Israeli police have arrested an American tourist at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem after he hurled works of art to the floor, defacing two second-century Roman statues.

The vandalism late Thursday raised questions about the safety of Israel’s priceless collections and stirred concern about a rise in attacks on cultural heritage in Jerusalem.

Police identified the suspect as a radical 40-year-old Jewish American tourist and said initial questioning suggested he smashed the statues because he considered them “to be idolatrous and contrary to the Torah.”

The man’s lawyer, Nick Kaufman, denied that he had acted out of religious fanaticism.

  • Greater Than Stupid
    link
    fedilink
    English
    31 year ago

    why are they always Americans? if i ever travel abroad, I’m gonna say I’m Canadian. Heck, I’m already a Habs fan, I say ‘eh’ in conversation, and drink Tim Hortons coffee, I’m halfway there!

      • Greater Than Stupid
        link
        fedilink
        English
        01 year ago

        you’d think that, but they didn’t say ‘a jewish man’ or ‘a jew’, or just ‘a man’, and they mentioned another American who did the same thing. So Nationality matters.

        • @wahming@monyet.cc
          link
          fedilink
          English
          81 year ago

          You might want to reread the article, and how it’s specifically noted they suspect the cause to be fanaticism. Also, all the other cases mentioned were perpetrated by Jews as well, and the context hints that it’s due to the ultra conservative faction.

    • Dudewitbow
      link
      fedilink
      English
      81 year ago

      Its because of where you hear news.

      For instance, if you got japanese news and hear which tourists destroy shrines for instance, its usually asian tourists.

    • @zephyreks@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      01 year ago

      America doesn’t practice secularism basically at all. As a result, religious fanaticism plays a huge role in American politics and thus American mentality.