Dozens of headstones at a Jewish cemetery in Pennsylvania were broken and overturned in what Philadelphia police called an act of vandalism.
Aaron Mallin, a resident of New Jersey, discovered the damage Sunday morning when he came to visit his father’s grave at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in the neighborhood of Wissinoming, according to a report by WPVI.
Philadelphia police called the damage to dozens of headstones an act of vandalism, but did not ascribe a specific cause.
Dozens of headstones were tipped over at a Jewish cemetery in Missouri last week, according to a report by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Police said they were investigating the vandalism but “nothing to indicate it was any type of hate crime.”
Activist Linda Sarsour raised $130,000 to benefit the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City, Missouri, where as many as 200 headstones were toppled.
“Through this campaign, we hope to send a united message from the Jewish and Muslim communities that there is no place for this type of hate, desecration, and violence in America,” the fundraising page reads. “Any additional funds raised in this campaign will assist other vandalized Jewish centers nationwide.”
On Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence condemned the vandalism as a “vile act.”
“There is no place in America for hatred or acts of prejudice or violence or anti-Semitism,” Pence said later, speaking at the cemetery itself. “The people of Missouri are inspiring the nation by your love and care for this place.”
Trump recently addressed directly, for the first time, a wave of bomb threats made against Jewish community centers nationwide.
“I think it’s horrible, whether it’s anti-Semitism or racism or anything you want to think about having to do with the divide,” he said on Tuesday at the National African-American History Museum in Washington. “Anti-Semitism is likewise, it’s just terrible.”
