Two dozen Jewish graves were desecrated recently in a Jewish cemetery in South Hungary. Unknown persons sprayed swastikas and anti-semitic slogans on about twenty-five graves in the cemetery of Kaposvar, about 200 kilometres south-west of Budapest.

Rabbi Avraham Yafe-Schlesinger, Rabbi of Machzikei Hadass in Geneva, RCE Committee member and Head of Cemeteries Dept., expressed a strong protest at what he called “incompetence of the authorities in protecting Jewish cemeteries in Hungary”.

Rabbi Schlesinger notes that this is the fourth time this year that Jewish graves have been a target of vandalism by anti-semitics. Hungarian community leaders suggested placing guard dogs at night at the cemetery entrances to prevent repetition of the vandalism.

Rabbi Avraham Abba Turetsky, Head of the Service and Assistance Dept. at the RCE Jerusalem branch, wrote a letter to the Hungarian consul in Israel, explaining to the Hungarian government the severity of these deeds, which occur repeatedly.

The Rabbinical Centre of Europe continues to watch closely how the Hungarian police will deal with the vandals.