Greek foreign ministry condemns vandalism at synagogue

ATHENS, Greece – Greece’s foreign ministry and main political parties have strongly condemned the daubing of Nazi symbols on the walls of a Jewish synagogue in northern Greece.

The foreign ministry promised Tuesday that Greek authorities would do their utmost to arrest and punish whoever was responsible for the vandalism in the city of Ioannina.

It said the “barbaric” attack is an affront to Greek society and the memory of Greek victims of fascism, including Jews, during World War II.

Most of Greece’s pre-war Jewish population was deported and killed in Nazi death camps by German occupation forces.

Vandalism of Jewish sites has increased since the rise in recent years of the Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn party, which grew from the margins to become Greece’s third-largest.