In November 2003 it was ‘Snow White,’ in February 2004 ‘Anti-Semite in the Name of God’ and now there’s ‘Wall: Fragments of History’:
Israel’s ambassador to Oslo has protested to Norwegian authorities over a sculpture she considers insulting to her country.
It is the second time this year she has protested over a controversial artwork.
In a letter to the culture ministry and the Oslo city authorities, envoy Liora Herzl denounced a statue on display in the central Youngstorget Square which links Israel with the Holocaust, greed and a notorious massacre of Palestinians.
The artwork, by the late sculptor Sigurd Bjoern Engvik and entitled Wall: Fragments of History, represents an abuse of freedom of speech, Ms Herzl said in her letter.
The artwork combines symbols and inscriptions, depicting the star of David drenched in blood, dollar signs and words such as “murder”, Sabra” and “Shatila,” a reference to the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon where hundreds of people were killed in September 1982 with the complicity of the Israeli armed forces.
“Criticism is important, legitimate and part of the democratic system,” Ms Herzl said, but asked: “When the criticism gives associations to Holocaust and includes blood-dripping stars of David and implications of greed through the use of dollar signs … is this then political criticism or is it something completely different?
“To me, this sculpture misuses freedom of expression in the worst possible way and in my opinion should not be allowed to be exposed in a public place,” she said.
The sculpture also incorporates the date November 29, 1947 – the day on which the United Nations approved the creation of two states, one Arab and the other Israeli – allied to the word “Israel” followed immediately by the word “holocaust,” with a star of David inserted between each letter.
