Vandals topple graves

Local woman recounts visit to New Zealand

MICHAEL MIKLOFSKY
Staff Writer

HENRY BENJAMIN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Janette Silverman recently spent six weeks in Wellington, New Zealand, visiting her partner Robert Clinton, a professor with The College of Law at Arizona State University in Tempe.

Clinton is on a six-month sabbatical leave at Victoria University's law school, researching a book on the aboriginal Maori people, the original inhabitants of New Zealand.

Members of the Jewish community in New Zealand are "warm, friendly and really extend themselves to strangers," she said. "We found very few problems fitting into the Wellington community professionally and religiously. Being able to obtain kosher meat was of course a major plus."

Silverman, education director for Temple Beth Sholom in Chandler, described the Wellington Jewish community as small but visible. The Jewish population numbers about 1,500 of the city's 163,000 citizens.

"There are people of many Asian cultures representing many religions as well as Christians, Jews and Muslims," she said. "In spite of the many houses of worship all over the country, religion is not considered to be a big issue, and life and interactions between the very diverse religious and ethnic groups is fairly easy."

But on Aug. 6, that community experienced the worst anti-Semitic attack in the nation's history. Ninety-five headstones were toppled in the Jewish cemetery at Makara, outside Wellington, the nation's capital. The cemetery chapel, used for prayers before burials, was gutted by fire, leaving only swastika-etched walls stand-ing.

The fire was discovered early in the morning. The cemetery is in a remote area where the nearest residences are more than a mile away.

David Zwartz, the presid-ent of the New Zealand Jewish Council and a member of the Wellington Jewish community, said, "The headstones are all made of granite - extremely tough and extremely heavy.

"They all withstood the manhandling and none was damaged. However, it took three policemen to lift one back into position, so we can only assume that whatever group carried out this attack must have been quite large. This is nothing short of heart-breaking."

The desecration comes just three weeks after an attack on the Bolton Street Jewish Cemetery, which sits 400 yards from the nation's Parliament building. Sixteen headstones were desecrated in the attack on the Bolton Street cemetery, which is no longer in use. Some of the headstones dated back to 1850, only 10 years after the city was settled.

In response to the attacks, security at all of the city's burial places has been increased. The Jewish com-munity in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, has also stepped up protection of its cemeteries.

The Bolton Street attack took place on the day two Israelis were jailed for six months for fraudulently attempting to obtain a New Zealand passport. Though no Mossad links were confirmed in the court case, then-Prime Minister Helen Clark de-scribed them as Israeli intelligence agents. After their sentencing, Clark imposed heavy diplomatic sanctions on Israel.

The Makara attack shook the country. An extreme right-wing group, the National Front, denied any involvement and openly condemned those who had carried it out, as did the anti-Israel Palestine Group.

Zwartz added, "I have had strangers pluck my name from the phone book and offer their help to rebuild the prayer hall. All in all, the entire country has rallied to support the Jewish com-munity."

New Zealand's ethnic affairs minister, Chris Carter, will seek a bipartisan declaration this week from the New Zealand parliament condemning anti-Semitism.

He said, "The despicable acts that occurred at Makara ... have no place in our peaceful country. All people regardless of their ethnicity can appreciate the deep hurt Wellington's Jewish com-munity is feeling right now."

New Zealand's acting prime minister, Michael Cullen, also condemned the attack.

The Rev. John McCaul of the Wellington Council of Christians and Jews spoke out, saying "We assure our brothers and sisters in the Jewish community of our sympathy and support at this difficult time."

The president of the Well-ington's burial society, Michael Bedder, announced the community's intent to rebuild the damaged chapel and said that "it's very hard to believe that such a thing could happen in such a peaceful country."

The Wellington City Council, responsible for maintaining the region's cemeteries, committed to repairing the Makara dam-age within 48 hours.

Police are continuing their investigation into both attacks.

Following the desecration of the Bolton Street cemetery, a solidarity meeting was held in Wellington, and another solidarity gathering has been planned in the wake of the Makara attack.

"The headlines in the New Zealand Herald and the Dominion Post - two major papers - in huge letters said 'shame.' The newspapers have now daily been filled with additional follow-up, and the non-Jewish com-munities have spoken out loudly about the occur-rences," Silverman said.

The attacks "immediately made us feel more of a part of the community as people banded together."

Now, Temple Beth Sholom in Chandler is asking the Arizona community to show support by e-mail at office@beth-el.org.nz or through donations, which can be made out to Beth-El, Wellington Jewish Community Centre and dropped off at the Temple Beth Sholom office at 3400 N. Dobson Road.

For more information about the attacks or about the Jewish community in New Zealand, contact Janette Silverman at 480-897-3636 or visit the Temple Beth Sholom Web site at www.templebethsholomaz.org.

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