Dozens of Jewish gravestones damaged near Philadelphia

Stones broken, toppled at Mt. Sharon Cemetery in Springfield, PA

Illustrative photo of smashed tombstones in a Jewish cemetery. (AP/Hans Punz)

Jewish gravestones were vandalized in a Pennsylvania cemetery west of Philadelphia, according to a local NBC news station.

Around 30 stones were found smashed and toppled at the Mt. Sharon Cemetery in Springfield, PA on Friday by Mora Ezra, a woman who came to pay respects at her father’s grave.

It wasn’t clear when the vandalism took place, the report said, and local authorities were investigating the incident.

The vandalism at Mt. Sharon was the latest in a rash of anti-Semitic incidents around the country targeting Jewish cemeteries.

Restoration work at the Mount Carmel Cemetery in Philadelphia to repair 175 gravestones desecrated in February has already begun.

The damage to the stones was discovered in late February, days after a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis was vandalized. No suspects have been identified.

Meanwhile, most of the 154 toppled gravestones at the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in St. Louis have been righted and resealed to their bases, local public radio reported. Some 16 of the stones have to be replaced, which could take three months, according to the report.

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