JERUSALEM -- Vandals spray-painted anti-Semitic slogans -- including the words "Hitler, thank you for the Holocaust" -- on the walls outside Israel´s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Center in Jerusalem on Monday.

The slogans were written in Hebrew both at the entrance and inside the memorial. The desecration of the site was quickly condemned by Israeli lawmakers.

One of the slogans read, "If Hitler did not exist, the Zionists would have invented him," the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. Another said, "The Zionist leadership wanted the Holocaust."

Israeli Education Minister Gideon Sa´ar expressed his horror over the incident, calling it a "blatant act of hatred of Israel and Zionism."

"I am shocked by the vandalism that was carried out this [Monday] morning," Sa´ar said. "Whoever desecrated and trashed Yad Vashem with these disturbed slogans did it in order to issue a blow to the emotions of the public. I am counting on Israel Police to track the vandals and bring them to justice."

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP that an investigation was underway to find out who was responsible for the graffiti.

Yad Vashem is Israel´s main Holocaust memorial and museum. (Copyright 2012 NYP Holdings, Inc. 06/11/12)