A Paris Holocaust memorial for the French people that risked their lives to save Jews was vandalized with painted red hands on Monday night, the Shoah Memorial said on Tuesday.

The Wall of the Righteous and other sites in the neighborhood were defaced by hooded individuals, according to the Holocaust memorial foundation. The Shoah Memorial said that a complaint had been filed to the police and that an investigation is underway.

"We are outraged by this cowardly and hateful act, regardless of the perpetrators and the meaning of these red hands," said the Shoah Memorial.

Why the red hands?

Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) president Yonathan Arfi shared a photograph of the vandalism on social media, claiming that the graffiti was meant to evoke the lynching of two Israeli reservists in Ramallah in 2000. Pro-Palestinian activists used the symbol of red hands in activist efforts calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, asserting that Palestinian blood is being spilt by Israelis.

CRIF vice-president Nathalie Beizermann said that the red hands "are the signature of those who advocate the terrorism that struck Israel and attacks all over the world. It is an insult to memory by uneducated people who trample on our democracies."

The Shoah Memorial said that the vandalism of the wall honoring 3,900 French Righteous Among the Nations occurred on the anniversary of the May 1942 transfer of 3,700 Jews from Paris to camps in the Loiret before transfer to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.

Shoah Memorial director Jacques Fredj said that the act showed the necessity of the educational and historical organization more than ever.

"We are acting against intolerance and ignorance in a moment of confusion and exploitation of the history of the Shoah and genocides," said Fredj. "We will continue to deploy and amplify our work of education and pedagogy against barbarism, against anti-Semitism and all forms of intolerance.”

The Union of Jewish Youth said on social media that the graffiti was "not only an insult to the murdered Jews but to all French people who fought against Nazism."

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany said on X that the vandalism was an attack by anti-Israel activists.

"This attack deeply affects society as a whole," said the German Claims Conference chapter. "It affects the survivors of the Holocaust and the righteous who live in France today and who saved the Jews from the persecution of the Nazis and their collaborators at the risk of their lives."

The World Jewish Congress said that the vandalism was "shameful."

"Our societies need to wake up and understand the meaning and intentions behind these actions," said WJC.

In March, the facade for the Shoah Memorial in Drancy was damaged. A glass window was smashed in what local authorities decried as an antisemitic act.