VP Mike Pence Helps Restore Vandalized Jewish Cemetery
Vice President Mike Pence at Chesed Shel Emet cemetery in Missouri Image by twitter
By Nathan Guttman February 22, 2017
Vice President Mike Pence at Chesed Shel Emet cemetery in Missouri Image by twitter
Pence, accompanied by Missouri governor Eric Greitens, who is Jewish, made an unannounced visit to Chesed Shel Emeth cemetery, where more than 150 headstones were toppled over the weekend.
The vice president, tweeted afterwards: “MO’s people are inspiring the nation w/ their compassion for the Jewish community. Thank you for showing the world what America is all about.”
Governor Greitens, standing next to Pence and speaking through a bullhorn, told volunteers at the synagogue, “we are going to demonstrate that this vile act of desecration is not who we are.”
Speaking earlier at a Caterpillar plant in Fenton, Missouri, Pence denounced denounced “vile” attacks on Jewish sites “in the strongest possible terms”.
His comments came a day after President Donald Trump made his most forceful statements against anti-Semitism yet, which critics have panned as too little, too late.
Some Jewish groups like the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect in New York have blasted Trump’s late response to attacks on Jewish sites as “crumbs of condescension.”
“When President Trump responds to Antisemitism proactively and in real time, and without pleas and pressure, that’s when we’ll be able to say this President has turned a corner,” director Steven Goldstein wrote on Facebook Tuesday. “This is not that moment.”
Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
