Newsweek's gift that keeps on giving:
JERUSALEM (AP) - An Israeli Arab lawmaker said Israeli soldiers desecrated the Quran, Islam's holy book, during a routine weapons search Tuesday in a prison - an allegation that was flatly denied by an Israeli official.
Ahmed Tibi, who represents an Israeli Arab political party, said he received complaints from prisoners at the Megiddo prison that soldiers tore and stepped on three copies of the Quran while searching Palestinians and their possessions.
"This is vulgar, primitive behavior that cannot be allowed to happen," he said. He said prisoners would go on a hunger strike Wednesday in protest.
But wait! There was an investigation and guess what?
Israeli Prisons Authority spokesman Ofer Lefler said there was no such desecration.
He said 260 soldiers went into the prison to search for weapons. Inmates typically respond to such searches by yelling at guards, and similar unrest occurred Tuesday.
Lefler initially said a soldier was inspecting an old copy of the Quran when three pages fell to the floor and the soldier put the pages back in the holy book.
But the Prison Authority said a later inquiry showed the pages that fell out were from another book. The extra pages were larger than the Quran and apparently had been inserted by an inmate, the Prison Authority said.
The allegations were intended as a "provocation," the statement added.
No way! Ya think?
