CAIR asserts that the desecration of Islam’s sacred text further demonstrates that the Israeli actions in Gaza are targeting both Islam and the Palestinian people.

One video aired by Al Jazeera Arabic reportedly shows Israeli soldiers burning and tearing copies of the Quran in the Bani Saleh Mosque in northern Gaza. Another video allegedly depicts Israeli forces destroying the historic Grand Mosque in Khan Younis, one of the oldest mosques in Gaza. Al Jazeera said the footage was obtained from cameras of Israeli soldiers and from drones.

“By once again filming themselves burning Qurans and destroying mosques, the forces of the far-right Israeli government have confirmed that their war on the Palestinian people in Gaza is also a war on Islam itself,” said CAIR’s national executive director, Nihad Awad, in a statement. The group also called on United States President Joe Biden to denounce Israeli abuses. “The Biden administration must condemn this religious desecration and suspend weapons transfers to the Israeli government to force an end to its campaign of slaughter and starvation in Gaza.”

Hamas has called on Arab and Muslim countries and organizations to condemn and express outrage against Israeli forces for burning copies of the Quran and to take action to defend Islamic and Christian sanctities in Palestine. Additionally, Pakistan has condemned Israel’s bombing of the historic Grand Mosque in Gaza’s Khan Younis and urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to protect the Palestinians by putting an end to Israeli violations of international law, the Pakistani foreign office said.

Destroying or desecrating a Quran is a grave offense under Islam and an insult to the faith of some 1.9 billion Muslims worldwide. During the Israeli offensive on Gaza, Israel has completely destroyed 610 mosques and partially destroyed 214, as well as three churches, according to the Gaza media office. The “Al-Omari Mosque” of Gaza, which was 14 centuries old, was also destroyed. The Israeli offensive has killed more than 40,200 Palestinians and turned large parts of the besieged Palestinian territory into rubble.

Source: CAIR

Denmark and Sweden experienced a series of public protests this year where anti-Islam activists burned or otherwise damaged copies of the Quran, triggering demands that the Nordic governments ban the practice.

The Danish authorities said that the burnings put the country in a difficult diplomatic situation, and that the government could not just sit idle.

Desecration of the Quran is now banned both in the public space and in private if the act is recorded and distributed.

The vote followed a five hour debate in parliament and 94 members voted in favour, 77 against.

Breaking the new law will be punishable by fines or up to two years in prison, the government has said.

With anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment widespread, there have been more than 500 demonstrations in Denmark since July, according to Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard, including some where the Quran was burned.

“Such demonstrations can hurt Denmark’s relations to other nations, our interests and ultimately our safety,” Hummelgaard said.

Denmark has sought to strike a balance between constitutionally protected freedom of speech, including the right to criticize religion, and national security amid fears that Quran burnings would trigger attacks by Islamists.

Domestic critics in Sweden and Denmark have argued that any limitations on criticizing religion, including by burning Qurans, undermine hard-fought liberal freedoms in the region.

Denmark’s centrist coalition government has argued that the new rules will have only a marginal impact on free speech and that criticizing religion in other ways remains legal.

Sweden is also considering how to prevent burning of the Quran but is looking at whether police should factor in national security when deciding on protest applications rather than a ban.

Source: Reuters

The Danish government has said it will explore legal means of stopping protests involving the burning of holy texts in certain circumstances, citing security concerns after a backlash over such incidents that saw the Qur’an desecrated in Denmark and Sweden.

Noting that such protests played into the hands of extremists, the government wants to “explore” intervening in situations where “other countries, cultures and religions are being insulted, and where this could have significant negative consequences for Denmark, not least with regard to security”, it said in a statement from the foreign ministry.

The Danish government noted that the protests had “reached a level where Denmark, in many parts of the world across continents, is being viewed as a country that facilitates insult and denigration of the cultures, religions and traditions of other countries.”

Several recent protests involving desecrations of the Muslim holy book have raised diplomatic tensions throughout the Middle East and the two Nordic countries.

Source: The Guardian