Damage in Jewish cemetary
Photo: Irna Adelstein
Smashed tombstones in Jewish cemetary
Photo: Irna Adelstein
Damage in Jewish cemetary
Photo: Irna Adelstein
Yom Kippur: 80 Jewish tombstones smashed
Anonymous persons smash gravestones in Jewish cemetery near Moscow. Jewish Agency: Anti-Semitic acts increase in past weeks
This Yom Kippur saw swastikas and 80 smashed tombstones as the result of the defiling of a Jewish cemetery by anonymous persons in the town of Tver, close to Moscow.
The local police launched an investigation following the appalling incident, although the local Jewish community found it hard to believe that the offenders would be caught.
Chaim Ben Yaakov, Head of the Jewish Agency Delegation in Moscow, said that recent weeks have seen an incline in Anti-Semitic acts.
“Last weekend, windows were smashed at the Jewish Agency in Vladimir, also close to Moscow,” Ben Yaakov said.
Yaakov also spoke of an Anti-Semitic flier being circulated throughout the city, adorned in swastikas and caricatures of Jews. The flier proclaims things like ‘Russia is for Russians’ and ‘Russia must take its fate into its own hands’.
“I don’t know if the increase in incidents is a coincidence, but it may also be due to the holidays,” Ben Yaakov speculated.
The Russian government condemned and denounced Anti-Semitic acts, although Tver’s Jewish community doubted that real efforts were being made to catch the offenders.
“The Russian government is not Anti-Semitic. The authorities denounce these incidents and claim they will do everything they can to fight them, but in the meantime, they haven’t caught any of the culprits in any of the cases,” Ben Yaakov said.
The Jewish community in Tver, comprised of about 4,000 of the town’s residents, was very fearful of more Anti-Semitic acts. Ben Yaakov explained that there was a fear of incidents occurring in places that had Jewish activities, such as the community center that contained a synagogue.
“We, as the Jewish Agency, will increase security in those places and help in any possible way,” Ben Yaakov concluded.
