Sign honoring Amos Oz vandalized in Arad; mayor: 'Shameful act'

A tourist sign honoring the late author Amos Oz was vandalized this morning in Arad. Mayor Yair Maayan condemned the act as 'shameful and despicable' and said city workers cleaned the sign and the city security officer will file a complaint with the police. The Oz family expressed sadness over the erasure of his name from the sign in the city he loved.

A tourist sign honoring the late author Amos Oz was vandalized this morning (Monday) in Arad. Arad Mayor Yair Maayan said in a statement that the sign describes Oz's rich literary work, which established him as one of Israel's most prominent writers. Maayan called the act 'shameful and despicable' by corrupt criminals trying to set facts in the public sphere and disrupt life in the city. According to him, city workers immediately treated and cleaned the sign, and the city security officer will file a complaint with the police. The Oz family said: 'It is sad to see the name of our father and grandfather erased from the sign near his home, in the city he loved so much, in the country he loved so much.' Amos Oz passed away in December 2018 after a battle with cancer. He is considered one of the most esteemed and well-known Israeli writers in Israel and worldwide, and his books have been translated into 42 languages. Oz received the Israel Prize (1998), the Goethe Prize (2005), and the Heinrich Heine Prize (2008), and was a regular nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature from 2007.