An American tourist who smashed ancient Roman statues was arrested in Israel: he fought with “idols”

Modern vandal called victim of “Jerusalem syndrome”

A radical American tourist has been arrested for smashing ancient Roman statues at a museum in Jerusalem. The vandal from SAS explained his actions by saying that the ancient statues “contradict the Torah.”

Israeli police arrested an American tourist at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem after he threw works of art to the floor, damaging two second-century Roman statues.

As the Associated Press notes, the vandalism late Thursday raised questions about the safety of Israel’s priceless collections and raised concerns about increased attacks on cultural heritage in Jerusalem.

Police identified the suspect as a radicalized 40-year-old American Jewish tourist and said initial questioning revealed he smashed the statues because he considered them “idolatrous and contrary to the Torah.”

The man’s lawyer, Nick Kaufman, denied that his client was motivated by religious fanaticism.

Instead, Kaufman said, the tourist was suffering from a mental disorder that psychiatrists called “Jerusalem syndrome.” The condition – a form of disorientation believed to be caused by the religious magnetism of the ancient city, which is sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims – is said to cause foreign pilgrims to believe they are characters from the Bible.

The accused was ordered to undergo a psychiatric examination, the Associated Press notes.

As religious passions flare and tensions rise during the Jewish holiday season, spitting and other attacks on Christian worshipers by radical ultra-Orthodox Jews have increased, unnerving tourists, angering local Christians and drawing widespread condemnation.

The renowned Israel Museum, with its exhibits of archaeology, fine art and Jewish art and life, described Thursday’s vandalism as a “disturbing and unusual event” and said it “condemns all forms of violence and hopes that similar incidents will not be repeated.”

Museum photographs showed a marble head of the goddess Athena knocked off its pedestal onto the floor, with a statue of the pagan deity shattered into pieces. According to museum staff, the damaged statues were being restored. The museum declined to say the value of the statues or the cost of their destruction.

The Israeli government expressed alarm over the corruption, which officials also attributed to Jewish iconoclasm, in keeping with early bans on idolatry.

“This is a shocking case of destruction of cultural property,” said Eli Escusido, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority. “We observe with concern the fact that cultural property is being destroyed by religiously motivated extremists.”

The act of vandalism appears to be the latest in a string of attacks by radical Jews on historic sites in Jerusalem, the Associated Press reports. In February, a Jewish American tourist damaged a statue of Jesus at a Christian pilgrimage site in the Old City, and in January, Jewish teenagers defaced historic Christian tombstones at a famous Jerusalem cemetery.