Jewish cemetery in Madrid targeted by antisemitic vandals

A Jewish cemetery in Madrid was vandalised with antisemitic words and slogans on 23rd December.

Graffiti declaring “Dead Jew, good Jew” and “Murdering Jews, we will hang you” were daubed on walls at the entrance to the small Jewish section of the cemetery in a suburb of the Spanish capital. A wooden gate was spray-painted with the German word Raus (“out”), which has strong Holocaust connotations, and a Star of David with a line through it.

Esteban Ibarra, the President of a leading Spanish anti-racism organisation, called on the Madrid Public Prosecutor to make greater efforts to find the perpetrators and to punish them for “a crime against fundamental rights,” which carries a penalty of up to four years in prison under the Spanish criminal code.

Mr Ibarra expressed fears that the desecration may have been carried out by a “neo-Nazi organisation”. He also expressed concern that it was a sign of growing antisemitism in Europe as it took place in the same week that a synagogue in Bulgaria and and other European monuments were targeted.

The Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain “strongly condemned” the desecration and urged the authorities to “pursue and convict the perpetrators”.

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