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.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
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.”
Museum photos showed the marble head of the goddess Athena knocked off its pedestal onto the floor and a statue of a pagan deity shattered into fragments.
The Israeli government expressed alarm over the defacement, which officials also attributed to Jewish iconoclasm in obedience to early prohibitions against idolatry.
“This is a shocking case of the destruction of cultural values,” said Eli Escusido, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
On Friday morning, about 16 hours after the defacement at the museum, the doors opened to the public at the regularly scheduled time.
The original article contains 455 words, the summary contains 150 words. Saved 67%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
STOP DESTROYING HISTORY BECAUSE OF YOUR SUPERSTITIONS, ASSHOLES!
Also, there simply isn’t a Jewish rule about defacing non-Jewish idols. It is 100% completely, utterly irrelevant to the Jewish religion when a goy declares a statue to be of their deity, e.g. Athena. The only relevant law in Judaism bans jews from worshipping idols.
Instead, Kaufman said, the tourist was suffering from a mental disorder that psychiatrists have labeled the Jerusalem syndrome. The condition — a form of disorientation believed to be induced by the religious magnetism of the city, which is sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims — is said to cause foreign pilgrims to believe they are figures from the Bible.
Well that’s a new one
Simpsons already did it
Ah well that explains why everyone who visits the city tries to destroy it. Wait, what do you mean they don’t?
That’s as ridiculous as saying that because not everyone who eats spoiled food gets ill, no one that eats spoiled food gets ill… 🤦♀️
People are different. 🤯
Ah so it’s not everyone but still common?
Obviously common enough to have a disorder named after it.
Go fuck yourself, Nick. Can we just shove all the religious zealots onto an island and laugh as they rip each other to shreds?
That’s… kind of Isreal / Jerusalem. Just not an island
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That sounds like a ring of hell
Please include lawyers and I’m all in.
Ooh, a new Snake Pliskin movie!
Sadly, that would have to be one huge island.
Something like North America
We’d also need a big peninsula. Like the middle east
Which is peskily not much of an island
The Panama canal made it an island, although it will be a poor defense against the theistic hordes
That’s why Im saying it isn’t much of one.
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!
It’s not always Americans, for example the kid who cut down the tree at Hadrian’s wall last week was English.
Sounds like the religious fanatic part is more relevant than the nationality
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.
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.
It only hints while the nationality is always front and center. For better or for worse.
Make sure you comment how awful the Tim’s is, lest you get found out as a fake canadian
@greaterthanstupid ISIL bulldozed and dynamited World Heritage sites to rubble. The Taliban blew up the Bamiyan Buddahs. It’s not always Americans.
Yeah I mean, that’s generally what terrorist organizations do.
We’re referring to a single man here lol
ISIS, now that’s a name that I haven’t heard in a very long time…
I honestly hardly ever meet american tourists that are rude or behaving “wrong”. I met one old maga guy some time ago that lost his shit when no one spoke american in a super remote petrol station in the middle of Switzerland, and i refused to talk to him.
Pretty much everyone else was almost too nice. If you want to generalize really bad behaving tourists, i would look in the direction of china.As an American international traveler, that’s great to hear! I don’t know why, but I’m still pleasantly surprised when I’m warmly accepted.
There’s usually a bit of a quiz on politics first. Like a “is this one of the rabid ones?” kind of side eye. But that’s cleared up quickly.
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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.
America doesn’t practice secularism basically at all. As a result, religious fanaticism plays a huge role in American politics and thus American mentality.
Just another American religious nutcase. The only surprise here is that he is not an evangelical nut job for a change.
Athena and Athens by proxy are probably older then the Torah, jackass. Shesh some people are just fucking idiots.
Anyways, the Athena imagery from the ancient times is always so cool. She was one of the gods that actually looked out of the people, why would you want to destroy something dedicated to her?
Arachne and Medusa says WTF do you mean Athena looked out for people? Athena was petty AF
Lel, still salty about Titus & Hadrian I see.
I hope he gets to pay a badrillion dollar or they make him in to an art piece or something.
Why is there no pictures of the statues?
New display at the museum: Vandal in Carbonite; mixed media, 2023
Why is there no pictures of the statues?
Because they were smashed, silly
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.
Can’t you just pick one thing? smh
the best prosecutor is usually the defendant
