Swedish police today, Friday, approved a request from a Swedish citizen to burn a copy of the Torah tomorrow in front of the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, two and a half weeks after allowing another activist to burn a Koran outside a mosque in the capital.
According to the Hebrew channel "INEWS24," the identity of the man who wanted to set the Torah on fire is not yet known, but it seems he also aims to challenge Sweden's commitment to the principle of freedom of expression, a principle that has led the country to also permit the burning of a copy of the Quran.
The channel reported that Muslim and Jewish leaders in Sweden are exerting pressure behind the scenes on that man to refrain from burning the Torah, but they have not succeeded so far.
Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, sent a letter last week to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, urging him to order a ban on the burning of the Torah, but his government has not intervened in this matter.
Today, Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned Sweden’s decision to allow the burning of the Torah, stating: "I strongly condemn the permission granted in Sweden to burn sacred books. As President of the State of Israel, I condemned the burning of the Quran, sacred to Muslims around the world, and I am now saddened that the same fate awaits the Jewish Bible, the eternal book of the Jewish people."
He viewed the allowance of defacing sacred texts not as an exercise in freedom of expression, but rather as "a blatant incitement and an act of pure hatred," adding: "The whole world must unite in clearly condemning this vile act."
Last Wednesday, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a controversial resolution concerning religious hatred, in the wake of the recent Quran burning incident in Sweden.
The resolution, presented by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which includes 57 countries, calls on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to publish a report on religious hatred for states to review their laws, close gaps that might hinder prevention, and prosecute acts and calls for religious hatred.
The United States and the European Union strongly opposed the resolution, stating it contradicts their views on human rights and freedom of expression. While condemning the burning of the Quran, they remarked that the OIC initiative seeks to protect religious symbols rather than human rights.
Earlier, an Iraqi immigrant in Sweden burned the Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm, sparking outrage across the Islamic world and demands for action from Islamic countries.
