Hoax Alert: Cemeteries in Cincinnati (2024)
According to ‘Local 12’ the following has occurred to two graveyards in Covedale near Cincinnati, Ohio where:
‘Two local Jewish cemeteries are in shambles after vandals damaged nearly 200 gravestones.
A groundskeeper discovered the damage Monday morning. Now, the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati needs your help finding out who did it.
What's supposed to be a final resting place was disturbed, and the cemetery thinks hate is to blame.
The Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati (JCGC) oversees the Tifereth Israel Cemetery and Beth Hamedrash Hagadol Cemetery in Covedale.
JCGC's executive director said she went out there first thing this morning.
"Your initial reaction is just sick to your stomach. I mean, what we do is lay people to rest and take care of their final resting place, and we were not able to do that because somebody else came in and chose to do vandalism," said Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati Executive Director Sue Susskind.
Susskind believes multiple people did this because of how heavy the headstones are. She also said that the site could've been targeted because of their faith.
"You never know for sure, but since October 7, you have to look at everything like that. This is an awful lot of work for somebody just wanting to do something mischievous," Susskind said.
The cemetery's groundskeeper was last at the site on June 25, so Susskind said the damage must've happened between then and now. There's no surveillance footage to help either.
The Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati said it hasn't been able to identify or contact all the families affected by the vandalism. Many, if not all, were pushed forward. Police have asked the cemetery not to move any gravestones until the investigation is complete.
"It's going to be so difficult. But we just have to call; I mean, most of them are going to know what's going on, and I have that feeling [that] there's a lot of calls that are gonna come into the office tomorrow," said Susskind.
Susskind said her team is planning on going into their database to match the plots with the families. Some of the graves date back to the 1800s and don't have living relatives.
"All I can say is that as a community, we have to rally together and not let fear get the best of us," Susskind said.’ (1)
The problem, of course, is that Susskind has no evidence that these two incidents are in any way, shape or form linked to ‘anti-Semitism’ since no ‘anti-Semitic graffiti’ was present or even specific damage was done to the gravestones. According to Susskind’s only comments they only appear to have been pushed forward, which is not ipso facto ‘anti-Semitic’ just because they are jewish graves.
Further we should note that the groundskeeper only visits fairly irregularly – no doubt jews being cheap – and that the jewish families of those buried there have largely died out (or presumably long left the area) and thus they are going to have trouble getting anyone to pay for repairs to the graves concerned.
Now based on the fact that similarly instances to this – such as that in St. Louis in 2018 - (2) and the lack of any indications of ‘anti-Semitism’ as the motivating factor as well as the fact that the cemeteries are infrequently attended by a groundskeeper. All goes to suggest that this is not the work of ‘anti-Semitic vandals’ nor an ‘anti-Semitic hate crime’ as Susskind wishes us to believe.
No, the simple truth is that it is likely either neglect or simple vandalism completely unrelated to the cemeteries being jewish ones but likely caused by the lack of frequent attendance at them making them ideal haunts for the homeless, drug addicts and others prone to engaging in such vandalism.
No ‘anti-Semitism’ required!
References
(1) https://local12.com/news/local/nearly-200-graves-vandalized-greater-cincinnati-jewish-cemetery-jews-jew-hebrew-gravestones-grave-cemeteries-tifereth-israel-beth-hamedrash-hagadol-green-township-covedale-vandals-vandalism-fbi-investigation-hate-crime
(2) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/hoax-confirmed-the-chesed-shel-emeth-468