Israeli School Head Approves Burning of New Testament
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, Dec. 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A headmaster of an Israeli school has allowed one of his teachers to publicly burn a pupil's copy of the New Testament, a school official said Wednesday, news agencies reported.
A teacher in the Orot school in Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem, burned a Hebrew copy of the Christian holy book two weeks ago after discovering one of his pupils had it stashed in his desk, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The teacher consulted with the principal, Rabbi Yair Bachar, and after receiving his approval, burned the book in the school courtyard,
The Jerusalem Post reported.
"The director admits having made a mistake," said the school's spokesman, Jordana Klein. "He did not want to hurt the feelings of Christians, but rather to denounce the missionary activity."
The education ministry said in a statement it "categorically denounced" the book burning, which it described as a "serious act".
It summoned Rabbi Bachar for possible further sanctions.
The incident made waves in the Knesset Tuesday, with MK Ran Cohen (Meretz) saying he was "astounded" to read about the case in the
Post. He demanded that Education Minister Limor Livnat publish a formal announcement deploring the burning of other religions' holy books.
"The government has already managed to turn the entire Christian world against us by stupidly stopping [Palestinian President] Yasser Arafat from attending the Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem," the
Post reported him as saying. "Do we really need a teacher from Beit Shemesh to finish the business?"
The Orot school, which has 900 pupils, is a state institution.
