Headstones Smashed At Jewish Cemetery Near London
The British flag flies in London. Image by RistoArnaudov/iStock
(JTA) — Four headstones at a disused Jewish cemetery in the United Kingdom have been destroyed in what police are investigating as a possible anti-Semitic attack.
The perpetrators knocked down the headstones at the cemetery of the Chatham Memorial Synagogue in Rochester, a town located 30 miles east of London, sometime between Sept. 27 and Oct. 4, police told Kent Online, which published an article about the incident Tuesday.
“It’s difficult to describe the sense of horror at the disrespect and needless violence,” Dalia Halpern-Matthews, the chair of trustees of the nonprofit organization that runs the Chatham Memorial Synagogue, told the Daily Mail.
The unknown vandals destroyed the cemetery’s gate.
“The gate they ripped off was bolted to the wall. It was already open. It was damage for damage’s sake,” Halpern-Matthews said.
The last burial at the cemetery took place in 1982. Some graves there are more than 300 years old.
The Jewish community of Rochester has fewer than 50 members, according to the Daily Mail.
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.
