Belfast: Jewish graves, headstones damaged in attack

Belfast City Cemetery

Belfast: Jewish graves, headstones damaged in attack

By Richard Mather/Jewish Media Agency

Jewish gravestones have been smashed at a Belfast cemetery. At first it was believed that thirteen headstones and graves had been smashed. It is now being reported that as many as twenty have been damaged.

Police were called to the Jewish section of Belfast City Cemetery, which is maintained by the city council, at 15:10 on Friday.

It is understood that in addition to headstones being knocked over, some of the stone slabs that cover the coffins have been broken.

The Democratic Unionist Party’s William Humphrey, a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, has been in contact with the local rabbi and Jewish community representatives.

And Stevie Corr, a local Sinn Fein councillor, has said he is sickened and disgusted by the attack.

It is not yet clear if the incident was an antisemitic attack or the result of antisocial behaviour. Several youths had apparently been seen drinking and taking drugs in the vicinity of the attack.

Land was first acquired for a Jewish burial ground within the cemetery in 1871. It was accessed via a separate entrance on Whiterock Road. Above the gate, which is now bricked up, you can still read the Hebrew inscription that marked this area of the cemetery. Translated, it means “the house of life” or “house of the living.”

The Jewish area of the cemetery used to contain a small building used for the ritual act of purification, but it was destroyed by vandals in the 1970s.