South Yorkshire Police classify arson attack on Jewish cemetery in Doncaster as merely anti-social behaviour

South Yorkshire Police have denied that an arson attack on a Jewish cemetery in Doncaster was an antisemitic hate crime, classifying it as an example of anti-social behaviour instead.

The police responded to a call from the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service at about 14:50 on 11th June reporting a fire at Rose Hill Crematorium on Cantley Lane, Doncaster. Recognising that the fire was started deliberately, the police are treating it as an act of anti-social behaviour rather than motivated by antisemitism.

Formal synagogue services there stopped in the 1970s, and there has not been a funeral held at Rose Hill since 2006.

Rabbi Yonosan Golomb of the United Synagogue Sheffield said: “The fire, if an antisemitic arson attack, is an indication of to what level such people will sink in desecrating the resting place of the deceased.”

A member of the community told Campaign Against Antisemitism that he was perplexed by the police force’s decision.

A spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police said: “Enquiries are ongoing at this time. If anybody has any information which could assist enquiries, or was in the vicinity of the crematorium or cemetery at the time and saw or heard anything suspicious, this can be passed to officers by calling 101, quoting incident 604 of 11 June.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than four times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.