Lest We Forget

Today is Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day in Israel, so I thought it appropriate to post the above picture. In virtually every modern country it is a crime to spray paint a swastika on a Jewish home or institution, but this picture was not taken in Europe or North America and it obviously isn’t a holdover from the 1940s. I took this snapshot in March of 2010 in central Jerusalem. Yes, our Jerusalem. The house is a Jewish-owned home with recently arrived Jewish tenants in the Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood.

When I was given a tour of the neighborhood last month, I was shown the buildings owned by the Committee for the Sephardic Community of Jerusalem from which Arab squatters had been evicted and been replaced by Jewish tenants, under the authority of Israel’s Supreme Court.
The evictions sparked demonstrations in the neighborhood and the Jewish residents are continuously harassed. Many, including myself, have labeled the protestors as “leftists” but perhaps, their choice of graffiti shows that these protestors do not align with traditional liberal symbols. Besides, when was the last time you heard about the left protesting a Supreme Court decision?

Whatever one’s opinion of Israel’s Supreme Court or Jewish owned property in the eastern part of Jerusalem, it is appalling that such graffiti be used on a Jewish home. Soon the Supreme Court will here the final appeal of another squatter in the Shimon Hatzaddik Neighborhood and the failure of this appeal will result in another legal and court sanctioned eviction. No doubt, protests in the neighborhood will start again. When I was given my tour of the neighborhood, I was told that the protestors were made up of mostly Jewish Israelis, some European anarchists and anti-Zionists, and a small minority of Israeli Arabs. Who do you think sprayed the swastikas on to the houses? Who will be willing to stand next to those who espouse such an ideology?