That was not the first time Israel had made an issue out of the desecration of cemeteries. A few years earlier, it had organized a march in France, protesting the very same thing. Not much later, the scenario was repeated in Holland. Of course, desecration of cemeteries is a heinous and reprehensible act. All religions forbid it.
Man is taught to respect the dignity of the dead as well as that of the living.
Such exhortations notwithstanding, the burial grounds of all religious communities are defiled and desecrated from time to time. While such behavior is worthy of the strongest condemnation, how much worse it is to exterminate an entire people or a community. The massacres that took place in Deir Yassin, Kafr Qasim, Sabra, Shatila, Qana and Bosnia, to name but a few, fit into this category of massacres. In spite of the senseless brutality of these events, they were not given anything like the publicity accorded the desecration of Jewish cemeteries. Israel got excellent media mileage out of the anti-Jewish behavior with the West rushing to register its horror and outrage.