Muslim raises $130K for Jewish cemetery

Less than a week ago, Tarek El-Messidi, a Muslim activist, helped organize a fundraiser to help with the cleanup of a desecrated Jewish cemetery near St. Louis. It raised more than $130,000, garnering widespread media attention and tweets from celebrities. Because it brought in considerably more than expected, El-Messidi vowed to use the remaining money strictly when needed to counter anti-Semitism. He hoped he wouldn’t have to dip back in so soon. But on Sunday night, El-Messidi read the news of yet another vandalized Jewish cemetery. This time it hit closer to home, at Mount Carmel Cemetery, just miles from where he lives in Philadelphia, where police said they counted about 100 gravestones overturned. In the rise of hate speech and crimes over the past year, Muslim and Jewish communities have been targeted. The Southern Poverty Law Center reported that the number of anti-Muslim hate groups rose from 34 in 2015 to 101 last year.