In a letter to the recently appointed UK
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, James Brokenshire MP, the Simon
Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels,
argued, “Belfast – a city that has witnessed so much violence between
Protestants and Catholics – is now the scene of a vicious anti-Semitic assault,
not on live Jews but, reportedly, by a mob in a paroxysm of hate targeting
their deceased families. Jewish history has learned that the intent that begins
with a cemetery desecration can lead on to an eventual pogrom.”
The letter noted, “Apparently the attack
was premeditated, as eight youths came armed with hammers and blocks,
accompanied by a crowd of racist supporters.”
The Centre acknowledged, “The Secretary’s own experience in law enforcement and counter-terrorism, made him well aware that Jihadi atrocities are now accompanied by, what UNESCO has denoted as, 'cultural cleansing’ of non-Islamic holy sites. Thus, cemetery desecrators are likewise associates to terror, whether neo-Nazi, extreme left or Islamist.”
Samuels explained, “Twenty-five years ago, I was driving through Streatham in South London and stopped at the Jewish cemetery, where 23 members of my family are buried. About one-third of the gravestones were destroyed, including that of my grandparents. My work-desk is strewn daily with the detritus of antisemitism, but this time it was personal. I rebuilt my grandparents’ tombstone, but the pain remains as an alert to impending danger.”
The letter suggested, “This Belfast anti-Semitic outburst is a test case for Ulster in the aftermath of ‘the Troubles.’ The desecration must be widely discussed in classrooms and the media in the context of Holocaust education. The perpetrators’ punishment must result in an understanding of the gravity of their act.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre offered the Ulster administration, “...its documentaries and experience in extirpating the root causes of hate.”
Source: The Simon Wiesenthal Center
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