Israeli police have arrested an American tourist at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem after he hurled works of art to the floor, defacing two second-century Roman statues.
The vandalism late Thursday raised questions about the safety of Israel’s priceless collections and stirred concern about a rise in attacks on cultural heritage in Jerusalem.
Police identified the suspect as a radical 40-year-old Jewish American tourist and said initial questioning suggested he smashed the statues because he considered them “to be idolatrous and contrary to the Torah.”
The man’s lawyer, Nick Kaufman, denied that he had acted out of religious fanaticism.
why are they always Americans? if i ever travel abroad, I’m gonna say I’m Canadian. Heck, I’m already a Habs fan, I say ‘eh’ in conversation, and drink Tim Hortons coffee, I’m halfway there!
Sounds like the religious fanatic part is more relevant than the nationality
you’d think that, but they didn’t say ‘a jewish man’ or ‘a jew’, or just ‘a man’, and they mentioned another American who did the same thing. So Nationality matters.
You might want to reread the article, and how it’s specifically noted they suspect the cause to be fanaticism. Also, all the other cases mentioned were perpetrated by Jews as well, and the context hints that it’s due to the ultra conservative faction.
It only hints while the nationality is always front and center. For better or for worse.
Its because of where you hear news.
For instance, if you got japanese news and hear which tourists destroy shrines for instance, its usually asian tourists.
It’s not always Americans, for example the kid who cut down the tree at Hadrian’s wall last week was English.
@greaterthanstupid ISIL bulldozed and dynamited World Heritage sites to rubble. The Taliban blew up the Bamiyan Buddahs. It’s not always Americans.
@MicroWave
ISIS, now that’s a name that I haven’t heard in a very long time…
Yeah I mean, that’s generally what terrorist organizations do.
We’re referring to a single man here lol
I honestly hardly ever meet american tourists that are rude or behaving “wrong”. I met one old maga guy some time ago that lost his shit when no one spoke american in a super remote petrol station in the middle of Switzerland, and i refused to talk to him.
Pretty much everyone else was almost too nice. If you want to generalize really bad behaving tourists, i would look in the direction of china.
As an American international traveler, that’s great to hear! I don’t know why, but I’m still pleasantly surprised when I’m warmly accepted.
There’s usually a bit of a quiz on politics first. Like a “is this one of the rabid ones?” kind of side eye. But that’s cleared up quickly.
Make sure you comment how awful the Tim’s is, lest you get found out as a fake canadian
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America doesn’t practice secularism basically at all. As a result, religious fanaticism plays a huge role in American politics and thus American mentality.