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.
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.