Minister of Aliyah and Integration Ofir Sofer on Thursday criticized plans to burn a Hebrew Bible in Stockholm, after local police approved a request to do so.
“I strongly condemn the intention to burn the Torah, which is so holy to the Jewish people. This is a shameful event that cheapens the sacred value of the book and critically harms the Jews in the entire world,” he tweeted.
“I expect that the authorities in Stockholm will take immediate action to cancel the provocative event. Harming religions is a shameful and offensive event,” added Sofer.
Earlier on Thursday it was reported that a female protester plans to carry out the provocative burning on Friday. This comes two weeks after another activist received permission to burn a Hebrew Bible outside the Israeli embassy.
The previous activist later backed down and did not go through with the Torah burning, saying the real reason for the protest was to draw attention to the difference between freedom of speech and offending other ethnic groups.
The plans to burn copies of the Bible follow the recent burning of a Quran in Stockholm by an Iraqi citizen living in Sweden, which caused an uproar in the Muslim world.
Last week, hundreds of rioters protesting the burning of the Quran in Sweden stormed the Swedish embassy in Iraq and set the building on fire.
Iraq later announced it would cut diplomatic ties with Sweden and expel the Swedish ambassador. Last week, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah welcomed the move and urged other countries to follow suit.