Holocaust memorial defaced with “Free Gaza.” Photo: i24 / Social Media

i24 News – A Holocaust memorial in Lyon was defaced with an inscription of the words “Free Gaza” appearing to have been scratched into it, city officials told AFP on Saturday, adding to already existing concerns over growing antisemitic crimes in France.

A photo city officials shared with AFP showed the inscription apparently scratched with a sharp object into the black marble of a plaque on the monument.

“The vandalism of the Holocaust Memorial in Lyon is an intolerable act. I condemn it and express my full solidarity with memory associations, survivors and their descendants. The perpetrators will be sought and prosecuted. Lyon stands firm against hatred, antisemitism and racism,” the city’s mayor, Gregory Doucet, wrote in a statement sent to AFP.

The monument was opened in January 2025 in honor of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

“The fact that this inscription was made on a Holocaust memorial clearly constitutes an antisemitic act,” a city hall official told AFP. The official also said the municipality had the vandalism quickly removed.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar took to X after the incident, calling out France’s growing rate of antisemitic incidents and its negative reaction to the US Ambassador’s “unacceptable” letter last week about the issue.

“Desecration of a Holocaust memorial in Lyon, France. But when the US Ambassador to France, Charles Kushner expressed his concern about the rising antisemitism there – he was rebuked for interfering in ‘internal affairs,'” he wrote in his post.

Minister of Immigration and Absorption, Ofir Sofer, also said in response to the vandalism, “The French government, which is considering awarding a prize for terrorism in the form of a Palestinian state and is offended by the American ambassador’s interference in its internal affairs, must first and foremost fight antisemitism directed against its Jewish citizens. Antisemitism that has not been seen for decades.”