Vandals destroy over 100 Jewish headstones amongst dozens of bomb threats to Jewish centers
St. Louis’s Fox2 has reported that over 100 headstones at the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City Missouri have been vandalized, and knocked over.
Police believe the act was organized, and that the crime was carried out by a group of people. At this time, police cannot determine if this was a hate crime or not.
Fox 2 has footage of the damage in their report.
This vandalism comes on the heels of dozens of bomb threats made earlier today on Jewish community centers around the United States. 11 of these were evacuated, and searched.
According to the Jewish Community Center Association’s Director of strategic performance David Posner, there is concern about how often these threats have been appearing. So far there have been a total of 69 since January 9th.
“While we are relieved that all such threats have proven to be hoaxes and that not a single person was harmed, we are concerned about the anti-Semitism behind these threats, and the repetition of threats intended to interfere with day-to-day life. Local JCCs serve not just the Jewish community, but the entire community. Participants from all different backgrounds come to their local JCCs for activities, Jewish cultural and religious programming, and opportunities to come together as a community.”
A list of threats made to JCC locations can be viewed here.
Posner says they are currently working with the FBI to determine where these threats are coming from. Whether these threats, and the destruction within the University City graves are connected is also yet to be determined. However, it is oddly suspicious that these two events coincided on the same day.
Earlier today, Press Secretary Sean Spicer told NBC News that President Donald Trump has made it “abundantly clear that these actions are unacceptable.”
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