Israel’s Foreign Ministry has sharply criticized the desecration of a Holocaust memorial in the Italian city of Turin over the weekend, labeling the act as an expression of moral depravity.
The memorial which was vandalized consists of small brass stones that form part of a European-wide commemorative art project launched in 1995.
Each stone is engraved with the name of a victim, along with their date of birth, date of arrest, date of death if known, and the concentration camp to which they were sent. The stones are installed in front of the buildings where the victims once resided.
“Throughout Italy, antisemitism is escalating - whether attacks on Jews in the streets or the desecration of Holocaust memorials," the Foreign Ministry wrote on social media.
“Only moral depravity could drive those who vandalized the stumbling blocks commemorating Jews deported to Nazi death camps. This is not protest. It is hatred," it added.
“We trust the Italian authorities will act firmly and decisively to confront this hatred and ensure the safety and dignity of Jewish communities."
The vandalism comes day after pro-Palestinian Arab activists disrupted a Jewish group’s participation in Milan’s Liberation Day parade, forcing them out of a procession marking the 81st anniversary of Italy’s liberation from Nazi occupation and fascist rule.
Earlier this year, a mural honoring Holocaust survivor and Jewish Italian chemist Primo Levi was vandalized in Milan just days after its unveiling for International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
In October of 2025, a kosher bakery in Rome’s Jewish neighborhood of Viale Marconi was defaced with antisemitic graffiti.