A spat between Israel and Sweden over a controversial Stockholm art exhibit showing a Palestinian martyr bomber turned into a full-scale diplomatic row yesterday when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stepped into the fray. The dispute erupted on Friday after Israel's ambassador to Sweden, Zvi Mazel, was thrown out of Stockholm's Museum of National Antiquities for vandalising an art work showing the photo of the Palestinian female bomber who killed 21 Israelis at a restaurant in northern Israel in October. Israel has demanded that Sweden dismantle the installation, but its request has been refused. The incident, widely reported in the Swedish media, occurred at the opening of the "Making Differences" exhibit, part of an upcoming international conference on genocide hosted by the Swedish government and in which Israel is scheduled to participate. Dubbed "Snow White and the Madness of Truth", the exhibit showed a tiny sailboat floating on a pool of red water. Attached to the boat was a smiling photo of the female bomber, Hanadi Jaradat. The ambassador was caught on videotape tearing down one of the spotlights and throwing it into the water, causing the installation to short-circuit. He was later asked by museum director Kristian Berg to leave. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday backed Mazel's actions. "I called our Zvi Mazel, our ambassador in Sweden to thank him for his actions in the face of this fresh outbreak of anti-Semitism, and I told him he had the support of the government in this incident," Sharon told a weekly cabinet meeting. "We are witnessing the rise of anti-Semitism across the whole world and particularly in Europe where this phenomenon is taking on dangerous proportions ... Ambassador Mazel behaved exactly as he needed to," he said. Israeli officials called the exhibit an incitement to hatred. "The Swedish government cannot remain indifferent and should take steps to remove it," foreign ministry spokesman David Saranger said. But museum director Kristian Berg said he would do no such thing. "We will display this entire exhibit for the length of time that was initially planned, including this installation. But we will also send an invitation to Israel's ambassador to come to an open discussion about this piece of art, about his actions and about art and freedom of expression." The Swedish foreign ministry has said however that it would summon Mazel yesterday to give an account of his conduct, describing what he did as "unacceptable". **PHOTO CAPTION*** Ariel Sharon opens the weekly cabinet meeting in his Jerusalem office Sunday, Jan. 18, 2004. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, Pool)