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NEW DELHI: Israeli Police has arrested a US tourist at a museum in Jerusalem for hurling works of art to the floor and defacing two second-century Roman statues as he considered them “to be idolatrous and contrary to the Torah”, reported news agency AP.
In the initial questioning after detention from Israle Museum, the cops identified the tourist as a radical 40-year-old man. The officials did not make his name public to a gag order.
Later his lawyer, Nick Kaufman rubbished the claims that the man acted out of “religious fanaticism”.
According to AP, Kaufman said, the man was “suffering from a mental disorder that psychiatrists have labelled the Jerusalem syndrome”. The syndrome is a condition that causes foreign pilgrims to believe themselves as figures from the Bible.
The incident in Jeruselum, holy to Christians, Jews and Muslims, has also raised concern for the safety of artefacts and other precious articles.
Meanwhile, the defendant has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
With religious passions burning and tensions simmering during the Jewish holiday season, spitting and other assaults on Christian worshippers by radical ultra-Orthodox Jews have been on the rise, reported the AP.
Meanwhile, the renowned Israel Museum, which accommodates an array of archaeology, fine arts, and artefacts of Jewish art described Thursday’s incident as a “troubling and unusual event”, adding that it “condemns all forms of violence and hopes such incidents will not recur”.
“This is a shocking case of the destruction of cultural values,” Eli Escusido, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority was quoted as saying by the AP.
“We see with concern the fact that cultural values are being destroyed by religiously motivated extremists,” he added.
In the initial questioning after detention from Israle Museum, the cops identified the tourist as a radical 40-year-old man. The officials did not make his name public to a gag order.
Later his lawyer, Nick Kaufman rubbished the claims that the man acted out of “religious fanaticism”.
According to AP, Kaufman said, the man was “suffering from a mental disorder that psychiatrists have labelled the Jerusalem syndrome”. The syndrome is a condition that causes foreign pilgrims to believe themselves as figures from the Bible.
The incident in Jeruselum, holy to Christians, Jews and Muslims, has also raised concern for the safety of artefacts and other precious articles.
Meanwhile, the defendant has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
With religious passions burning and tensions simmering during the Jewish holiday season, spitting and other assaults on Christian worshippers by radical ultra-Orthodox Jews have been on the rise, reported the AP.
Meanwhile, the renowned Israel Museum, which accommodates an array of archaeology, fine arts, and artefacts of Jewish art described Thursday’s incident as a “troubling and unusual event”, adding that it “condemns all forms of violence and hopes such incidents will not recur”.
“This is a shocking case of the destruction of cultural values,” Eli Escusido, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority was quoted as saying by the AP.
“We see with concern the fact that cultural values are being destroyed by religiously motivated extremists,” he added.
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