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.

  • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    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?