JK Rowling’s support for Muslim campaign to repair Jewish cemetery triples donations

A Muslim campaign to raise money to repair a vandalised Jewish cemetery has seen donations triple overnight after JK Rowling supported the initiative online.

The crowd funding drive aimed to raise £16,000 ($20,000) for repairs to the St. Louis-area Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery, where at least 170 gravestones were toppled by vandals last weekend.

On Tuesday night, within hours of the Harry Potter author retweeting a Jewish News story on the campaign to her 10 million followers, the amount raised almost trebled from £18,000 to £45,000.

The popular author wrote alongside the web link: “This is such a beautiful thing. The tweet received around 10,000 retweets and more than 30,000 likes.

The unexpected increase in traffic crashed the campaign site’s page.

The two Muslim activists who launched the drive, Palestinian-American Linda Sarsour and Tarek El-Messidi, say any remaining funds after the cemetery is restored will go toward restoring other vandalised Jewish sites.

Sarsour and El-Messidi wrote that they hoped “to send a united message from the Jewish and Muslim communities that there is no place for this type of hate, desecration and violence in America.”

Sarsour said: “We just want our Jewish sisters and brothers to know that no matter who, what or why – we will not sit back and we are here to uplift one another. ”