Jewish gravestones vandalized at Argentina cemetery

Some 58 gravestones were vandalized at a Jewish cemetery in Argentina's Buenos Aires province on Friday and Saturday, local news Web site Momento 24 reported.

Eight of the graves were the resting places of victims of the 1994 terrorist attack on the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association Jewish Center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.

AMIA head Julio Schlosser called for an investigation into the incident, pointing out that the incident took place just days before the beginning of the Jewish new year.

"This happens five days before the start of Rosh Hashanah, in a cemetery as sacred as La Tablada is" said Schlosser.

"Do not forget that yesterday was the night that all Jews pray for slichot [pre-Rosh Hashanah prayers] and at a time like this we find it incomprehensible that an attack occurred at a place as sacred as the cemetery. Let's try together to achieve total clarification of the attack," he added.

María José Lubertino, president of the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism said that the incident was "clearly anti-Semitic aggression," adding that "police must intervene" to find those responsible.