Israeli officials protested to Sweden on Friday after local police gave the go-ahead to a request to allow the burning of a Bible outside of the Israeli embassy in Stockholm on Saturday, saying that the decision was tantamount to a “hate crime.”
Local police two weeks ago said they had received an application from an individual in his 30s to burn a Jewish and a Christian Bible outside Israel’s Embassy in Stockholm on July 15 as “a symbolic gathering for the sake of freedom of speech.”
It comes just weeks after Quran burnings took place in the city. It was not immediately clear if the person planned to burn a copy of the Bible or a Torah scroll. The move sparked widespread outrage in Israel and Jewish groups. President Isaac Herzog said the act was one of “pure hate.”
“I unequivocally condemn the permission granted in Sweden to burn holy books. As the President of the State of Israel, I condemned the burning of the Quran, sacred to Muslims world over, and I am now heartbroken that the same fate awaits a Jewish Bible, the eternal book of the Jewish people,” Herzog said in a statement.
“Permitting the defacement of sacred texts is not an exercise in freedom of expression, it is blatant incitement and an act of pure hate. The whole world must join together in clearly condemning this repulsive act.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “Israel viewed very severely this shameful decision to harm the holy of holies of the Jewish people.”
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen also condemned the plans and said the ministry had conveyed to the Swedish embassy in Israel “the severity with which Israel views the police permission to harm sacred Jewish objects.”
Cohen called the decision “a hate crime, a provocation causing grave harm to the Jewish people and Jewish tradition.” “I call on the authorities in Sweden to prevent this shameful act,” he said.
Israel’s Ambassador to Sweden Ziv Nevo Kulman on Friday expressed his dismay over the fact Stockholm gave the request a green light.
“I utterly condemn the burning of holy books sacred to any religion, as an act of hate and disrespect, that has nothing to do with freedom of expression,” he tweeted.
Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau also sent a letter to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson urging him to stop the desecration.
