JERUSALEM (JTA) — The iconic memorial to Israel’s fallen soldiers at Ammunition Hill was vandalized days before the national Memorial Day observance.
Unknown vandals spray-painted anti-Semitic and anti-Israel epithets on the memorial at the site of a major battle for Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War that nearly closed earlier this year due to lack of funds.
Among the slogans discovered on Sunday to have been spray-painted on the walls of the memorial were "Zionism is the original sin," "Miserable Zionists braving over poor Arabs?" and "Gunter Grass was right," referring to the Nobel Prize-winning German poet who earlier this month published a poem claiming that Israel is endangering world peace by threatening Iran.
The vandals also cut down a large Israeli flag and set it alight.
The attack came several days after two monuments in the Jordan Valley dedicated to dead Israeli soldiers and victims of terror were spray-painted with epithets including "Stop Zionism" and "End the Occupation." Another slogan read, "The fallen were killed for their treason." Palestinian flags also were painted on the monuments and the names of the soldiers were blacked out with paint.
The country will observe Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism Remembrance Day, Israel’s official Memorial Day, beginning on Tuesday evening.
