Tel Aviv - An Israeli art exhibition featuring photos of Palestinian suicide bombers pasted on to classic Madonna with Child paintings was cancelled on Thursday amid protests from victims' families.
The works, entitled "Ferror (Female Terrorism)" by two Israeli artists, show the faces of seven Palestinian women suicide bombers grafted on to famous paintings of the Virgin Mary.
Neither the organisers nor the artists could be reached for comment, but several hours ahead of the planned opening workers were seen removing the paintings from the walls of a Tel Aviv gallery.
News of the planned exhibition, carried on the front page of Israel's largest daily Yediot Aharonot under the headline "Holy Terrorists," sparked outrage and calls for it to be cancelled.
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'It's not a subject that should be portrayed positively' "We have to make it clear to these artists, who think using suicide bombers is artistic, that they are hurting people," Yossi Tzur, whose son was killed in a 2003 bus bombing, told public radio.
"It's not a subject that should be portrayed positively. These are monsters who killed dozens of people," added Tzur, who filed a complaint with police alleging that the exhibition was an incitement to violence.
In the paintings the artists have taken pictures of the women bombers in traditional Muslim headscarves and imposed them on classic paintings including a Madonna and Child by Italian Renaissance artist Raphael.
The artists defended their work, saying it was meant to question how these women had become suicide bombers.
"In the warped world of extremism, love in the heart of a woman is replaced by such hatred that even motherhood is replaced by desire for annihilation and mayhem," artist Galina Bleikh wrote on her website. - AFP
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