CAA seeking witnesses in connection with Kent Jewish cemetery vandalism
A Jewish cemetery in Kent was discovered to have been vandalised.
Several headstones at the cemetery adjacent to Chatham Memorial Synagogue in Rochester were found last week to have been smashed and knocked over.
Dr Dalia Halpern-Matthews, a Trustee of the synagogue, said: “We shouldn’t be having to put up with the mass destruction of something that should be sacred,
“The cemetery is very special obviously in terms of every individual grave, but when you consider that it is the only shul [synagogue] with a cemetery attached in the country, it is a very significant shul. It has been Grade II listed for many years.”
This is not the first time that the synagogue has been the target of such attacks. According to Dr Halpern-Matthews, the cemetery itself has been attacked five times over the past ten years.
Last year, an attack on the cemetery is understood to have cost the synagogue £19,000 in repairs.
Other attacks on the synagogue have included graffiti that reportedly depicted “genitalia” with “something about ‘f***ing religion’”. On another occasion, faeces was found smeared onto the building.
Incidents such as these have reportedly left some of the synagogue’s congregants fearful of attending services in person.
The most recent incident has been reported to Kent Police and is under investigation.
In a statement, Kent Police said: “At around 12pm on Friday 18th August 2023 Kent Police received a third-party report of criminal damage at a synagogue in Rochester. Officers have since spoken to representatives of the synagogue and this incident is being treated as a hate crime. Enquiries to locate those responsible for the damage are ongoing.”
If you have any more information, please contact Kent Police on 101, quoting crime reference number 46/152042/23, or Campaign Against Antisemitism at [email protected] or on 0330 822 0321.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over five hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than five times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.