Jewish Tombstones at the West Park cemetary in Johannesburg have been vandalised. Police have arrested a number of suspects who will soon be charged.
Unfortunately I haven't yet been able to find a link for details of this story. If any South African readers come across a link to this story please mail it my way.
Update at 10/01/2006
The print media have finally caught onto this story.
It looks as if this was a case of vandalism (something very prevalent in SA) and not anti-Semitism (something not very prevalent in SA).
The Star has more details
| Police have questioned at least five people in connection with vandalism at Johannesburg's West Park cemetery, where more than 30 graves in the Jewish section have been vandalised. Joburg area commissioner Superintendent Chris Wilken said yesterday that no arrests had been made, but police were working to find the culprits. The Jewish community has reacted with outrage at the desecration of the graves. "We are upset about this act of vandalism ... It's unacceptable behaviour," said Zev Krengel, chairperson of the Jewish Board of Deputies in Joburg. Saying the incident was not anti-Semitic, Krengel appealed to the police to root out "this criminal behaviour" because it was not the first time it had occurred at West Park. |
The jury may still be out on whether this was or wasn't an anti-Semitic incident. Could the Jewish Board of Deputies be trying to play this down? Nova reported that only 22 of the graves desecrated were from the Jewish section but their report contradicts with this one from The Star.
Anyway, I'm sure its hard for non-South Africans to believe that this wasn't anti-Semitic. You sort of have to live here to understand the type of vandalism that occurs on a daily basis in this beautiful country of ours.
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