$10,000 REWARD FOR INFORMATION ON HATE CRIME VANDALISM AT BROOKLYN'S

LARGEST JEWISH CEMETERY

Brooklyn Councilman David G. Greenfield announced today that his initial $1,000 reward
for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for a spate of recent
hate crime vandalism at Washington Cemetery has grown to $10,000 thanks to several other
generous public officials and private citizens who have followed Greenfield's lead.

At a press conference this afternoon in association with the BeProud Foundation, Councilman
Greenfield spoke firmly in front of Washington Cemetery and was joined by Councilman Michael
Nelson, Assembly Members Dov Hikind, William Colton and Helene Weinstein. Hate crimes
are not acceptable in any community, but are surely reprehensible when directed towards the
deceased," Greenfield said. "These vandals have violated the sanctity of the final resting place
of over 160,000 Jewish New Yorkers and brought unthinkable anguish to thousands of families
who will have to live with the knowledge that the final resting place of their loved ones was
subject to such vile hate. This is New York City in the year 2010, not Europe before World War
II, and these acts are unacceptable and we will continue to do everything in our collective power
to ensure that these vandals are swiftly caught and severely punished.

Sometime between the evening of Friday, December 17thand the morning of Sunday,
December 19th vandals enteredWashington Cemetery, on Bay Parkway near McDonald
Avenue, and toppled hundreds of head stones, spraying graffiti, including anti-semitic graffiti,
on many of them. The incident has since been deemed a hate crime by the NYPD Hate Crimes
Task Force, which said the vandalism had all the hallmarks of a bias crime, and was the second
incident of mass vandalism at the Jewish cemetery in as many weeks.

I offered my original one thousand dollar reward because the desecration of any cemetery
is unacceptable. However, now that I have learned that this desecration was motivated by
hatred, I am doubling my reward," said Greenfield. "I am grateful to Councilman Mike Nelson,
Assemblyman Dov Hikind and various leaders in the Russian and Jewish communities,
including John Lisyanskiy, who have made generous contributions toward increasing the reward
to the new $10,000 total."

Greenfield is encouraging anyone who may have seen something to call the 66thPrecinct of
the NYPD at (718) 851 5611. I hope that, as the reward money offered continues to grow,
perhaps someone who has information will come forward. But, please, dont just report this for
the money, report this because it is the right thing to do, Greenfield concluded.