American Jewish Tourist Destroys ‘Blasphemous’ Ancient Roman Statues in Jerusalem Museum for Being ‘in Violation of the Torah’
Chris Menahan
An American Jewish tourist on Thursday smashed two ancient Roman statues dating back to the 2nd century AD held at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem for being “blasphemous” and “in violation of the Torah.”
From YNetNews, “US tourist destroys ‘blasphemous’ Roman statues at the Israel Museum”:
An American Jewish tourist was arrested on Thursday after he allegedly vandalized and destroyed two ancient statues in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The man who was described to be in his 40s told the police that the statues were against the Torah. They were Roman statues from the second century and were part of the museum’s regular exhibit.
The American’s actions were detected by museum security guards who detained him and awaited the police. “This is an unusual incident,” the museum said in a statement.
“One statue is a marble depiction of the goddess Athena that was found in excavations at Beit She’an in the 1960s. The second was of the mythological creature Griffin, who was the symbol of divinity in the Roman pagan era and found in the Negev,” Eli Escusido, head of Israel Antiquities Authority said. “This is a shocking case of destruction of cultural heritage. We view with great concern the fact that religious extremists take such action,” he said.
The destruction of these priceless artifacts comes amid an explosion of anti-Gentile hate in Israel, with Christians being spat on, abused, discriminated against and persecuted for their beliefs while the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu does little to nothing to hold their abusers to account.
Israelis spit at Christian pilgrims at Jerusalem’s Lion Gate. pic.twitter.com/fQPguCLwjx
— Censored Men (@CensoredMen) October 3, 2023
In February, a Jewish supremacist from America desecrated a statue of Jesus inside a Jerusalem church.
Jewish man destroy statue of Jesus in a church in occupied Jerusalem, Palestine.
The suspect is a Jewish extremist according to one of the church guards, israeli police claim he is an American tourist. #IsraeliTerrorism pic.twitter.com/cOU4CBteVw
— Monsieur Larkin ♘ (@Hakicat) February 2, 2023
“We cannot have idols in Jerusalem,” the Jewish-American vandal said. “This is a very serious matter, we cannot worship stones of false gods in Jerusalem.”
As I reported yesterday, rather than condemn these disgusting attacks and pressure the Israeli government to bring them to an end, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas rewarded Israel last week by welcoming their country into the Visa Waiver Program which allows their citizens to travel to America without a visa.
This designation signals an important step in strengthening our shared security interests and further enhances our collaboration on counterterrorism, law enforcement, and other common priorities. (2/2) pic.twitter.com/aoqPhP5mJq
— Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (@SecMayorkas) September 29, 2023
