Israel condemns Sweden’s permission to burn Torah scroll

Israel’s highest officials are calling on Swedish authorities to revoke the Stockholm police's authorization for activists to burn a Torah scroll. The move comes shortly after the Quran burning in Sweden which sparked outrage in the Muslim world.

Israel’s president, prime minister, ministers and religious authorities strongly condemned the planned burning of a Torah scroll on Saturday outside the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm. They called upon Swedish authorities to revoke the authorization granted by local police for the protest.

"The State of Israel takes very seriously this shameful decision, which harms the highest sanctity of the Jewish people," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

The request to burn the Torah scroll came from an unnamed Swedish individual in his 30s, who explained his plan came in reaction to the burning of a Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm some three weeks ago. The incident sparked wide outrage and protests in the Islamic world. 

"As the President of the State of Israel, I condemned the burning of the Quran, sacred to Muslims world over, and I am now heartbroken that the same fate awaits a Jewish Bible, the eternal book of the Jewish people," Israeli President Isac Herzog said.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen called on the authorities in Sweden to prevent this despicable event.

 "Burning a Torah scroll is a hate crime, a provocation and a serious attack against the Jewish people and Jewish tradition," he said.