AMMAN — A
week after a politician burned the
Quran in Stockholm, Swedish authorities
stopped a planned burning of the Torah in front of the Israeli embassy,
according to Swedish officials.
اضافة اعلان
Israeli ambassador Ziv Nevo
Kulman said on Friday that his country and the local Jewish community had
prevented the Torah from being burned in front of the Tel Aviv embassy building
in
coordination with Swedish officials.
‘Spark a debate'According to Jo24, a young
Swedish Muslim of Arab origin had applied to the Swedish police to burn a copy
of the Torah in front of the Israeli embassy.
The man said that as a
Muslim, he knew that the burning of scriptures was not permissible, but he
wanted to debate and ensure that all scriptures were treated equally and that
freedom of expression was guaranteed to all in Sweden.
A Swedish newspaper reported
that the 34-year-old man who applied to burn the Torah in front of the Israeli
Embassy in Stockholm also applied to burn a bible in central Stockholm's
Sergel's Square.
The man told the newspaper,
"burning scriptures is disgusting, but I'm angry, and I'm doing it to
spark a debate about it."
‘I represent myself’The paper added that the man
stated that he was tired of tax money going to protect Rasmus Baludan, who has
repeatedly had demonstrations to burn
copies of the Quran.
The young man confirmed that
representatives of the Muslim Association at the Stockholm mosque had advised
him not to do so, indicating that he would not represent Muslims if he burned
down a copy of the Torah.
The man added:
"Representatives of an Islamic association contacted me and asked me not
to do so. They say it is contrary to Islam and that I do not represent Muslims
when I burn a copy of the Torah outside the Israeli embassy.”
“That is okay. I represent
myself,” he said, stressing that his work does not target the Jewish minority
in Sweden.
Last week, the Swedish
government agreed to let Rasmus Baludan, leader of the far-right Danish
"hard line" party,
burn a copy of the Quran, citing it as
"freedom of expression".
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