Las Vegas, NM – Someone knocked over gravestones inside a Las Vegas cemetery, some dating back several years.
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A caretaker of the Montefiore Cemetery says 29 headstones were overturned or destroyed between June 28 and July 1. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that some of the headstones were erected in the late 19th century.
The Montefiore Cemetery, named for the British Jewish philanthropist Moses Montefiore, was established in 1881 on land that originally was part of the adjoining Masonic Cemetery. Today, it has 80 to 90 graves.
Some local residents believe it was a hate crime since the vandalism occurred in a Jewish cemetery.
Las Vegas Police Chief Christian Montano says there’s nothing to indicate it was a hate crime.
The chief believes it was just some juveniles acting up.
From the Santa Fe New Mexican website:
However, Mark Feedman, who is Jewish but not a member of the Montefiore Cemetery Association, believes police should investigate the matter as a potential hate crime.
“It was more than a vandalism,” he said. “This was a direct anti-Semitic attack on the cemetery as an attack on the Jewish community here in Las Vegas. …
“The police not handling it as a hate crime, I feel that that is a big mistake, because this is clearly a hate crime. Clearly, there was an incident that touched off this kind of thing.”
On June 8, during the dedication of a new mural in Las Vegas, land-grand activist Reies Lopez Tijerina “took swipes at Jews, saying they were the ones who created bombs that could end humanity,” according to the Las Vegas Optic.
“To me, there’s absolutely no question — this is clearly a connection,” Feedman said. “What further makes me draw that connection is … there was not one letter to the editor to dissent from these racist and anti-Semitic remarks. There was not one disavowal by the people who sponsored him.”
I wonder if any headstones in the adjoining Masonic cemetery were overturned? Probably not or it would have been mentioned. 29 stones out of 80 or 90 is a third of the cemetery. That is not just juvenile vandalism, that is sending a message. I hope that the head of Las Vegas’ Jewish Federation or ADL has a “chat” with the uninformed and misguided police chief.