On Saturday, ​a Jewish security patrol noticed that headstones at Washington Cemetery, which serves a large Jewish community, had been toppled. Had a roving band of anti-Semites vandalized the Brooklyn cemetery overnight? Senator Chuck Schumer thought so:

 

 

He tweeted, "NYPD says anti-Semitic incidents up 94%. Brooklyn's Washington Cemetery is another appalling example. It must stop." Also, New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind informed his social media followers that anti-Semitism was the cause of the cemetery's damage.

 

 

He wrote, "40+ stones knocked down here at Washington Cemetery - one of the largest Jewish cemeteries. Heartbreaking #Antisemitism."

 

The ensuing concern caused the New York Police Department’s hate crimes unit to take the matter seriously. However, after going out to the scene and investigating, they determined -- as JTA reports -- it wasn't vandalism at all.

Headstones toppled at a cemetery that serves the Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York, were determined to be due to neglect, not vandalism.

The fallen headstones at the Washington Cemetery was discovered on Saturday night, according to reports. At first vandalism was suspected.

I'm not sure which is worse: being the victim of a hate crime or simply forgotten. “It was old damage, years if not decades,” a spokesperson for the NYPD said.  

Wait a minute... just where were Hikind and Schumer during the past "years" if not "decades" of neglect? Shouldn't they have cared about these toppled stones before now? As one astute Twitter user, Bethany S. Mandel, asked, "Do people care about fallen stones if they weren't toppled? "

Anti-Semitism in any form is wrong, but false reports of it only lessen the impact of actual incidents.  

h/t Instapundit