Tel Aviv, 14 July 2023 (dpa/MIA) – After the public burning of a Koran in Sweden in June, authorities in Stockholm have now approved a request to burn a Torah, the Hebrew Bible, in front of the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, causing outrage in Israel.

"As the President of the State of Israel, I condemned the burning of the Quran, sacred to Muslims world over, and I am now heartbroken that the same fate awaits a Jewish Bible, the eternal book of the Jewish people," Israel's President Isaac Herzog said on Friday.

Stockholm police granted a permit to an applicant to hold a public rally to burn a Jewish and a Christian Bible, according to Swedish media reports.

The action is to take place on Saturday in front of the Israeli embassy in the Swedish capital.

The applicant is said to regard the rally as a reaction to a Koran burning in front of the Stockholm mosque at the end of June.

The burning of Islam's holy scripture caused anger and protests among Muslims both internationally and in Sweden.

"Permitting the defacement of sacred texts is not an exercise in freedom of expression, it is blatant incitement and an act of pure hate. The whole world must join together in clearly condemning this repulsive act," Herzog said.

He added that the whole world must unite and condemn this "heinous act."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Twitter, "The State of Israel takes this shameful decision, which harms the Holy of Holies of the Jewish people, very seriously."

Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen urged the Swedish authorities to prevent the burning.