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Paris Holocaust Memorial Vandalized With Blood-Red Handprints on Anniversary of Nazi Roundup
The Wall of the Righteous at the Shoah Memorial in Paris was vandalized with painted blood-red hands on May 14, 2024. Photo: Screenshot
A Holocaust memorial in Paris was defaced on Tuesday with painted blood-red hands in what French authorities and Jewish leaders described as a “hateful rallying cry against Jews.”
“The Wall of the Righteous at the Shoah [Holocaust] Memorial was vandalized overnight,” Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said in a statement, calling it an “unspeakable act.”
Located in central Paris, the wall honors people who helped to rescue Jews in France during the country’s Nazi occupation in World War II. May 14, the day of the latest vandalism, marks the anniversary of the first major round-up of French Jews under the Nazis in 1941.
Vandalizing a Holocaust memorial won’t free Palestine, especially with symbols that either imply support for terror or blood libel.
The main Holocaust memorial in Paris was desecrated with red hand prints.
You are just terrorizing Jews. It has to stop. pic.twitter.com/NWSxNr1oMX
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) May 14, 2024
The defacement came amid a record surge in antisemitic incidents in France since the Hamas terror group’s pogrom in Israel on Oct. 7 and the ensuing war in Gaza.
“No cause can justify such degradations that dirty the memory of the victims of the Shoah and of the Righteous who saved Jews at risk to their lives,” Hidalgo said, adding that she filed a complaint with the Paris prosecutor.
Yonathan Arfi, president of the French Jewish representative body Crif, called the vandalism “despicable” and a clear act of antisemitism.
“No matter who the perpetrators are, this degradation of the Shoah Memorial, the symbol of the bloody hands of the terrorists who lynched two Israeli soldiers in October 2000, resonates like a hateful rallying cry against Jews,” he wrote on X/Twitter.
Arfi was referring to the notorious lynching of two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reservists, Vadim Nurzhitz and Yosef Avrahami, in the West Bank city of Ramallah in October 2000. Nurzhitz and Avrahami were brutally murdered and their bodies mutilated by a Palestinian mob while both were in the custody of Palestinian Authority (PA) police officers.
One of their assailants, Aziz Salha, appeared at the window of the police station following the murder of the two Israelis, delightedly displaying his blood-stained palms to the appreciative crowd gathered outside. A photograph of Salha’s gesture quickly went viral and has remained an enduring image captured during the conflict between Israel and Palestinian terrorist organizations, including Hamas.
The Wall of the Righteous contains the names of more than 3,900 people recognized for risking their lives to help save Jews in France.
“No excuse or justification possible,” the Union of Jewish Students of France tweeted in response to the vandalism. “These red hands on the walls of the memorial provoke unease among Jews, rekindle a deadly controversy, and above all advocate massacres of Jews.”
Other French and Jewish leaders condemned the defacement of the memorial.
“We are saddened and disgusted by the antisemitic vandalism that defaced the Shoah memorial in Paris with blood-red hands on the Wall of the Righteous,” the European Jewish Congress said in a statement. “This is an outrageous disrespect to the memory of Holocaust victims and to the individuals who risked their lives to save Jews.”
Dani Dayan — chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel’s national memorial to the Holocaust — “strongly condemned” the incident.
“We call on the French authorities to find the perpetrators of this heinous act and bring them to justice,” he wrote on X/Twitter.
Tuesday’s vandalism came amid an explosion of antisemitism in France in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. Antisemitic outrages rose by over 1,000 percent in the final three months of 2023 compared with the previous year, with over 1,200 incidents reported — greater than the total number of incidents in France for the previous three years combined.
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Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy
Thomas Barrack at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., November 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
i24 News – Lebanon’s daunting social, economic and political issues would not get resolved unless the state persists in the efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy behind so much of the unrest and destruction, special US envoy Tom Barrack told The National.
“You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,” he said, using the historical Arabic name for the region sometimes known as “larger Syria.”
The official stressed the need to follow through on promises to disarm the Iranian proxy, which suffered severe blows from Israel in the past year, including the elimination of its entire leadership, and is considered a weakened though still dangerous jihadist outfit.
“There are issues that we have to arm wrestle with each other over to come to a final conclusion. Remember, we have an agreement, it was a great agreement. The problem is, nobody followed it,” he told The National.
Barrack spoke on the heels of a trip to Beirut, where he proposed a diplomatic plan for the region involving the full disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese state.
The post Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a cultural forum dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen poet and philosopher Magtymguly Fragi, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/Alexander Scherbak/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Iranian leadership that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, the Axios website reported on Saturday. The Russian strongman also relayed the message to his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, the report said.
Iranian news agency Tasnim issued a denial, citing an “informed source” as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard.
Also on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that “Any negotiated solution must respect Iran’s right to enrichment. No agreement without recognizing our right to enrichment. If negotiations occur, the only topic will be the nuclear program. No other issues, especially defense or military matters, will be on the agenda.”
The post Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is attending at least one meeting with Israeli officials in Azerbaijan today, despite sources in Damascus claiming he wasn’t attending, a Syrian source close to President Al-Sharaa tells i24NEWS.
The Syrian source stated that this is a series of two or three meetings between the sides, with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also in attendance, along with Ahmed Al-Dalati, the Syrian government’s liaison for security meetings with Israel.
The high-level Israeli delegation includes a special envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as security and military figures.
The purpose of the meetings is to discuss further details of the security agreement to be signed between Israel and Syria, the Iranian threat in Syria and Lebanon, Hezbollah’s weapons, the weapons of Palestinian militias, the Palestinians camps in Lebanon, and the future of Palestinian refugees from Gaza in the region.
The possibility of opening an Israeli coordination office in Damascus, without diplomatic status, might also be discussed.
The source stated that the decision to hold the meetings in Azerbaijan, made by Israel and the US, is intended to send a message to Iran.
The post Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan first appeared on Algemeiner.com.