New York, New York, June 11, 2012… The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed outrage and revulsion at anti-Jewish and anti-Israel graffiti sprayed on Yad Vashem, the world-renowned Holocaust memorial museum and education center in Jerusalem.  Police suspect that the perpetrators of the vandalism were extremist ultra-Orthodox Jews.

"It was with a sense of profound sadness and revulsion that we woke up this morning to the news that Yad Vashem, this vitally important center for memory and research, was defiled with the most hateful anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric imaginable," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor.  "The sick individuals responsible for this incident are morally bankrupt and must be brought to justice.  If in fact they are extremist haredi Jews, as Israeli law enforcement suspects, then it is a particularly sad day for Israel and a reminder that Holocaust education is just as important for Jews as non-Jews."

Among the slogans painted by the perpetrators:  "Hitler, thank you for the Holocaust;" "If Hitler hadn't existed, the Zionists would have invented him;" "Jews, wake up, the evil regime does not protect us, it only endangers us;" and "The State of Israel -- the spiritual Auschwitz of Sephardic Jewry."