Police have arrested three anti-Zionist Jews for desecrating the Yad VaShem Holocaust memorial this month with pro-Nazi slogans. All three have confessed.
One of the vandals is 18 years and old, and the others are aged 26 and 27. They are from Bnei Brak, Jerusalem and Ashdod.
The spraying of hate messages, such as “Hitler, thank you for the Holocaust,” shocked Jews and non-Jews throughout the world. Former Israeli Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau called the hate crime a “desecration of the name of HaShem.”
Hareidi orthodox anti-Zionist Jews are a fringe group who frequently protest against Israel as a Zionist state, but no anti-Zionist leader has applauded the incident at Yad VaShem.
Police said the vandals will appear n Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday.
They apparently were identified by video cameras at the Holocaust Memorial, which was closed down for several hours after the hate crime so that workers could remove the slogans.
Police arrested them in their apartment, where they also found Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flags, according to Voice of Israel government radio.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat commented on the arrest, “I want to thank the police for their determination in catching the suspects. We must get across the message of zero tolerance for expressions of violence and vandalism.”