Greece: Jewish cemetery vandalized for 3rd time this year

ATHENS (EJP)---A Jewish cemetery in Ioannina, in northwestern Greece, was vandalized for the third time this year.

According to the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, extremists brutally vandalized six tombs – among which that of the mother of the President of the local Jewish community-, destroyed part of a Holocaust memorial situated in the cemetery and daubed it with the blood of a turtle which they previously killed. The desecration occurred early on Wednesday morning, news reports said.

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The president of the Jewish community of Ioninna, Moses Elisaf, who is also a town councilor, urged local authorities "to take measures to arrest the perpetrators" and called upon his fellow citizens "to condemn these violent anti-Semitic attacks."
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The Central Board issued a statement stressing "the responsibility of the local authorities" and urging "all competent authorities to speed up the procedure to arrest the vandals" and the local society to react against the manifestations of anti-Semitism in Ioannina".

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The Board stressed that the attack against the Jewish cemetery "is directly related to the recent court decision to acquit neo-nazi writer Kostas Plevris who incites to acts of violence against the Greek Jews."
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The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece addressed a letter of protest to the Interior Minister asking for the protection of Jewish sites.

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Central Board President Moses Constantinis has blamed the authorities for ignoring the repeated requests for the protection of the cemetery by police. He also pointed out the recent increase of anti-Semitic incidents in Greece. Local representatives of political parties have condemned the attack.

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Hundreds of Jews lived in Ioannina until the outbreak of World War II. Most were deported to concentration camps under the Nazi occupation of Greece.

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Article by Maud Swinnen

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