This week, the news media has been flooded with commentary about those "nasty Christians" who are threatening to burn Korans. By contrast, two years ago, Israelis were actually burning holy books, not just talking about the action, and the U.S. and European news media had nothing to say. This brings up an important question: are radical Jews who burn holy books somehow less controversial or less important to talk about than radical Christians who are contemplating a similar act?
One could argue that "Koran-burning threats" are only in the news because they are in response to a big story which is already all over the news: the White House decision to "ok" the construction of a mosque by the site of 9/11. Still, when one has the capacity to go on and on about how intolerant the "nasty Christians" are for threatening to burn Korans, you would think that the act of setting Bibles aflame to protest the dissemination of non-Jewish ideas in Israel would raise an eyebrow, too. But the only reaction was in Israel, from the left-wing Israeli publication Haaretz:
One could argue that "Koran-burning threats" are only in the news because they are in response to a big story which is already all over the news: the White House decision to "ok" the construction of a mosque by the site of 9/11. Still, when one has the capacity to go on and on about how intolerant the "nasty Christians" are for threatening to burn Korans, you would think that the act of setting Bibles aflame to protest the dissemination of non-Jewish ideas in Israel would raise an eyebrow, too. But the only reaction was in Israel, from the left-wing Israeli publication Haaretz:
from "Orthodox Jewish youths burn New Testaments in Or Yehuda," Haaretz (Israeli news source)
Orthodox Jews set fire to hundreds of copies of the New Testament in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in the Holy Land.
Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material.
After receiving complaints, Aharon said, he got into a loudspeaker car last Thursday and drove through the neighborhood, urging people to turn over the material to Jewish religious students who went door to door to collect it.
"The books were dumped into a pile and set afire in a lot near a synagogue," he said.
The newspaper Maariv reported Tuesday that hundreds of yeshiva students took part in the book-burning. But Aharon told The Associated Press that only a few students were present, and that he was not there when the books were torched.
"Not all of the New Testaments that were collected were burned, but hundreds were," he said.
He called it a commandment to burn materials that urge Jews to convert.
"I certainly don't denounce the burning of the booklets, he said. I denounce those who distributed the booklets."
Jews worship from the Old Testament, including the Five Books of Moses and the writings of the ancient prophets. Christians revere the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, which contains the ministry of Jesus.
Calev Myers, an attorney who represents Messianic Jews, or Jews who accept Jesus as their savior, demanded in an interview with Army Radio that all those involved be put on trial. He estimated there were 10,000 Messianic Jews, who are also known as Jews for Jesus, in Israel.
Police had no immediate comment.
Israeli authorities and Orthodox Jews frown on missionary activity aimed at Jews, though in most cases it is not illegal. Still, the concept of a Jew burning books is abhorrent to many in Israel because of the association with Nazis torching piles of Jewish books during the Holocaust of World War II.
Earlier this year, the teenage son of a prominent Christian missionary was seriously wounded when a package bomb delivered to the family's West Bank home went off in his hands. (more)
