Vandalism Ruled Out In Fallen Headstones At Brooklyn Jewish Cemetery
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Dave Goldiner March 5, 2017
Fallen tombstones at a Jewish cemetery in Brooklyn were felled years ago — and not toppled by anti-Semitic vandals, police and cemetery officials said.
“It was old damage, years if not decades,” old, an NYPD spokesman told DNAinfo. The cemetery had structural issues with older tombstones in the past, the spokesman added.
Dov Hikind, a local assemblyman, tweeted that the damage at Washington Cemetery on Bay Parkway was believed to be anti-Semitic vandalism.
The incident came on the heels of the toppling of headstones at other Jewish cemeteries in Rochester, New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis has stoked fears of a resurgence of anti-Semitism.
But a spokesman for the cemetery confirmed no crime had taken place there.
“There was not vandalism, it is wrong information,” he said.
It was unclear why the damaged headstones had not been repaired or uprighted over the years.
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