American Jewish Committee Deplores Burning Of Body At Jewish Cemetery In Queens

American Jewish Committee
Monday, 9 June 1997

Suzanne Jaffe, newly elected president of the New York Chapter of the American Jewish Committee, today issued the following statement regarding the burning of the remains of a body buried at Bayside Cemetery:

"The vandalism and mutilation that took place yesterday at a Jewish cemetery in Queens is utterly deplorable and has brought an already despicable act to new heights of revulsion. We cannot condemn strongly enough such a grotesque display of anti-Semitism and hatred.

"We are understandably outraged when painted swastikas, overturned tombstones and other ugly deeds take place on our sacred burial grounds and, unfortunately, such activities take place far too often. But this newest desecration -- the removal and burning of a buried body - is an act of even greater perversion and evil and represents the work of a very sick and twisted mind.

"We are confident that our law enforcement officials will work diligently to apprehend the person or persons who committed this offense and bring them to swift and sure justice. Such violent, hateful displays of bigotry, perpetrated in such the most shocking of ways, cannot and will not be tolerated in a civilized society."

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