Anti-Semitism in New - Zealand • Founders' graves desecrated

More than 20 graves, all of them over 125 years old, were vandalized last night (Friday) in Auckland, New Zealand.

The cemetery near the old synagogue of Oakland, is the cemetery where the first Jewish settlers in the state are buried, and the most ancient one. The last of the tombstones was placed in the cemetery in1886.

The tombs were painted with black and large swastikas and graffiti against Israel and against Jews.

The Israeli Embassy in Wellington, New - Zealand, condemned the act.

"Sixty-seven years after the release of the Jewish people from the concentration camps and ghettos of Europe, there are still expressions of blind hatred for Jews and their only state," the statement said.

"The action is of a handful of thugs, fueled by hatred and ignorance, and certainly they do not represent the opinions of New Zealanders.

"We believe that the law enforcement authorities in New Zealand will find the vandals, and will bring them to justice."

The Head of the Council of Jewish Communities in New Zealand, Steven Goodman, said there is a plan to install a fence at a cost of U.S. $ 250 000 to secure the graves.

"Usually such attacks come after an international incident which causes them but I can not think of anything that could have caused it now," he said.

Mayor Len Brown also condemned the act and said, "This kind of vandalism has no place in our city. We are taking steps to prevent recurrence of such attacks."

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!