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The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece has decried the desecration of the Holocaust Memorial in Thessaloniki, Ekathimerini reports.

In the announcement Friday, the board expressed “the profound sorrow, the intense concern and the outrage of the Greek Jews for the latest vandal attack against the Holocaust Monument of Thessaloniki that occurred in the night of June 27, 2018, for the third time during the last seven months.”

Authorities in the northern port city believe the vandals who splashed paint on the bronze sculpture depicting a menorah with human figures intertwined in its flames had been part of a rally held earlier in protest at the name deal with Skopje.

The statement said the vandalism of a monument erected in the memory of 50,000 Thessaloniki Jews killed by the Nazis in World War II “should trouble all of Greek society.”

“The authorities need to bring to justice the seekers of darkness that aim at discrediting in the most deplorable way the image of the city,” the board said.

“The monument will not lose its meaning and value: To remind to visitors the barbarity that led to the death of the Jews of Thessaloniki, only because they were Jewish, and alert society that absolute evil may happen again if we do not fortify the principals of our democracy and our humanism,” it added.

Both Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin visited the site in the past year.

The Israeli Embassy condemned the incident, noting that it was “a great insult to the 50,000 Greek Thessaloniki Jews lost in Nazi death camps” and that “such actions by marginal extremist groups must be condemned”. It expressed conviction that Greek authorities were investigating to find those responsible and lead them to justice.

On Monday, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin addressed a letter to the President of the Central Board of Jewish Communities of Greece, Mr. David Saltiel, on the desecration of the Holocaust Memorial in Thessaloniki:

President Reuven Rivlin addresses letter to the President of the Central Board of Jewish Communities of Greece, Mr. David Saltiel, on the desecration of the Holocaust Memorial in Thessaloniki. pic.twitter.com/eXRyjRRvTk

— Israel in Greece (@IsraelinGreece) July 2, 2018

(Nat Golden – YWN)