After the American visitor threw art pieces to the floor and destroyed two Roman sculptures from the second century, Israeli authorities detained him inside Jerusalem's Israel Museum.
The damage that occurred late Thursday, October 5, sparked worries about the security of Israel's treasured assets and increased assaults on Jerusalem's history and culture.
The 'Jerusalem Syndrome'
According to a preliminary police investigation, the suspect is a radical 40-year-old Jewish American tourist who damaged the sculptures because he found them "to be idolatrous and contrary to the Torah," as reported by AP News.
Defense attorney Nick Kaufman said his client had not been motivated by religious intolerance. Rather, the tourist was experiencing what psychologists call the Jerusalem syndrome, said Kaufman. Foreign pilgrims are supposed to get disoriented to the point that they mistakenly assume they are biblical characters due to the city's religious attraction.
A mental assessment of the accused has been mandated. There was a gag order in place, so government officials were not allowed to say who he was.
The prestigious Israel Museum, which showcases archaeology, fine arts, and Jewish art and life, condemned all kinds of violence and expressed hope that occurrences like the one that happened on Thursday will never take place again.
Photos from the museum, circulating online, showed the marble head of the goddess Athena knocked from its pedestal and onto the floor. Meanwhile, a statue of a pagan deity was crushed into pieces.
Employees at the museum said they were working to repair the damaged sculptures. The museum did not provide a valuation or estimated destruction cost for the sculptures.
Two pieces at the Israel Museum were destroyed, the head of Athena and a statue representing the Roman god Nemesis. The vandal said they “went against Torah.” This is part of a fundamentalist Jewish turn that is terrifying. It’s most reminiscent of the Taliban. pic.twitter.com/mVeQFoXlLG
— Shaiel Ben-Ephraim (@academic_la) October 6, 2023
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Series of Attacks by Jews
Spitting and other attacks on Christian worshipers by extreme ultra-Orthodox Jews have been on the upswing over the Jewish holiday season. These instances unsettle visitors, outrage local Christians, and draw worldwide criticism. The Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot concludes on Friday evening, October 6, at dusk.
Israeli authorities voiced concern about the vandalism and said it was likely the result of Jewish iconoclasm motivated by ancient bans on idolatry.
Eli Escusido, head of the Israel Antiquities Authority, called the incident "a shocking case of the destruction of cultural values." He went on to say, "We see with concern the fact that cultural values are being destroyed by religiously motivated extremists."
Vandalism against Jerusalem's ancient sites seems to be the latest in a string of assaults by Jews. A Jewish American visitor vandalized a figure of Jesus at the Old City's Christian Pilgrimage Site in February, while in January, Jewish teens degraded old Christian tombstones in a major Jerusalem cemetery.
The museum opened to the public as expected on Friday morning, around 16 hours after the incident occurred.
