US tourist allegedly smashes two Roman statues in Jerusalem

News

By Olivia Land

An American tourist allegedly went on a bizarre rampage at an Israeli museum, smashing two ancient Roman statues because he claimed they represented “idolatry” that was “contrary to the Torah,” authorities said.

A lawyer for the unnamed suspect — who was arrested after the incident — claimed he was suffering from a delusion known as “Jerusalem syndrome” when he allegedly went wild with a stick during the Thursday evening incident, according to reports.

At least two statues — including one that the Times of Israel tentatively identified as a head of Athena dating to the 2nd century CE and a statue of a griffin holding a wheel of fate decorated with the Roman god Nemesis from about 210-211 CE — were left broken into multiple pieces on an exhibition hall floor, photos shared by police and distributed via local outlets showed.

The damaged statues were all original artifacts, the Israel Museum confirmed.

The museum also shared a photo of a stick the man was allegedly carrying through the exhibit and may have used to carry out the bizarre attack, the Times of Israel said.

The 40-year-old suspect was arrested shortly after the incident, and has been ordered held through Monday to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, the Jerusalem Post reported.

His attorney Nick Kaufman later claimed the man had “Jerusalem Syndrome, which is a form of disorientation that causes religious pilgrims to believe they are biblical figures.

Officers believe the man lashed out at the objects because he felt the Roman sculptures “to be idolatrous and contrary to the Torah.”

The history of Jews in and around the Roman Empire was famously fraught — particularly during the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE.

The former site of the temple is now occupied the Al-Aqsa mosque, or the Dome of the Rock, and is one of the most politically and spiritually tense locations in the Middle East.

The damaged artifacts will undergo professional restoration, the Israel Museum said, per the Times of Israel.

The museum also denounced the attack as a “troubling and unusual event” and emphasized that the prominent institution “condemns all forms of violence and hopes such incidents will not recur.”

“This is a shocking case of the destruction of cultural values,” added Eli Escusido, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority. 

“We see with concern the fact that cultural values are being destroyed by religiously motivated extremists.”

The Israel Museum incident is the latest in a series of troubling occurrences in Jerusalem — the contested hot spot for Judaism, Islam and Christianity — as tourists descended on the city for Sukkot, the annual Jewish harvest festival.

On Wednesday, Israeli police arrested five suspects accused of spitting toward Christians and churches in the Old City, the authorities confirmed on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“A special investigative team has been established to address this issue comprehensively, and we will continue to protect the peace and security of all residents and visitors, regardless of their faith,” the agency said of the confrontations, which were caught on video.

With Post wires