‘You could say there is a silver lining in all the hate that is being directed against Jews and Muslims in America right now,’ says social activist Tarek El-Messidi.
A Muslim-led crowdfunding campaign to help restore a vandalized Jewish cemetery near St. Louis has been overwhelmed with donations, allowing it to reach its goal within just three hours, according to one of its organizers.
Since its launching on Tuesday at 1 P.M. local time, the campaign has raised an average of $1,000 every 15 minutes, said Tarek El-Messidi, a Muslim-American social activist, who helped coordinate it through a crowd-funding platform. He collaborated in the effort with Linda Sarsour, an organizer of last month’s women’s march in Washington and a supporter of the BDS movement against Israel.
“The feedback we’ve received has been amazing,” El-Messidi told Haaretz in a phone conversation from his home in Philadelphia. “You could say there is a silver lining in all the hate that is being directed against Jews and Muslims in America right now in that it has brought the two communities together, and this is just one example.”
Over the weekend, more than 100 headstones were damaged at the historic Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery near St. Louis. The incident coincided with another wave of bomb threats against Jewish community centers across the United States.
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Light in the darkness: Muslims help Jews restore their vandalized cemetery: https://t.co/RA9T5IUlhz
— Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) February 22, 2017
VP Mike Pence visits vandalized Jewish cemetery: "There is no place in America for hatred." https://t.co/QlMZDM4Q4c https://t.co/GrJe5PfYOX
— CNN (@CNN) February 22, 2017
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