Hartford Jewish Community Attacked - 50 Gravestones Damaged

Hartford, Ct --- October 22, 2012 ... Over 40 gravestones were turned over and vandalized in a Jewish cemetery in Hartford, Ct.

The Hartford Police Department’s Major Crimes Division has begun an investigation into the vandalism at the Congregational Israel cemetery, according to Police Chief James C. Rovella. Police suspect that this was a hate crime which may very well be anti-semitism.

The superintendent of the Congregation Israel cemetery located at the corner of Waverly Street and Tower Avenue in North Hartford, reported that gravestones were disturbed “in a vandalism spree that will cost well over $20,000 to properly repair."

The cemetery superintendent learned of the damage from a congregation member who regularly visits his son’s grave, the statement said.

“Most of the headstones that were overturned were secured to their bases, requiring extensive repair work. There are no known suspects at this time. One monument was over six feet tall when standing. In two locations a number of gravestones in a row were overturned. Extra patrol attention is being directed for these cemeteries.”

Police suspect that the vandalism was performed by a small group as the gravestones weigh between 800 to 1,200 pounds.

The Israel News Agency was on the scene today where local and national TV camera crews were searching for people to interview. At this time the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford is getting out their first news release and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) told the Israel News Agency that they were aware of the attack and thank the Hartford Police for placing much time and effort into the investigation. ADL Regional Director Gary Jones expects to hold a news conference with community leaders in the coming days.

"What could anyone gain from doing this?" asked Jewish community leader Herb Shook.

"This is very sad, very tragic for those who have parents, sons, daughters buried here. I wanted to come out here and make sure one way or another whether or not my parent's stones were affected. Fortunately for me they were not. Not so fortunate for others," said Shook, a member of Temple Beth Hillel.

Repairing the damage could take weeks and cost more than $20,000, according to cemetery officials.

Hartford police are encouraging anyone with information about who's responsible for the damage to come forward.

Among the headstones toppled over was one of a Jewish US Army soldier who was recently killed in Afghanistan. Many other graves in the cemetery are marked with American flags honoring those who served in the US military and or fell in World War 2, the Korean War, Vietnam and Iraq.

When interviewed by NBC and CBS, this author noted that in Israel we do not suffer from anti-semitism but rather war. That this kind of racist hate has no place in this world and that only education and tolerance could serve as an effective solution. That the police might not be able to prevent this kind of disgusting, despicable act but through forensics and intelligence should be able to find those responsible.

"It's important to find out why they did it. To me, that's the bottom line. Why did you do this? And try to correct it and try to educate people to avoid having this happen again," said Shook.

Anyone with information about the incident, no matter how slight, that may be of assistance to police investigators, is asked to contact Hartford Police Major Crimes Division Commander Lieutenant Brian Foley at 860-757-4463 or email at foleb001@hartford.gov.

Black Muslims and/or Marxist activists. The NOI is Marxist.

Lefty kooks are in a tizzy in their outrage over “victim” Muslims in the Middle East. They see the rrraaacis Jewish people as oppressive and murderous “Nazis.”

It’s super creepy because it is like a renewed Jew hating ideology and cause from the past. Unlike the skin head leftover neo-Nazis, the Marxists have a power structure within private and public organization.

A Marxist coin has two sides and the Left promoting of Muslim victimhood and the “anti-hate” social and legal dominance cause is only one side of the coin. The other side aims to harm Jews and wipe out Israel. The Jew hating side of the coin is kept hidden most of the time but it is always there.

The Jewish Cemetery at Newport

How strange it seems! These Hebrews in their graves,
Close by the street of this fair seaport town,
Silent beside the never-silent waves,
At rest in all this moving up and down!

The trees are white with dust, that o'er their sleep
Wave their broad curtains in the south-wind's breath,
While underneath such leafy tents they keep
The long, mysterious Exodus of Death.

And these sepulchral stones, so old and brown,
That pave with level flags their burial-place,
Seem like the tablets of the Law, thrown down
And broken by Moses at the mountain's base.

The very names recorded here are strange,
Of foreign accent, and of different climes;
Alvares and Rivera interchange
With Abraham and Jacob of old times.

"Blessed be God! for he created Death!"
The mourners said, "and Death is rest and peace";
Then added, in the certainty of faith,
"And giveth Life that never more shall cease."

Closed are the portals of their Synagogue,
No Psalms of David now the silence break,
No Rabbi reads the ancient Decalogue
In the grand dialect the Prophets spake.

Gone are the living, but the dead remain,
And not neglected; for a hand unseen,
Scattering its bounty, like a summer rain,
Still keeps their graves and their remembrance green.

How came they here? What burst of Christian hate,
What persecution, merciless and blind,
Drove o'er the sea--that desert desolate--
These Ishmaels and Hagars of mankind?

They lived in narrow streets and lanes obscure,
Ghetto and Judenstrass, in mirk and mire;
Taught in the school of patience to endure
The life of anguish and the death of fire.

All their lives long, with the unleavened bread
And bitter herbs of exile and its fears,
The wasting famine of the heart they fed,
And slaked its thirst with marah of their tears.

Anathema maranatha! was the cry
That rang from town to town, from street to street;
At every gate the accursed Mordecai
Was mocked and jeered, and spurned by Christian feet.

Pride and humiliation hand in hand
Walked with them through the world where'er they went;
Trampled and beaten were they as the sand,
And yet unshaken as the continent.

For in the background figures vague and vast
Of patriarchs and of prophets rose sublime,
And all the great traditions of the Past
They saw reflected in the coming time.

And thus forever with reverted look
The mystic volume of the world they read,
Spelling it backward, like a Hebrew book,
Till life became a Legend of the Dead.

But ah! what once has been shall be no more!
The groaning earth in travail and in pain
Brings forth its races, but does not restore,
And the dead nations never rise again.

- H.W. Longfellow

Very correct. According to police, this Jewish cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut is one block from an apartment complex which has more shootings in it than all of Ct. combined.

But that is a different kind of violence. I was there standing among over 60 gravestones which were systematically destroyed over a few hours. The attack was not confined to this one cemetery but rather a few Jewish cemeteries in and around the Greater Hartford area including West Hartford, Manchester and Newington.

What worries me is the complacency of Ct. Jews. They must become vigilant. They now have red flags. Respond!

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