The Royal Mail this week promised to launch an investigation after Totally Jewish discovered that donations sent from Jews in London to a charity in Israel were being daubed with swastikas en route to their destination.? We were alerted to the anti-Semitic defacing of post by David Pearl, senior partner of Pearl and Co Solicitors in Hendon, who, earlier in the summer, tried to mail a check for 50 Pounds to Ezra and Chessed in Jerusalem.

However, last week, the charity for learning disabled children returned his donation explaining they couldn�t accept it in its current state � both the covering letter and the check had had the Nazi symbol scrawled all over them.

Ezra and Chessed confirmed that the letter from Pearl and Co solicitors was just one of a number of donations from the UK they had received in recent weeks that had been defaced with swastikas.

Izchak Abargil from the charity told TJ he was �deeply distressed� by the anti-Semitic scrawls, which were all the more hurtful given that the money was destined to help children with Down�s syndrome and other special needs. �This is simply terrible�, he said. �People must be told what is happening.�

He added: �We issued a complaint to the Israeli police, but were told they don�t have the personnel to deal with the situation right now. And as all three cheques were from England, we believe the problem must be there. �In the meantime, we are asking people to send their donations as registered cash.�

As well as the check from Pearl and Co, at least one of the other two defaced cheques is also known to have been sent from Hendon.

Pearl said: �We�re not sure where this took place. But we�d certainly like to find out who is behind this blatant act of anti-semitism.�

Mark Gardner of the Community Security Trust said: �This is not the first incident in which mail has been vandalized in an anti-semitic nature. Hate crime is illegal and The Royal Mail should be giving this incident a thorough investigation.�

Lord Janner, Chairman of the Holocaust Education Trust, added: �The situation should be investigated immediately. It is illegal and immoral to tamper with post and the sooner the person behind it is sacked the better.�

When informed that David Pearl�s donation, and at least two other letters from London had been defaced, a spokes person for the Royal Mail told TJ: �We have asked one of our senior customer advisors to contact the customer concerned. There has been no evidence to suggest it is an employee. However, should such case be discovered it could result in instant dismissal.�

YN