Thailand Forces Removal of Jewish Graves Amid Protests

Four Jewish graves were forced to be evacuated this week from a Lubavitch-owned cemetery outside Bangkok after Thai authorities refused to renew the site’s operating license, the latest development in a months-long campaign that has seen Chabad accused, without evidence, of orchestrating a “Zionist land takeover” of Thailand.

The graves were ordered to be removed on only a few days’ notice, as tensions surrounding Chabad and Jewish institutions in Thailand continued to escalate, including dangerous, antisemitic protests that forced Chabad to cancel its main Rosh Hashanah event in Phuket.

The cemetery, in the Chachoengsao district near Bangkok, was purchased by the Jewish community in 5781, after the community’s original, decades-old cemetery neared full capacity.

The purchase was made openly and legally, and the community received all required government approvals, including a three-year operating license, standard under Thai regulations for this type of property. Four members of the community were buried there in the years since.

“Throughout our years of activity in Thailand, we have taken great care to act strictly according to Thai law, to respect the country’s laws and authorities, and to cooperate with them,” said Rabbi Yosef Chaim Kantor, the Rebbe’s shliach and chief rabbi of Thailand.

“We did the same in this case. The property was purchased legally, activity there began only after receiving the necessary approvals and license, and when the renewal request was not approved, we turned to the standard legal channels.”

When the license came up for renewal in 2024, authorities declined to renew it. The community filed an appeal in Thai court, which remains pending. In the meantime, as tensions around Israelis and Jewish institutions in Thailand intensified, the cemetery came back into focus, and the community was ordered to vacate the graves entirely, on a timeline of only days.

“Recently, amid the growing tension and increased scrutiny surrounding matters involving Israelis in Thailand, the issue of the cemetery came up again,” Rabbi Kantor said. “Since the renewal has not been approved for the past two years, we were required to vacate the graves from the site.”

The relocation was carried out with the assistance of ZAKA volunteers, with full sensitivity to kevod hameis and in strict accordance with halacha. The graves were reinterred at an established, licensed cemetery where the community had purchased additional plots designated for Jewish burial.

The cemetery dispute has not unfolded in isolation. Over the past year, nationalist activists in Thailand have promoted a conspiracy theory alleging that Chabad, and Israelis more broadly, are quietly buying up Thai land as part of a coordinated Zionist strategy to establish “sovereign enclaves” in the country.

Thai government ministries, including the Interior Ministry, the Department of Special Investigation, and the Anti-Money Laundering Office, opened a broad inquiry into land holdings tied to Chabad-linked entities and announced a nationwide audit of more than a thousand cemeteries.

Rather than pushing back on the baseless claims circulating in the streets, the government’s own aggressive enforcement, expired-license findings, and public scrutiny of Chabad’s affairs have lent the conspiracy theories an air of legitimacy, fueling further protests instead of calming them.

That hostility came to a head over Rosh Hashanah. As reported by Anash.org, Chabad had planned a meal in Phuket for more than 1,000 people, but dangerous protests and increasingly antisemitic rhetoric, including signs, chants of “Free Palestine,” and messages such as “Save Phuket, No Israel” and “Thailand is not for sale,” forced the event to be canceled. Protesters also renewed calls for Jews to leave the country.

“I am deeply concerned by rising antisemitic rhetoric in Thailand,” said Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the U.S. Special Envoy for Antisemitism. “The State Department remains in close contact with Thai authorities to ensure that the Jewish community is protected during the holiday season.”

Just after the major Rosh Hashana meal was cancelled, the governor of Phuket Province in Thailand ordered a comprehensive investigation into Chabad of Phuket. As part of the investigation, authorities will examine land documents, building permits and licenses, as well as possible corporate connections to a company involved in a Jewish cemetery project in Thailand.

The authorities have been given seven days to submit their findings. Chabad says that its Chabad Houses are completely legal and that it has full confidence in the authorities, who will find that everything is in order.

Despite the mounting pressure, Rabbi Kantor remains hopeful.

“We hope and pray that with Hashem’s help things will work out peacefully, that the tension will ease, and that we will be able to continue living and operating in Thailand out of mutual respect, as we have done for more than thirty years.”