A third Jewish cemetery has been vandalized in two weeks, this time in Rochester
A Jewish cemetery in Rochester, N.Y., was found vandalized Thursday morning, making it the third such graveyard incident over the past two weeks.
Officials at the Waad Hakolel Cemetery, known as the Stone Road Cemetery, reported five toppled headstones. Britton Road Association president, Michael Phillips, was hesitant about labeling the incident a hate crime.
“I don’t want to label it a hate crime. I don’t think there’s any proof of that. I don’t want to label it anti-Semitism. I don’t think there’s any proof of that,” Phillips told a local paper.
Police have not yet opened an investigation into the vandalism and are waiting for the cemetery’s go-ahead before doing so.
In mid-February, Jewish cemeteries in St. Louis and Philadelphia were seriously damaged by vandals who knocked over headstones. In the Missouri incident, more than 170 tombstones were knocked over.
Last week saw widespread bomb threats to Jewish Community Centers and schools in 33 states in the U.S., as well as two provinces in Canada.
