A Muslim activist who was granted permission to burn a Torah and a Bible outside the Israeli embassy in Sweden on Saturday backed out of his plan, saying he only wanted to draw attention to recent Koran burnings in the country.
The man, identified as 32-year-old Ahmed Alush, had permission from Swedish authorities to commit the act, which was widely condemned and protested by Israel and Jewish groups, among others.
But Alush arrived outside the Israeli diplomatic mission on Saturday carrying only a copy of the Koran and said he never intended to burn Jewish or Christian holy books, only to protest recent Koran burnings.
“Burning is against the Quran and I will not burn. No one should do this,” Alush told reporters gathered at the scene.
Local police said on Friday they have approved a 30-year-old man’s application to hold a rally outside Israel’s embassy in Stockholm on July 15, where a Jewish Torah and Christian Bible will be burned.
In his request for Saturday’s protest, the man said he wanted to burn the Torah and Bible outside the Israeli embassy in response to a Koran being burned outside a Stockholm mosque by an Iraqi immigrant last month. He called it “a symbolic gathering for freedom of expression”.
There was widespread condemnation and indignation of the Swedish decision to allow the burning of the Torah.
Supporters of Shiite Muslim leader Muqtada Sadr burn rainbow flags during a demonstration in Sadr City, in response to Quran burnings in Sweden, Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, July 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
US anti-Semitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt said such a move would “create an atmosphere of fear.”
Lipstadt told The Times of Israel that the US is “deeply concerned” and “condemns” the planned Torah burning.
The US envoy further said, “While the United States supports the right to freedom of religion or belief for all, as well as the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly as elements of a democracy, such acts create an atmosphere of fear.” do.” “This will impact on the ability of Jews and members of other religious minority groups to freely exercise their right to freedom of religion or belief in Sweden.”
In Sweden, which is home to some 15,000-20,000 Jews, the Council of Swedish Jewish Communities condemned the police decision, which draws a direct line to the gathering from Europe’s long history of deadly anti-Semitism.
It read, “Our sad European history links the burning of Jewish books with pogroms, expulsions, the Inquisition and genocide.” The Swedish Jewish Youth Association also condemned it, calling it a “disgusting and despicable act”.
It tweeted, “There are better ways to express freedom of speech than to desecrate holy scriptures.”
Jewish groups in Europe, the US, Israel and elsewhere called on Sweden to withdraw the planned gathering, many of them noting the continent’s history of intolerance towards Jews, including the burning of Jewish religious texts.
“It is clear that the act of burning the Bible was carried out in front of [the] Israeli Embassy [is] Anything but peaceful, the European Jewish Union said in a joint statement with the European Alliance for Israel, a Christian Zionist group. “Instead it is provocative, grossly inappropriate and designed solely to offend.”
The European Jewish Congress also issued a statement strongly condemning the act.
EJC president Ariel Muzikent said, “Inflammatory, racist, anti-Semitic and hateful acts have no place in any civilized society.”
For example: Danish Jews arrived in Malmö, Sweden in September 2012 to show their solidarity with the city’s Jewish community. (Canaan Lipshitz/JTA)
“Stamping on people’s deep religious and cultural sensibilities is the clearest expression to send the message that minorities are unwanted and disrespected,” said Muzikent. “These actions, based on arguments to the contrary and specific freedom of expression, are an insult to Sweden and should be stopped by any democratic government worth the name.”
Supporters of the Pakistan Central Muslim League party burn a representation of the Swedish flag during a demonstration to condemn the burning of Islam’s holy book ‘Quran’ in Peshawar, Pakistan, Friday, July 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)
Israeli officials spoke out against the planned arson early Friday and called on Swedish authorities to reverse the police decision.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen called the decision “a hate crime, a provocation that is doing grave harm to the Jewish people and Jewish tradition.”
“I call on the Swedish authorities to stop this shameful act,” he added.
Two weeks ago, Swedish police allowed a Quran burning in front of a mosque in Stockholm, citing freedom of expression, after a court overturned a ban on Quran burning.
Young girls attend a rally called by the group ‘Muslim Women’s League’ to condemn the recent desecration of Islam’s holy book by far-right activists in Sweden and the Netherlands, in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 29. 2023. (AP Photo/KM Chowdhary)
The Swedish government condemned the Quran burning as an “Islamophobic” act after the Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation called for collective measures to avoid future Quran burnings.
The 57-member body met at its Jeddah headquarters to respond to the incident, in which Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Iraqi national living in Sweden, attacked the Islamic holy book, filling some pages with bacon and burning several others.
“The burning of the Quran, or any other holy scripture, is an offensive and disrespectful act and an act of clear provocation. Racism, xenophobia and related manifestations of intolerance have no place in Sweden or Europe, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said.
Salwan Momica holds a Quran before setting some pages on fire at a protest outside a mosque in Stockholm during the Eid al-Adha holiday on June 28, 2023. (Jonathan Nakstrand/AFP)
Also, the ministry said that Sweden has a “constitutionally protected right to freedom of assembly, expression and demonstration.”
Authorities later said they had opened an investigation into “agitation against an ethnic group”, adding that Momika had burned pages from an Islamic holy book very close to Stockholm’s largest mosque.