The Western Wall in Jerusalem on Monday was vandalised with graffiti condemning Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, authorities said, triggering widespread condemnation from religious leaders and politicians.
“There is a holocaust in Gaza” was graffitied in Hebrew on the southern portion of the wall, the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray, located in the Israeli-annexed Old City of Jerusalem.
A similar message was also scrawled on the wall of the Great Synagogue, elsewhere in the city.
Israeli police said a 27-year-old suspect had been arrested and would appear in court later on Monday, having requested an extension for his detention, without disclosing his identity.
The incident sparked immediate outrage in Israel, with the Western Wall’s Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch calling it a “desecration”.
“A holy place is not a place to express protests… The police must investigate this action, track down the criminals responsible for the desecration and bring them to justice,” Rabinovitch said in a statement.
The office in charge of the site’s management said that the graffiti was scrubbed off in the morning.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees Israel’s law enforcement agencies, vowed that the police would act “with lightning speed”.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also weighed in, saying the perpetrators “forgot what it means to be Jewish”.
Sharp condemnation also came from the opposition.
Former defence minister Benny Gantz, now an opposition leader, called it “a crime against the entire Jewish people”.
The Western Wall lies in the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem, which Israeli forces captured during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
