A recent mural in Milan, which honors Italian Holocaust survivors Liliana Segre and Sami Modiano, has been vandalized. The mural, created by artist and activist aleXsandro Palombo on September 28, features the two survivors in the striped uniforms of Auschwitz-Birkenau, wearing bulletproof jackets adorned with the yellow Star of David. Palombo shared the mural on Instagram with the caption 'Anti-Semitism, History Repeating Itself,' alongside a tribute to Segre and Modiano as 'two of the last witnesses and survivors of the horrors of the Shoah.'

The mural was a response to a pro-Palestine march held earlier that month, marking a year since the October 7 Hamas attacks and Israel's subsequent assault on Gaza. During the march, Segre, who was named a senator for life in 2018, was labeled a 'Zionist agent.' The vandalism, which involved scratching off the faces and yellow stars on the mural, has been condemned by Italy's Holocaust memorial museum, the Fondazione Museo della Shoah. The museum stated that such acts 'not only harm art, but undermine the value of Memory, which is fundamental for building a conscious and just society.'

Mario Venezia, the museum's president, called the vandalism 'a despicable and demented act,' adding that while the vandals may damage walls, 'history and its teachings remain intact.' Politicians have also expressed outrage, with Democratic Party member Piero Fassino describing the act as demonstrating 'the level of cowardice and cowardice that anti-Semitic impulses are manifesting themselves with ever greater aggressiveness.'

Palombo is renowned for his political street art. Last year, he created a mural depicting Anne Frank alongside a Gazan girl, and another featuring a Gazan boy dressed as a Hamas member. Palombo has emphasized that 'antisemitic fury unleashed by Hamas is overwhelming Jews in every part of the world,' and that 'terrorism is the very denial of humanity.' This is the second Palombo mural following October 7 to be defaced; another mural depicting Vlada Patapov escaping a Hamas attack was similarly vandalized.

The news of this latest defacement comes shortly after Palombo unveiled a new mural opposite the Iranian consulate in Milan, depicting Iranian student Ahoo Daryaei, who was arrested by the country's morality police for defying compulsory hijab laws.

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