A Boise, Idaho memorial to Anne Frank was defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti on Saturday for the second time in the last year.
Police said that anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered spray painted in tunnels near the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial, Fox News reported.
“We recognize the significance of this being the last Saturday of Hanukkah and we are reaching out to Jewish leaders in our community to let them know we will not stand for such hateful and abhorrent behavior in our city,” Boise Police Chief Ryan Lee said on Twitter.
Boise Parks employees began removing the vandalism as soon as they were notified.
Lee added: “The graffiti is in the process of being cleaned and covered up. Thank you to Boise Parks for such a quick response.”
The graffiti include the phrase “F*** Jews,” swastikas, and “I [heart symbol] Nazis” alongside a swastika.
The memorial is the only one of its kind dedicated to Anne Frank in the United States.
It features a life-sized bronze statue of Anne Frank holding her diary and peering out the window of the secret annex where she hid with her family for over two years during the Holocaust.
"The anti-Semitic messages contained in the graffiti found along the Greenbelt put a literal and figurative stain on our community. This will not be tolerated," Boise Mayor Lauren McLean said in a Facebook post. "Hate speech is reprehensible. It is not who (we) are as a city and is not part of our shared values. I invite all good people of Boise to stand with me, as I stand with our Jewish neighbors, to rebuke this hate."
The memorial was also vandalized nearly a year ago in December 2020, days before the start of Hanukkah.
In that instance, swastikas were plastered throughout the memorial along with flyers that said “We are everywhere.” Images taken of the defacement showed flyers stuck to the back of the Anne Frank statue and to the diary she is depicted holding.