The mayor of Boise, Idaho, has condemned anti-Semitic messages written on a tunnel wall near the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial on Saturday.
The writing included a swastika and the words “F*** the Jews” and “I heart Nazis,” with a drawing of a heart in place of the word.
“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,” Mayor Lauren McLean posted online. “Hate speech is reprehensible. It is not who 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 Boise Police Department is investigating.
Chief of Police Ryan Lee said “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.”
The graffiti was cleaned up by employees of the Boise Parks and Recreation Department.
Last year, the memorial itself located at the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights in Boise was vandalized with stickers that featured a swastika and said, “We are everywhere.”
