Did Mike Pence Derail Clean Up Efforts At St. Louis Jewish Cemetery?
Image by Twitter@FOX2now
By Talya Zax February 23, 2017
Earlier today, Vice President Mike Pence made an unannounced visit to Chesed Shel Emet cemetery, the Jewish cemetery just west of St. Louis that was desecrated this past weekend. He was accompanied by the Republican governor of Missouri Eric Greitens — who is, himself, Jewish.
While many were happy for Pence’s visit, calling it a welcome sign of solidarity with the Jewish community from an administration that has drawn criticism for what has been seen as a tepid response to anti-Semitic incidents around the country, some St. Louis residents were less than thrilled with his timing and lack of notification.
The cemetery closes at 4 p.m. and residents reported that volunteers were prevented from helping in a clean-up that had been scheduled for the final hour as Pence, segregated from the locals, spoke to the national press corps.
VP Pence off in distance, volunteers being held back while they tour the headstones @kmov pic.twitter.com/JKAtfblqto
— Emily Pritchard (@emilyjpritch) February 22, 2017
.@sarahkendzior Yeah, Cemetery closes at 4 &his photo op meant people were left waiting in line on Olive Blvd when they cld hv been helping
— Glic (@Glic) February 22, 2017
But either way, the will of the people to help was served, as the thousands who came stayed after the VIPs had left for an interfaith vigil.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
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 polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
