Jerusalem: American-Jewish Tourist Arrested After Vandalising Jesus Statue With a Hammer
An American tourist was arrested by the Israeli police for smashing Jesus’s statue in a church in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The suspect, who is in his forties, damaged a statue of Jesus in the Church of the Condemnation on the historic Via Dolorosa, a processional route believed to be the path Jesus took to his crucifixion.
He was cramped after shouting at security guards: ‘You can’t have idols in Jerusalem. This is the holy city.’
The unrevealed vandal reportedly entered the church and started hitting the statue with a hammer. The church was built during the Byzantine era to mark the spot where Jesus took on the cross, according to Christian belief.
The Church of the Condemnation is the second ‘station’ along the holy ‘Via Dolorosa’ (the Way of Suffering), which Christians believe is the path Jesus took through Jerusalem on the way to the crucifixion.
‘Exodus Chapter 20 says you can’t have idols in Jerusalem. This is the holy city,’ the man reportedly cried as the guard held him to the ground.
Majid al-Rishq, a gatekeeper who detained the accused, described him as Jewish man. Idolatry – the worship of idols and the artistic representation of God – is prohibited in Judaism.
‘He started hitting the statue of Christ in the Church of the Condemnation. I was able to grab him and pull him off it, but he knocked the statue off and broke it,’ Rishq told AFP.
Police officers from the David Precinct with border police officers and with the assistance of the church security guard arrested the suspect in the act.
