Jerusalem resident arrested on suspicion of spraying Holocaust graffiti at the Western Wall

A 27-year old Jerusalem resident was arrested Monday morning after graffiti reading ‘There is a Holocaust in Gaza’ was spray painted in red across a southern section of stones at the Western Wall.

In addition to defacing Judaism’s second holiest site (after the Temple Mount), in the egalitarian area opposite the “Ezrat Yisrael” section, the suspect is also accused of tagging the outer walls of the city’s Great Synagogue with similar graffiti.

Israeli police say the Jewish man is now in custody pending a court hearing.

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall, said: “A holy place is not a place to express protests of any kind, and sevenfold when this is done at the holiest place for the entire Jewish people.”

He condemned the act at the Kotel as “a serious desecration”.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote on Twitter/X: “I was appalled to see the attack and disrespect at the holiest site for the Jewish people – the Western Wall. The Israel Police will act with lightning speed to apprehend the offender and bring them to justice.”

Defense Minister Israel Katz said: “The desecration of the Western Wall, one of the holiest sites for the Jewish people, is a vile act and a crossing of a red line that cannot be tolerated. Harm to holy sites is harm to the entire Jewish people.”

Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz denounced the graffiti as “a crime against the entire Jewish people. Our holy places must remain beyond any dispute.”

Jerusalem mayor Moshe Lion “strongly” condemned the “serious act,” adding, “there is no place, and there never will be, for harming the national and spiritual symbol of the Jewish people.”

In 2019, a group of Arabs spray-painted the words “Slaughter the Jews” on the Kotel HaKatan (“Little Wall”), a part of the Western Wall 200 yards south of the main Western Wall Plaza.