The Wall of the Righteous and other sites in the neighbourhood in Paris were defaced by hooded individuals, according to the Holocaust Memorial Foundation.
According to the Shoah Memorial, the Holocaust Memorial Foundation, a Paris Holocaust memorial for the French people who risked their lives to save Jews was vandalised with painted red hands on Monday night, May 13, reports The Jerusalem Post.
A complaint has been filed with the police against the hooded perpetrators who defaced several sites in the neighbourhood with the same red hands, and an investigation is underway.
“We are outraged by this cowardly and hateful act, regardless of the perpetrators and the meaning of these red hands,” said the Shoah Memorial, adding that the vandalism of the Wall honouring 3,900 French Righteous Among the Nations occurred on the anniversary of the May 1942 transfer of 3,700 Jews from Paris to camps in the Loiret before transportation to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.
The red hand symbol has recently become associated with Pro-Palestinian/Hamas activists who have used the symbol in activist efforts calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, asserting that Israelis are spilling Palestinian blood.
Originally, however, according to Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) president Yonathan Arfi, the red hands were meant to evoke the lynching of two Israeli reservists in Ramallah during the Second intifada in October 2000.
CRIF vice-president Nathalie Beizermann said that the red hands “are the signature of those who advocate [to spread] the terrorism that struck Israel and attacks all over the world. It is an insult to memory by uneducated people who trample on our democracies.”
“The Republic, as always, will remain inflexible in the face of odious antisemitism,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.
The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany said on X that the vandalism was an attack by anti-Israel activists.
Activist group Nous Vivrons said, “The link between anti-Zionism and antisemitism can no longer be in doubt,” said the activist group.
Photo credit: Yonathan Arfi/ Via twitter
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