials are angered at what they saw as unreasonable criticism. "The British Board of Deputies came here and they go to the prime minister and say that they don't see Israeli officials on television, but on the other hand Hanan Ashrawi [the prominent Palestinian negotiator] is always on television," a senior foreign ministry official said. "Ashrawi hasn't been on television for two years. She said she had quit because she can't compete with the Israeli PR machine. When a community sends a delegation here and makes such unserious remarks to the prime minister, do they have the right to tell us how we should run our diplomacy?" Now Mr Hefetz has been appointed, Britain's Jewish leaders have swung behind him. "I have no doubt the British Jewish community will look forward to welcoming and working with him," Mr Grunwald said. Yesterday Ms Wolfe said she had sent her email "in an emotional moment" and that she would not follow through on her threat to walk away from lobbying for Israel. "My long history of support for Zionism and Israel is by far the most important factor and I will obviously continue to help and support Israel in any way I can," she said. On Friday the Jewish Chronicle dropped its objection to Mr Hefetz after saying it had discovered that he does speak English, albeit with a Russian accent. guardian.co.uk