A mural in Milan, Italy, honoring the lives of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons – Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 10 months – who were senselessly murdered by Hamas – was destroyed this week, just weeks after it was vandalized.
The Star of David has been removed and the damage to Shiri’s face has made her almost unrecognizable.
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A mural in Milan, Italy, by contemporary artist AleXsandro Palombo was completely defaced. A vandal covered the Star of David and made Shiri Bibas’ face almost unrecognizable. (AleXsandro Palombo)
“Removing the Star of David and obscuring Shiri’s face means trying to erase history, denying the existence of a people, imposing an ideology that rejects democratic coexistence and trying to rewrite the present with the ink of fear.”
The artwork outside the Qatari consulate in Milan was covered with a print last month during a memorial service for the victims of the October 7, 2023, attacks.
Shiri’s face was obscured by an image originally created by Vancouver street artist iHeart. The artwork depicted a boy crying, emotional due to a lack of attention on social media. The vandal used the image as a basis for creative liberties, adding “No War” and a red rose to the photo above Shiri’s face.
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The mural of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons was originally defaced during a memorial service for the victims of the attacks on October 7, 2023. (AleXsandro Palombo)
“Flying the Israeli flag that protected the children is a way of saying that no place is safe for Jews, not even in the heart of Europe,” Palombo said.
“The flag in the mural was not only a cloak that protected the children; it was also the sign of their belonging, the symbol of an identity that embraces them and at the same time exposes them. In that gesture of protection lay the tenderness of a people defending its children, but also the vulnerability of those who, precisely because of who they are, become the targets of hatred.”
The children’s likenesses were also damaged.
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Palombo learned of the full defacement through private messages on his social media channels.
It is unclear whether the artwork will be restored or recreated.
Other Palombo artworks, including murals dedicated to Auschwitz survivor Sami Modiano, Italian Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre and Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor Edith Bruck, have been destroyed in the past.
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“Free, present and determined not to retreat an inch before this tsunami of fanaticism, fundamentalism and crazy radicalism,” Palombo said.
