Some of the graves were knocked over, while others were covered in graffiti and several with painted swastikas. Three of the graves were completely destroyed. The vandalism was discovered on Friday.Several gravestones were also vandalized in the adjoining Templar Cemetery, which saw some of its tombstones defaced in 2017.There are no immediate suspects, with police considering it as a possible “hate crime.”“We take the desecration of graves in Haifa of World War I heroes very seriously,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We owe them a historical debt for liberating the country from Ottoman rule and we will do everything possible to find those responsible and bring them to justice.”The cemetery contains more than 300 graves of British, Australian, Canadian and Indian soldiers, as well as troops from other former British colonies, who died fighting in Israel during both world wars.Employees of the cemetery were not sure when the vandalism occurred.“It’s painful to hear,” Adel Moore, an employee at the cemetery for over 30 years, told Walla News. “I work here every day, cleaning and organizing. We keep it respectful, so we’re attached to the place. Why would anyone want to hurt a place like this? I don’t understand it at all.”The Foreign Ministry expressed its disgust of the incident.“We wholeheartedly condemn this hate crime, in which those responsible chose to smash and draw swastikas on gravestones of Commonwealth soldiers killed during the two world wars.”השחתת המצבות בבית העלמין הבריטי בחיפה | המשטרה חוקרת חשד לפשע שנאה @10elilevi pic.twitter.com/zm05coAFyL
— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) October 11, 2019
Dozens of tombstones desecrated at the British cemetery in Haifa - WATCH
There are no immediate suspects as the police investigating the scene, regarding it as a possible "hate crime."
