Jerusalem ? Reflecting a deepening rift with Europe, Israel’s ambassador to Sweden received strong support here from home Sunday after vandalizing a Stockholm art exhibit he saw as glorifying Palestinian suicide bombers.

Zvi Mazel’s outburst — captured on security camera before he was escorted from Sweden’s Museum of National Antiquities — added fuel to a debate over artistic freedom and Europe’s views about Israel. But Mazel said those were minor issues compared to what he described as a tide of European anti-Semitism that reminded him of the eve of World War II.

“This exhibit was the culmination of dozens of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish events in Sweden,” the veteran diplomat told The Associated Press by phone. “When you don’t protest, it gets worse and worse. It had to be stopped somehow, even by deviating from the behavior of the buttoned-down diplomat.”

The exhibit opened in tandem with an international conference on preventing genocide set for this month in Stockholm, but is not tied to it. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman David Saranga said the exhibit broke an understanding Israel had with Sweden that the genocide conference would not include the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

There has long been debate over where criticism of Israel ends and anti-Semitism begins. But the current round touched a deeper chord, because many Israelis feel outsiders accept the Palestinians’ use of suicide bombings against civilians.

Suicide bomber featured

The exhibit, titled “Snow White and the Madness of Truth,” depicts a small ship in a pool of red-colored water. The ship carries a picture of Islamic Jihad bomber Hanadi Jaradat, who killed herself and 21 bystanders on Oct. 4 in Haifa.

On the video, an agitated Mazel is seen yanking a power cable to turn off the exhibit’s lights and throwing a spotlight at it. Before being kicked out, he tells onlookers that Jaradat “murdered 21 of my brothers and sisters.”

The outburst made front pages in Israel and Sweden, dominated airwaves and brought Mazel a supportive phone call from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Sharon told his Cabinet he thanked Mazel “for his strength in dealing with increasing anti-Semitism, and told him that the entire government stands behind him.”

“Not acceptable”

In Stockholm, Per Nuder, Sweden’s minister for policy coordination, said the ambassador’s behavior was inexcusable. “You may have different opinions on works of art, but the way in which he expressed his opinion is not acceptable,” he said Sunday.

Mazel said a revival of European anti-Semitism — intensified by anti-American feelings and the growing influence of Muslim minorities in Europe — has caused a heavy pro-Palestinian bias in Europe and endangered Jewish lives.

“We are in the 1930s now: That is the feeling of many of us who know history,” Mazel said.

Such fears have been fed by a recent poll that found 59 percent of Europeans consider Israel a threat to peace and statements by popular Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis calling Israel “the root of evil.”