(JTA) — The recent increase in anti-Semitic incidents in Argentina is "deeply troubling," B’nai B’rith International said.
This week, swastikas were painted on some 30 graves at a Jewish cemetery in the province of San Luis. “Death to Jews” was also scrawled on the cemetery walls, according to a statement released Wednesday by the organization.
In addition, Jewish graves at a cemetery in Buenos Aires were desecrated in early December. Also, the phrase “Argentina is a Catholic country” was scrawled on a Menorah that Chabad Lubavitch had installed on Avenida 9 de Julio, one of the main avenues in Buenos Aires, for Chanukah.
"Each incident is troubling in its own right. But taken together, these despicable desecrations reveal a most worrisome pattern. We hope these abhorrent hateful acts in a democratic nation with the largest Jewish population in Latin America are not an omen of more intolerance to come," said the B’nai B’rith statement.
B’nai B’rith called for a "thorough investigation" of the incidents.
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