Bias-Incident WatchHartford . . . 91 gravestones vandalized
Vandals overturned 91 gravestones in Zion Hill Cemetery in Hartford,
Conn., the burial plot for Congregation Agudas Achim in West Hartford, in
early September, The Connecticut Jewish Ledger reported.
Hartford police were investigating the incident after synagogue members
discovered the vandalism on Sept. 2.
The congregation has been seeking community support to repair the damage and
increase security to prevent future vandalism. The congregation received a
$500 check to support these efforts, Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe told the Ledger.
David Waren, executive director of the Connecticut office of the
Anti-Defamation League, described the episode as “the most serious Jewish
cemetery desecration reported to us in Connecticut in the last several
years.”
Queens . . . swastika graffiti
A 12-by-12-foot symbol of a swastika was drawn in red marker on an
outside walkway of an Oakland Gardens housing complex on 75th Avenue and
discovered Thursday morning, Sept. 29, New York police told The New York
Post.
Crown Heights . . . bomb scare
The first day of Rosh Hashanah in the Crown Heights section of
Brooklyn was marked by a bomb scare outside a synagogue, The New York Daily
News reported. The bomb scare was prompted by the discovery of an untended
bag, and a bomb squad detective found a fire extinguisher inside the bag.
Swampscott, MA . . . Chabad shul vandalized
Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore, outside Boston, was vandalized during the
Sabbath just days before Rosh Hashanah when someone entered the building and
scrawled anti-Semitic graffiti on the walls, The Boston Jewish Advocate
reported.
The graffiti included obscenities directed toward Jews that were daubed in the
function hall on the lower floor of the building, and the graffiti was swiftly
painted over by police. The vandals are suspected of gaining entry to the
synagogue through an unlocked door that was mistakenly left open Friday night
after Sabbath services, police told the newspaper. An alarm system was
previously installed, but did not operate at the time of the incident because
of Sabbath restrictions.
“I was horrified beyond imagination,” said Rabbi Yossi Lipsker, who was
walking to the synagogue when congregants approached him to warn him about the
graffiti. “From what I understand, the perpetrators’ intentions were
sinister and the fact that they found an unsecured entrance just made it
easier for them.”
Swampscott police detective Ted Delano voiced doubt that the vandals could
have entered the building if the door had been locked. He told the Advocate
that the police have a number of leads and that community residents reported
suspicious activity in the area.
Farrakhan Challenges ADL
Louis Farrakhan was predictably defiant on C-Span’s Washington Journal
call-in show on Thursday, Oct. 13, when asked about the Anti-Defamation
League’s attacks on him for past anti-Semitic comments. He even challenged
the ADL to take on William Bennett for proposing that abortion among
African-Americans would eliminate crime by black people.
Actually, the ADL did take on Bennett, the former U.S. Secretary of Education.
Posted on its website is a Sept. 30 to Bennett criticizing him for it. Also
posted on the ADL website is a long list of anti-Semitic quotes as recent as
last February. In 2004, Bennett singled out the Jews for sponsoring slavery.
Oh, yes, Farrakhan proclaimed on C-Span: “I am not now nor ever been a hater of the Jewish people.” That should clear things up. - Bruce Ticker |
