Torah and bible burning in Stockholm was never going to happen
Swedish national Ahmed Alloush never planned to go through with the burning of holy Jewish texts and the Christian bible and only wanted to make sure authorities weren’t selectively enforcing laws
Ahmed Alloush talks to the media outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, July 15, 2023. The man who said he would burn the Torah and the Bible outside the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm gave up his plan and instead held a one-person demonstration against burning holy books. (Magnus Lejhall/TT News Agency via AP
Swedish police approved the burning of a Bible on Saturday outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm. Alloush faced the media outside the embassy on Saturday, explaining that he had never intended to carry out the threat.
The controversial decision follows similar burnings of the Quran in Sweden by activists that have sparked outrage in the Islamic world.
The police force last week confirmed that it had received an application from a man in his 30s to burn Jewish and Christian holy books outside the embassy on July 15 as “a symbolic gathering for the sake of freedom of speech.”
The demonstration had been slated for Shabbat, when the Israeli embassy is closed and observant Jews attend synagogue services, during which the weekly Torah portion is read.
A recent public opinion poll in Sweden found that the majority of citizens now support a ban on the public burning of religious texts such as the Bible or the Quran.
The head of the Swedish Jewish community came out against a ban on such burnings, saying on Friday that the best course of action was to ignore the situation.
“I would advise individuals to ignore this event and not give it more attention,” Aron Verstandig, chairman of the Council of Swedish Jewish Communities, told JNS. He noted that the local community had tried and apparently failed to prevent the development.
Previous police rejections of similar petitions had been overturned by Swedish courts.
Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel Yitzhak Yosef wrote to Swedish King Carl Gustaf XVI, stating: “Your Highness, I appeal to your noble character and your dedication to promoting peace and tolerance among all people. As a leader of Sweden, a country renowned for its commitment to human rights and religious freedom, I kindly request that you utilise your influence to ensure that the burning of the Holy Bible does not take place.”
He added that “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 civilised society.”
Stockholm had weighed stepping in to change the law to allow police to stop Quran burnings in public in the wake of the damage to the country’s internal security triggered by such events.
Yaakov Hagoel, chairman of the World Zionist Organization, said: “permission to burn a Bible in front of the Israeli embassy in Stockholm is not freedom of expression but antisemitism. Eighty years after the cursed Holocaust and signs we wanted to forget, we are again reminded to stand guard. I also strongly condemn the burning of the Quran. This is not the way of the Jewish people, and I call upon the Swedish government to reverse the decision of the police of allowing the Antisemitic burning of the Bible. Enough to hate.”
Israeli Ambassador to Sweden Ziv Nevo Kulman denounced the police decision.
“I utterly condemn the burning of holy books sacred to any religion as an act of hate and disrespect that has nothing to do with freedom of expression,” he said on Friday.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also said in a statement released on Friday, “I unequivocally condemn the permission granted in Sweden to burn holy books. As 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.
“Permitting the defacement of sacred texts is not an exercise in freedom of expression, it is blatant incitement and an act of pure hate. The whole world must join together in clearly condemning this repulsive act.”
In Australia, co-CEO of The Executive Council of Australian Jewry Peter Wertheim, told J-Wire: “The burning of the sacred texts of any of the world’s recognised religions would be an abomination, an act of hatred, malice and intimidation, that has nothing to do with the free exchange of ideas. The real offenders, in this case, are the Swedish authorities who gave permission for a Torah and a copy of the Christian scriptures to be burned as part of a protest outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm. Their craven, shameful decision evokes historical memories of the burning of Jewish books during pogroms, expulsions, inquisitions and the Holocaust. The words of the German-Jewish philosopher Heinrich Heine should be ringing in their ears: “Wherever they burn books, they will also, in the end, burn human beings”.
AIJAC’s executive director Dr Colin Rubenstein added: “While it has emerged that the person never intended to burn a Torah, it is still very concerning that the Swedish authorities approved his application to do so. Freedom of speech is an important, democratic right, but acts or speech that incite hatred or violence, such as the burning of holy books, go beyond the limits of acceptable free speech and should be prohibited and strongly condemned.”
JNS/J-Wire
