A 27-year-old has today been arrested by Israel Police for allegedly spraying graffiti in Hebrew on Jerusalem’s Western Wall reading, “There is a Holocaust in Gaza.”
The graffiti was sprayed near the Mughrabi Gate on the Western Wall, one of the holiest sites in Judaism, Israel Police said. The gate is the only entrance for non-Muslim visitors to the Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism, known to Muslims as Al Haram Al Sharif
The Western Wall Heritage Foundation, an organization dedicated to preserving Western Wall sites, said the graffiti was discovered on the stones of the Western Wall in its southern section, describing it as “a grave act constituting desecration and harm to the sanctity of the site sacred to the Jewish people.”
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, rabbi of the Western Wall and holy sites, condemned the graffiti, saying that “a holy place is not a venue for expressing protests — whatever they may be — and all the more so when it is done at the holiest site to the entire Jewish people.”
Israel Police said the suspect in custody was a “Jerusalem resident,” without elaborating. The area lies in East Jerusalem, which has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 war and where a large number of Palestinians live.
Asked about the suspect’s identity, Israel Police told CNN, “The core issue here is the criminal act of defacing a holy site,” adding, “The Israel Police investigates and holds criminals accountable regardless of religion, ethnicity or background.”
The suspect “will be brought before the court” on Monday for a hearing, “where police will request that his detention be extended,” police said.
Police said the suspect had also sprayed similar graffiti on the wall of the Great Synagogue in central Jerusalem.
