- Title: Graves desecrated at Commonwealth war cemetery in Israel
- Date: 13th October 2019
- Summary: HAIFA, ISRAEL (OCTOBER 13, 2019) (REUTERS) ISRAELI POLICE OFFICERS AND INSPECTORS INSPECTING GRAVESTONES VANDALIZED GRAVESTONE ISRAELI POLICEMAN WALKING BETWEEN GRAVESTONES JERUSALEM (OCTOBER 13, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI POLICE SPOKESMAN, MICKY ROSENFELD, SAYING: "The Israeli national police are continuing to carry out an investigation into an incident that took place in the city of Haifa in the North, where gravestones that belong to the British cemetery were damaged, and our units continue to search for suspects who could have been involved who are working on two levels, both on operational level as well as intelligence level to look into the background and find the suspects behind the incident." HAIFA, ISRAEL (OCTOBER 13, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF VANDALIZED GRAVESTONES AT CEMETERY
- Embargoed: 27th October 2019 11:29
- Keywords: Commonwealth military cemetery Haifa Haifa War Cemetery
- Location: HAIFA, ISRAEL/ JERUSALEM/ HAIFA, BRITISH MANDATE PALESTINE/ UNKNOWN
- City: HAIFA, ISRAEL/ JERUSALEM/ HAIFA, BRITISH MANDATE PALESTINE/ UNKNOWN
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Society/Social Issues,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA003B0XJ1ON
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Dozens of gravestones at a Commonwealth military cemetery in Israel were desecrated in what the Israeli police spokesman said on Sunday (October 13) was a suspected hate crime.
The Haifa War Cemetery is the burial site of about 340 Commonwealth soldiers, most of them killed in World War One and some in World War Two.
At least 30 tombstones sprayed with red paint. Some, including a Christian memorial topped with a stone cross, were daubed with swastikas.
The vandalism was discovered on Friday (October 11).
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on Saturday (October 12) that the graves' desecration was "an abhorrent crime" and that Israel would do everything possible to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
Britain captured Palestine from the crumbling Ottoman Empire during World War One in 1917, and later governed it under an international mandate.
According to The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, 86 of the 305 World War One Commonwealth burials at the cemetery are unidentified, and 36 World War Two casualties are also buried at the site.
(Production: Suheir Sheikh, Ran Tzabar, Ilan Rosenberg) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None