Vice President Mike Pence rolled up his sleeves and joined in cleanup efforts Wednesday at a vandalized
Jewish cemetery outside St. Louis, the latest in White House outreach after
weeks of silence about harassment of Jewish communities.
Pence,
accompanied by Missouri governor Eric Greitens, who is Jewish, made an
unannounced visit to Chesed Shel Emeth cemetery, where more than 150 headstones
were toppled over the weekend.
The
vice president, tweeted afterwards: “MO’s people are inspiring the nation
w/ their compassion for the Jewish community. Thank you for showing the world
what America is all about.”
Governor
Greitens, standing next to Pence and speaking through a bullhorn, told
volunteers at the synagogue, “we are going to demonstrate that this vile act of
desecration is not who we are.”
Speaking
earlier at a Caterpillar plant in Fenton, Missouri, Pence denounced denounced “vile” attacks on Jewish sites “in the
strongest possible terms”.
His
comments came a day after President Donald Trump made his most forceful statements against
anti-Semitism yet, which critics have panned as too little, too late.
Some
Jewish groups like the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect in New York have
blasted Trump’s late response to attacks on Jewish sites as “crumbs of
condescension.”
“When
President Trump responds to Antisemitism proactively and in real time, and
without pleas and pressure, that’s when we’ll be able to say this President has
turned a corner,” director Steven Goldstein wrote on Facebook Tuesday. “This is not that moment.”
