A controversial mural depicting Anne Frank wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh has appeared in Bergen, Norway, igniting a fierce debate about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
The work, created by anonymous street artist Töddel, draws parallels between Holocaust victims and Palestinian civilians while criticizing Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip.
The piece, titled “Death of the Innocent,” is a commentary on the Israeli state’s “genocide” of thousands of Palestinian children and women, according to a press release the artist sent to the TV 2 network.
“The work is also a comment on Israeli public figures’ attempts to turn all calls for humanitarianism into antisemitism. It’s too shameful, and they cannot get away with it even though we’re living in 2024,” according to the statement.
Earlier this month, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz rejected a request from his Norwegian counterpart Espen Barth Eide for an official visit to Israel. The decision came in the wake of Oslo’s controversial recognition of a Palestinian state and its stance on the Gaza War.
In April, Israel’s Foreign Ministry lashed out at the Norwegian government after Oslo in a statement marking six months since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks blamed Israeli forces in Gaza for a “complete breakdown in compliance with international humanitarian law.”
Also in July, a statue of Anne Frank located near the famed Holocaust diarist’s first home in Amsterdam was graffitied with the word “Gaza.”
Frank, her older sister and their parents lived in an apartment at Merwede Square 37-2 after moving to the Dutch capital from Nazi Germany in 1938. They went into hiding four years later. The only video of the teenager was captured from outside this apartment on July 22, 1941.
Originally published by Israel Hayom.
