The entrance to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem was vandalized overnight.
Museum workers discovered the damage upon arriving on the premises Monday morning.
According to available details, unknown vandals sprayed graffiti reading "Hitler, thanks for the Holocaust" and "If Hitler didn’t exist the Zionists would have had to invent him" on one of the walls.
Some 10 other slogans of the same nature were daubed in several other areas as well, including "Israel is the secular Auschwitz of the Sephardic Jewry," and "Jews wake up – the Zionist regime is dangerous."
One of the slogans was reportedly signed "The global Zionist mafia" and another was signed "the global haredi Jewry."
Avner Shalev, chairman of Yad Vshem, said: "I\’m appalled by this blatant act of hatred towards the state and towards Zionism. This has crossed a red line. I\’ve informed the education minister of this incident and he too was outraged."
Crime scene investigators were sent to the museum to collect evidence.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed that the police were investigating the case, adding that no suspects have been identified yet.
Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch spoke with Jerusalem District Police Commander Niso Shaham regarding the investigation
"We have to find these perpetrators as soon as possible. This was a heinous crime against one of the State of Israel\’s most prominent symbols. I\’m appalled and outraged," Aharonovitch said.
The Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum and Research Center was established in 1953. It is dedicated to commemoration of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis during World War II.