Zvi Mazel - Stand On Sweden

Stand On Sweden

While serving as an ambassador, Mazel became a controversial figure in Sweden. Once, in reaction to a call to highlight that products from Israeli settlements sometimes had been labeled to fit into the EU-Isarel tax-free trade agreement, Mazel stated that the Swedish Archbishop K. G. Hammar "probably is an anti-semite." He has also been quoted as saying that Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh's criticism of Israel's alleged human rights violations could not be tolerated. Mazel also called former foreign minister Sten Andersson and Sweden's UN ambassador Pierre Schori "professional anti-Israelis."

At the same time Mazel embraced personalities seen as controversial in Sweden as "Israel-friendly". Most nooted was when Mazel 2003 appeared on a well known picture with Mr. Helge Fossmo, at that time only known as leader of an ultra-conservative religious group, later imprisoned as the person behind the most spectacular murder case in Swedens modern history (Knutby murder).

In January 2004, he vandalized the art installation Snow White and The Madness of Truth by Israeli-Swedish artist Dror Feiler and his wife Gunilla Sköld Feiler. The installation took advantage of the reflecting pool at the courtyard of Historiska Museet, that was highlighted and filled with red liquid signifying blood. The work further consisted of plaques with poetry on the surrounding walls and music by J.S. Bach. Well-lit on the surface of a basin: a styrofoam boat, displaying a portrait of the Palestinian suicide bomber Hanadi Jaradat on one side and the word "Snövit" ("Snow White" in Swedish) written on the backside. After pushing some lightstands into the pool, causing a short-circuit and disabling the light, ambassador Mazel told Feiler that: "This is not a work of art. This is an expression of hatred for the Israeli people. This has glorified suicide bombers". Further he said to the press that the piece constituted a "complete legitimization of genocide, the murder of innocent people, innocent civilians, under the guise of culture". Feiler rejected charges that their intention was to glorify suicide bombers and accused Mazel of "practicing censorship".

Mazel stated that "Sweden is among the most severely anti-Semitic places" with "daily agitations in the media to kill Jews." Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon later thanked Mazel "for his stand against the growing wave of anti-Semitism" in Sweden. Zvi Mazel retired from the foreign service in April 2004 at age 65.

In August 2009 and in response to the Swedish government's refusal to reprimand the tabloid Aftonbladet for publishing allegations that Israel harvested organs from killed Palestinians, Zvi Mazel made several statements about the press in Sweden. He said that that there is no freedom of press in Sweden (Reporters Without Borders, in its 2009 press freedom index rankings showed that Sweden shared the top position with four other countries.) Mazel also said that the Social Democrats control the news with about 80% of the newspapers are connected to the Social Democrat movement, including the "four national papers". The newspaper Sydsvenska Dagbladet commented that Mazel perhaps was alluding to the national papers Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, Aftonbladet and Expressen, and noted that of these four, Aftonbladet was the only one with a possible Social Democrat connection, as the trade union has a 9% share in the newspaper. According to Helle Klein, Zvi Mazel's ideas about Sweden may be from people like Helge Fossmo and other Christian extremists.