Brooklyn, NY – The New York Police Department says no evidence of vandalism has been found at a predominantly Jewish cemetery where more than 40 tombstones were toppled over.
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The NYPD says after consultation with the management of the Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn, it was determined the 42 tombstones came down as a result of a number of factors. Those include long-term neglect or lack of maintenance, as well as environmental factors such as soil erosion.
There has been a rash of vandalism at Jewish cemeteries and 122 bomb threats against Jewish organizations in three dozen states since early January.
Authorities said Friday that Juan Thompson, a former journalist fired for fabricating details in stories, made at least eight threats against Jewish institutions nationwide as part of a campaign against his ex-girlfriend.
A man who spoke to DNAinfo at Washington Cemetery, who gave only his first name, Sam, confirmed there wasn’t vandalism at the cemetery.
“There was not vandalism, it is wrong information,” he said.
Following statements from Washington Cemetery personnel that the discovery of downed headstones last night was not an act of vandalism, Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D, Brooklyn) issued the following statement:
“When I received a call from the Boro Park Shomrim that something had occurred at Washington Cemetery, I immediately sent a staff member who met with the police. Then early this morning, I visited myself. I was joined by other elected officials, community leaders, NYPD investigators and numerous reporters. We all saw the same thing.
“More than 40 headstones were overturned. These stones were all in the same section where barbed-wire had been cut. Despite the fact that there are thousands upon thousands of graves stretching over many blocks, this was the only section where gravestones had been turned over. This area is less than 5% of the total cemetery grounds.
“So strong winds hit this section and left the other ones alone? I find that hard to believe. Something is definitely not kosher.”
What is the difference? The fact of the matter is that Washington Cemetery failed to live up to its contractual obligations, and maintain the various plots. Somehow, they think that because there might not be any surviving relatives to check on the conditions of the graves, that they can get away with not maintaining the plots. I can tell everyone from personal experience, that I ran into a similar situation at Beth David Cemetery. I noticed that the headstone on the grave of a loved one was crooked, and that another one was not being properly maintained. I heard that sometimes, the management of the various cemeteries try to harass the surviving family members into paying additional fees to fix tombstones that are in need of repair, even though the family has paid for perpetual care. In any event, I looked up the New York State law regarding perpetual care, and it distinctly stated that the management of cemeteries are legally obligated to maintain the plot, including repairs to the tombstones. P.S. The matter was taken care of.
Here in the U.S Jewish cemeteries and headstones are desecrated, but i am much more worried what is happening in our own Jewish state where Jewish men women and children by the thousands are not only desecrated but murdered, whole families are butchered in their own homes or in their own houses of worship or blown to pieces riding on their buses or their own autos,and what does this criminal pathetic cowardly gangster government do about it? answer – nada,zilch,nothing.
CHAIM
Well hopefully the second version of the story is accurate. But this whole mess is not good. Antisemites will accuse Jews of making up stories. Attacks on other cemeteries will be dismissed as fake news. Our current occupant in the White House will accuse media of more fake news to deflect from real problems around him. Reporters need to work harder to verify stories and sources before spreading the news nationally.
And, sometimes, when they fill a plot, the neighboring plot gets bumped or messed up. This happened at my husband’s grave in New Montefiore. I brought it to their attention and it took a few months till they corrected it. And, yes, we have perpetural care. They are just not careful, and until someone comes to visit the grave, no one pays attention.
I visited Washington Cemetery about two months ago, and I noticed that a bunch of stones (maybe four or five) were tipped over sideways in the section between 20th and 21st avenue. south of the northernmost walkway (sorry. I can’t remember the section off the top of my head).
I did report it to the cemetery office, and they said they’d take care of it, but that it might take a while until they got to it. If the stones were in good shape, they’d stand them up again; if they were broken, they’d lay them down over the top of the grave and cement the pieces together.
A few vocal people wanted to cry wolf to get attention. There is no anti-semitism. Maybe an alleged uptick perpetuated by those that cry about it.
Majority and the responsible element in the jewish community know about the falsity and never considered the purported anti-semitism as a reality.
Izzy is right. In a lot of ways this is worse than if people had vandalized the place over the weekend.
So Hashomer how you doing? Once again hyped up news.
An Assembly member again went to the medias before all the facts were in to get on the news again.
How hard is it to pay an expert to have a look and get am independent opinion.
OF COURSE it isn’t vandalism. It’s the beginning of Techiyas HaMeisim. Sure it is.
I have visited Washington Cemetery a few years ago and saw some stones fallen over. I gave the info to the office and they said they would fix it. Did they? possibly, but since the place is huge and many parts very old, it is going to be a common occurrence that some stones fall over – especially in the winter when the ground freezes & thaws. You can see in the photo above that the fallen headstone was set on a stone that is leaning.