There are ways and ways of screaming

As someone deeply interested in culture and art, I was fascinated and troubled to read about how the Israeli ambassador to Sweden, Zvi Mazel, last weekend vandalized a piece of art glorifying an Arab suicide bomber.

This is a minor incident that probably won’t even rate a footnote in future histories of Israel’s struggle for survival, but it displays something important about our lives in our culture — how hard it is to uphold and continue to believe in such wonderful values as freedom of speech and of expression when they are being used against us.

The work in question is particularly provocative for its creators and the context of its display. The piece, called “Snow White and the Madness of Truth,” is built around a photograph of Hanadai Jaradet, a Palestinian woman who murdered more than 20 people in a suicide bombing in Haifa last October. The photo is mounted on a white boat floating in a pool of blood-red water.

It was created by Dror Feiler, a kibbutz-born artist who renounced his Israeli citizenship, and his wife, Gunilla Skold Feiler. And it was being shown in Stockholm’s Museum of National Antiquities in anticipation of a coming conference in that city on “Preventing Genocide: Threats and Responsibilities,” to which Israel was invited.

The conference was supposed to contain no references to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Mazel was monitoring compliance closely, according to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency article. But the museum’s administration or the sponsoring organization of the conference, the Stockholm International Forum, either didn’t get the message or ignored it in planning the exhibition. When the exhibit opened, Mazel took one look at “Snow White” and went on an undiplomatic rampage. He unplugged lamps around the display, throwing one into the water; then interrupted a presentation by Feiler and ended up being thrown out of the museum.

Mazel’s act may not have been as spontaneous as it looked. The Jerusalem Post reported Mazel’s actions “were premeditated and discussed beforehand with other Foreign Ministry officials.” In any event, he received the public support of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and his government threatened to boycott the genocide conference — a threat that was withdrawn as of this writing Wednesday.

This event may not have made much news here, but it has provoked a lot of discussion in Israel. Liberal papers like Ha’aretz condemned Mazel for trashing freedom of speech and coming across like a thug, reinforcing the bad image much of Europe already has of Israel. The Jerusalem Post, however, editorialized that “Mazel was communicating his point in the only way possible” today; “he chose to scream. But screaming was the only option Europe now gives Israel.”

Maybe so, but there are ways and ways of screaming. As a Chinese proverb says, “The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out,” and there are other ideas that could have been tried.

I don’t defend the Feilers’ piece. It and its message infuriate and disgust me as much as they did Mazel. Moreover, the staffs of the museum and the Stockholm International Forum should be held accountable for not following the agreement regarding the exhibit and conference.

But the way to fight is not by physically attacking the piece. It is by using freedom of speech and expression in one’s own cause; it is to speak and express and create back. This could have been done in any number of ways: perhaps by throwing into the piece’s pool floatable photographs of Jaradet’s victims, or by carrying those photos on placards in a demonstration inside or outside the museum.

I have been a professional critic, but I have always believed that the best criticism of a creative work or act is another creative work or act. Similarly, the way to counter art one finds disgusting or offensive is to create art one finds meaningful or beautiful — or, if one can’t create oneself, then find and support those who do.

Much as I share the emotions, for Israel’s government to justify vandalizing “Snow White” does more harm than good; and I wish Mazel and others had taken the time and energy to find a creative response rather than a destructive one.