- JERUSALEM -- Israel has demanded
the removal of a "horrifying" exhibit at the Anne Frank museum
in Amsterdam that includes caricatures comparing Ariel Sharon to Adolf
Hitler.
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- The museum has defended the exhibit, saying it is intended
to explore the limits of free speech and includes criticism of the caricatures,
which appear in video footage of a demonstration against Israel.
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- "It is a horrifying exhibition," said Israel's
president, Moshe Katzav. "The attempt to attribute to Israel's leaders
acts which contravene humanitarian values is a distortion and is offensive."
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- Natan Sharansky, a minister in Mr Sharon's cabinet, said
it was further evidence of anti-semitism in Europe. "When at the home
of Anne Frank, one of the archetypal symbols of the tragedy of the Jewish
people, Hitler, is compared to prime minister Ariel Sharon, it is not a
debate on freedom of expression. It is showing contempt for the memory
of the 6 million who were murdered in the Holocaust," he said.
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- A museum spokeswoman said: "The exhibit the Israelis
object to is about the present-day manifestation of anti-semitism.
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- "It includes video footage of a demonstration against
Israel in Amsterdam in April 2002 at which some people carried banners
that had pictures of Hitler and Sharon and asked the question, 'Do you
see a difference, because we don't?'"
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- The video is shown on a split screen. On the other side
is criticism of the banners and other aspects of the demonstration from,
among others, Amsterdam's mayor.
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- "We have used the video to highlight present-day
anti-semitism and to ask the question: is this too much freedom of speech?"
the spokeswoman said. "It is for the visitor to decide the answer
but we categorically reject any comparison between Sharon and Hitler."
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- Told of this explanation yesterday, an aide to Mr Sharansky
said Anne Frank's house was the wrong place to show such pictures, whatever
the intent.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1135673,00.html
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