A video has surfaced online showing Vice President Mike Pence helping to clean a Jewish cemetery in Missouri after it was attacked by vandals (video below).
Earlier in the week, more than 100 headstones were desecrated at the Chesed Shel Emeth Society Cemetery in St. Louis. The attack came amid a wave of recent bomb threats that were made to various Jewish community center across the country.
In fact, 11 such threats were reported on Feb. 20, according to CNN.
Pence condemned the act of vandalism during a short speech from inside the cemetery.
“There is no place in America for hatred, or acts of prejudice, or violence, or anti-Semitism,” he said. “I must tell you, the people of Missouri are inspiring the nation by your love and care for this place, for the Jewish community in Missouri, and I want to thank you for that inspiration.”
In a statement issued on Feb. 22, the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect applauded Pence’s efforts.
“Today, Vice President Pence proved to be the ultimate mensch by visiting, and even cleaning, the desecrated Jewish graves in St. Louis,” executive director Steven Goldman said, according to WGHP. “This administration finally showed America the kind of response our nation was waiting for all along — a response filled with proactive heart.”
The Anne Frank Center had previously been critical of President Donald Trump’s comments on the recent spate of bomb threats, which he said are “painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil,” according to The Washington Post. A statement was published on the Center’s Facebook page on Feb. 21:
[Trump’s] statement today is a pathetic asterisk of condescension after weeks in which he and his staff have committed grotesque acts and omissions reflecting Antisemitism, yet day after day have refused to apologize and correct the record. Make no mistake: The Antisemitism coming out of this Administration is the worst we have ever seen from any Administration.
The White House repeatedly refused to mention Jews in its Holocaust remembrance, and had the audacity to take offense when the world pointed out the ramifications of Holocaust denial. And it was only yesterday, President’s Day, that Jewish Community Centers across the nation received bomb threats, and the President said absolutely nothing.
Sources: USA Today/YouTube, CNN, WGHP, The Washington Post, Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect/Facebook / Photo credit: Facebook via WTHR
