this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2024
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The statue commemorating Anne Frank, one of the most famous victims of the Holocaust, was defaced with pro-Palestinian graffiti for the second time on Sunday.

The statue is located in Merwedeplein, near the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

According to images published on X, the base of the statue was spray-painted with the slogan "Free Gaza" while the girl's hands were painted with the same red color, AFP reported.

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 250 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Ah yes, the notoriously pro-Israel Ann Frank. What with Israel existing before 1948.

How the fuck does this help anything?

[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 120 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Perhaps the GRU (Russian military intelligence) paid some petty criminals to do it, as they did with pro-Palestine graffiti on a Jewish cemetery in France a few months ago

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 67 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Could be. But it could just as easily be some stupid bigots taking advantage of a bad situation.

For example, I doubt this was Russians: https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/02/us/cincinnati-jewish-cemeteries-vandalism/index.html

But I do look forward for a demand that Alfred Dreyfus be exhumed so we can conduct a Cadaver Synod and re-try him for Israeli genocide in Gaza.

[–] Carrolade@lemmy.world 18 points 4 months ago

I do recall an instance where they paid someone to spray paint a swastika and "Azov" on some mosque in MI, back in the early days of the war.

So, they are active with these sorts of tactics in the US. But yes, this is all just speculation at this point.

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago (4 children)

I got banned from r/worldnews for suggesting same.

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[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

How the fuck does this help anything?

It helps conflate Palestinian opposition to the war in Gaza with German Fascism and the Holocaust. That's to the benefit of Israeli Zionists.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I think Israelis doing this is the least likely of the scenarios suggested, the others being bigots and Russian operatives.

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[–] eestileib@sh.itjust.works 111 points 4 months ago (10 children)

The Gazans are in the same position as Ann Frank. Wtf.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 69 points 4 months ago

The statue is located in Merwedeplein, near the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

The Gazans aren't the ones doing the defacement.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 31 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (6 children)

It only takes 1% idiots to give enough anecdotal ammunition for the other side. It's not the hard numbers that were ever in their favour anyway.

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[–] Doom@ttrpg.network 16 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Exactly.

The news is portraying it like wow how could someone defile such a respectful thing

It is to make the message clear I dunno Anne Frank but I doubt she'd be cool with bombing Palestinians

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 16 points 4 months ago

I doubt she’d be cool with bombing Palestinians

i used to think any sane person would be; but i'm learning from this election cycle that they're minimize it as being a "single issue voter."

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Just idiots, everyone involved. 🤦‍♂️

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[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 9 points 4 months ago

Kinda shows the stark contrast of how each are treated, especially with regards to the children.

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[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 59 points 4 months ago

I can understand the anger at Israel. But of all people, Anne Frank has the least to do with all the genocide of Palestinians.

[–] vga@sopuli.xyz 53 points 4 months ago (2 children)

One angry kid with a spray bottle. That's all it takes for this to happen. Let's not be crazy about the implications perhaps?

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 9 points 4 months ago

I like how people are assuming if Anne Frank were alive she would be doing anything other than shouting to the world about ending the genocide in Gaza because genocides are the most terrible crime humanity can enact upon itself.

A statue is just some rock you paid somebody to carve.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Nonsense, let's drum it up into a big stupid story with actual geopolitical ramifications.

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[–] NutWrench@lemmy.zip 49 points 4 months ago (1 children)

"Let's deface a memorial, dedicated to a young girl who was murdered by Nazis. NOW, people will have to listen to what I have to say!"

  • surprised Pikachu face * "Why didn't that work?"
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[–] xc2215x@lemmy.world 38 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Not the best place for that.

[–] CluckN@lemmy.world 34 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It does help Israel with the, “Everyone who disagrees with our actions is antisemitic” angle.

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 15 points 4 months ago

Yes. That is Israel’s only PR card only and they’ve been playing it over and over.

As an actual pro-Palestine act of protest, this is pure idiocy. It is plainly antisemitic and there is no grounds to hold Anne Frank accountable for the state of Israel. If a pro-Palestine protestor did this then they are an absolute moron and a bigot.

However. As a pro-Israel false flag, this is brilliant. It draws a tight connection between supporting Palestine and being anti-Semitic. It makes protestors look exactly like the bigots Israel wants them all to be.

So given that someone just ran up and did this under cover of night, we’re left with a decision: was it done by someone incredibly stupid or very smart? There are plenty of both in the world.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 30 points 4 months ago (5 children)

Pro-Palestinian idiots or Bad Actor/False Flag idiots?

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 35 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

People are scoffing at this, but in the UK you've got full blown fascist riots over the purely fictitious claim that a knife attack was perpetrated by a Muslim immigrant. The British far-right are burning mosques and storefronts in response to a social media slander.

[–] Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It's easier to blame a ghost than accept the shitheels on your side

[–] sheogorath@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Having some shitheels doesn't invalidate that Israel is doing a genocide.

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[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

Impossible to tell. The former is the Occam's and Hanlon's razor answer, though.

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[–] HomerianSymphony@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

It honestly could be either.

And both options are depressing.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yeah we had russians painting anti semitic crap here in France to stir shit up.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

No shortage of home grown antisemitism in France.

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[–] atro_city@fedia.io 26 points 4 months ago

This is how people confuse Jews with Zionists and Israelis. Sometimes they overlap, sometimes they are only one of the options, but they are not synonyms.

[–] LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone 23 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (147 children)

How wildly misguided and disrespectful. That is assuming this was even done in earnest. Accusations of anti semitism are levied at anti-zionist action all the time and it's hard to dismiss those accusations when legitimate anti-semitism frequently tries to associate itself with anti-zionism.

I'm not even saying this couldn't have been done by a legitimate anti-zionist who is also antisemitic. It just continually weakens the cause of anti colonialism when other forms of bigotry crop up around us. Anti semitism in all it's forms is completely abhorrent and unacceptable. Advocating for the liberation of Palestinians should never invoke anti-Semitic ideology.

Edit: if you're curious how antisemitism could come to exist in leftist movements, read the comments below. Giving no thought to the impact our actions have is unacceptable. Pissing people off is not a worthy trade for making Jewish leftists feel unsafe in our movements.

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[–] freeman@sh.itjust.works 17 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Hate begets hate, not calm and rational responses.

If this changes your opinion on Gaza-Israel; you are a fucking moron.

If Hamas' fighters being hateful and commiting war crimes changes your opinion on the conflict; you are a fucking moron.

If you think no hamas fighter is hateful and has committed atrocities; you are a naive moron.

If you are wondering why Israel is wrong and Palestinians in the right despite both sides' soldiers (and "soldiers") committing war crimes, it's because Israel created this situation by occupying Palestine and trying to ethnically cleanse it.

People in the West are way naive and sheltered from the realities of war, in part due to propaganda and how western war efforts have been portrayed as unrealistically "clean" and sanitized.

[–] raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Good take. Except maybe missing the part where the west is complicit in the suffering of palestinians, and where the Arab nations starting a war vs. Israel taught Israel to be aggressive preemptively. And this is not an excuse, just an (incomplete) analysis how this clusterfuck came about.

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[–] cygnus@lemmy.ca 14 points 4 months ago

Brave anti-imperialists at it again!

[–] Streamwave@feddit.uk 10 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Appalling but antisemitism is becoming increasingly mainstream in Europe unfortunately

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