Torah burning: After the burning of Quran on the occasion of Id-al-Adha outside the Central Mosque in Stockholm by an Iraqi refuge, Swedish authorities have granted permission to burn Torah and Christian Bible outside the premises of Israeli embassy on Saturday. Israel’s President Isaac Herzog has said that the “Permitting the defacement of sacred texts is not an exercise in freedom of expression, it is blatant incitement and an act of pure hate.”
“As the President of the State of Israel, I condemned the burning of the Quran, sacred to Muslims the world over, and I am now heartbroken that the same fate awaits a Jewish Bible, the eternal book of the Jewish people,” he further added.
As per Swedish authorities police has issued permit was for three people to demonstrate by descerating a Hebrew Bible and Christian Bible outside Israeli Embassy in Stockholm. Stockholm police has stated that any public gathering is only refused when there are possibilities of disruption or concerns for public safety.
Israel condemns the act
President Isaac Herzog of Israel has expressed that there is a need for world to openly condemn the sacrilege act of burning religious books.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel takes this shameful decision very seriously, ‘which harms the Holy of Holies of the Jewish people,’ he further added. Meanwhile Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has requested Swedish authorities to stop the burning of the Old Testament. Israel’s Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef has urged King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden to intervene “By preventing this event from occurring, you would send a powerful message to the world that Sweden stands firmly against religious intolerance and that such acts have no place in a civilized society.”
Burning of Religious books in Sweden
The burning of Quran on the occassion of Eid-al-Adha was the second act of burning the holy book. Earlier right wing protestors had burned Quran outside Turkey’s Embassy in Stockholm earlier this year. Recently United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) had approved a measure to prevent religious hatred in light of incident in Sweden.
The government of Sweden had itself described the decision to burn Quran as ‘Islamophobic’ but made a note on freedom of assembly, expression and demonstration which is a constitutional right. As per AFP Carina Skagerlind, press officer for Stockholm police has stated “The police does not issue permits to burn various religious texts — the police issues permits to hold a public gathering and express an opinion .An important distinction.”
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