TEL AVIV - Israeli police are investigating allegations that the deputy mayor of a Tel Aviv suburb organised the burning of copies of the New Testament before hundreds of students at a Jewish religious school, a justice official said on Friday.
Uzi Aharon, of Or Yehuda suburb, is under investigation over suspicions of committing an act hurting people's religious feelings, a justice ministry spokesman said.
Aharon was quoted in the Maariv daily newspaper as saying the book burning was a reaction to increasing "missionary activity" in Or Yehuda.
According to the daily, several residents complained and town's deputy mayor drove around the neighbourhood with a loudspeaker urging people to hand the texts to Jewish religious students.
They reportedly collected the texts and later burned them in a bonfire.
In an interview with Israeli Army Radio, Aharon said that he indeed called on the community to get rid of the missionary texts but denied any involvement in the book burning.
Christian Bibles incorporate the Hebrew Bible or the Torah into its canon under the name of Old Testament, as well as the New Testament which contains the teachings of Jesus Christ.
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