Israeli police have arrested an American tourist at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem after he hurled works of art to the floor, damaging two second-century Roman statues.
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.
