Vandals Deface Israeli Plaque Honoring Arab
Israel’s only monument to an Arab leader, a stone plaque in the city of Ashkelon honoring Morocco’s late King Mohammed V, has been removed after it was repeatedly defaced.
The plaque, designed to honor the king’s good treatment of the Jewish community in Morocco, has been hammered, punctured with a pneumatic drill and daubed with paint since it was installed Sept. 28.
“Extremists have been defacing the plaque, and reports . . . have reached Europe and the court of Morocco’s King Hassan,” Ashkelon Mayor Eli Dayan was quoted as saying in the Jerusalem Post newspaper Monday.
Thousands protested at the plaque’s dedication, a day after a Jewish resident of Ashkelon was killed by Arab guerrillas in occupied Gaza.
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