According to a report from Kan News on Thursday, a Swedish-Egyptian author asked the police for permission to set fire to a Sefer Torah during a protest in front of the Israeli embassy in Stockholm.
The author appealed in response to a far-right activist’s burning of the Quran over the weekend outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm in protest of Turkey’s opposition to Sweden’s application to join NATO.
According to a report by The Jewish Press, the Israeli embassy in Stockholm made significant efforts to avert the crisis, and on Thursday afternoon, the author retracted his request.
The government was first informed that the protest would be permitted due to concerns about free expression.
Lior Havat, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, informed JewishPress.com that the person in charge of organizing the demonstration withdrew his request for permission from the police.
The ministry said, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israeli Embassy in Sweden intervened swiftly and forcefully to prevent the appalling and humiliating occurrence from taking place.”
The activities included contacting senior members of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Stockholm Police, and the Swedish Embassy in Israel and mobilizing Jewish and other organizations, among other things.
The event is currently frozen as a result of our efforts.
In response to the report earlier on Thursday, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said: “This is outrageous. Freedom of speech is not the same as committing offensive conduct. They burned persons as well as Sifrei Torah in specific locations. I appeal to the Swedish government to take action to stop this heinous tragedy. I’ll speak with the Swedish embassy at the UN about it.
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