PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A $69,000 reward is being offered for anyone with information leading to an arrest in connection to the vandalism of hundreds of gravestones at a Jewish cemetery in Northeast Philadelphia. 
 
 Authorities said the damage was reported just after 9:30 a.m. Sunday at Mount Carmel Cemetery in the Wissinoming section of the city. 
 
 An estimated 300 gravestones were found toppled and vandalized. A team of helpers are trying to put the gravestones back up. 
 
 A GoFundMe has also been created to help raise money to fix the damage. 
 
 Naomi Adler, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, says this act is unacceptable. 
 
 “We are incredibly disgusted by the nature of this act.” 
 
 Regardless of the motives, she says this brings up a dark history. 
 
 “There are a number of people who have this hearken back to the Holocaust or to other Anti-Semitic act. Whether or not this is an act of anti-semitism, it brings up those memories and those fears.” 
 
 Jennifer was among those who heard about what happened. She came by to show support for those hurting. 
 
 “I don’t know why anything like this would happen. Somebody did something and maybe they weren’t thinking, or maybe they were thinking too much.” 
 
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 This comes less than two weeks after Holy Redeemer Cemetery in the city’s Bridesburg neighborhood was vandalized. More than 30 tombstones were found knocked over by a man walking his dog. 
 
 It’s unclear if there is any connection between the two incidents. 
 
 Mayor Jim Kenney released the following statement on the vandalism of Philadelphia’s Mount Carmel Jewish Cemetery. 
 
 “My heart breaks for the families who found their loved ones’ headstones toppled this morning. We are doing all we can to find the perpetrators who desecrated this final resting place, and they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Kenney said. “Hate is not permissible in Philadelphia. I encourage Philadelphians to stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters and to show them that we are the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection.” 
 
 Gov. Tom Wolf called it “truly reprehensible.” 
 
 “Any anti-Semitic act or act of intimidation aimed at Jewish institutions and people in Pennsylvania is truly reprehensible and we must find those responsible and hold them accountable. This is not who we are as Americans or Pennsylvanians,” Wolf said in a statement. “We will not take these threats and acts lightly and I have asked the Pennsylvania State Police and Office of Homeland Security to offer their full resources towards protecting these institutions and finding those responsible.” 
 
 Last week, a Jewish cemetery in suburban St. Louis reported that more than 150 headstones had been vandalized, many of them tipped over. 
 
 Through their generous support, the following have donated monetary rewards for information leading to an arrest and conviction: 
 
 ▪ The Mizel Family Foundation and the Anti-Defamation League is offering a $10,000 reward 
 
 ▪ An anonymous donor is offering a $10,000 reward 
 
 ▪ Councilman Allan Domb is offering a $12,000 reward 
 
 ▪ Mayor Kenney’s office is offering a $15,000 reward 
 
 ▪ The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #5 is offering a $3,000 reward for information leading to an arrest “ONLY”. 
 
 CBS 3’s Joe Holden and KYW’s Kristen Johanson contributed to this report. ||||| Northeast Philadelphia Police Det. Timothy McIntyre and another Philadelphia police officer look over tombstones that were vandalized in the Jewish Mount Carmel Cemetary Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017 in Philadelphia.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Northeast Philadelphia Police Det. Timothy McIntyre and another Philadelphia police officer look over tombstones that were vandalized in the Jewish Mount Carmel Cemetary Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017 in Philadelphia. A police spokeswoman said preliminary estimates are that 75 to 100 graves were damaged The... (Associated Press) 
 
 Northeast Philadelphia Police Det. Timothy McIntyre and another Philadelphia police officer look over tombstones that were vandalized in the Jewish Mount Carmel Cemetary Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017 in Philadelphia. A police spokeswoman said preliminary estimates are that 75 to 100 graves were damaged The... (Associated Press) Northeast Philadelphia Police Det. Timothy McIntyre and another Philadelphia police officer look over tombstones that were vandalized in the Jewish Mount Carmel Cemetary Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017 in Philadelphia.... (Associated Press) 
 
 PHILADELPHIA (AP) — More than 100 headstones have been vandalized at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia, damage discovered less than a week after similar vandalism in Missouri, authorities said. 
 
 A man visiting the cemetery called police at 9:40 a.m. Sunday to report that three of his relatives' headstones had been knocked over and damaged. 
 
 "The cemetery was inspected and approximately 100 additional headstones were found to be knocked over," apparently sometime after dark Saturday, a police spokeswoman said in a statement. A criminal mischief-institutional vandalism investigation will be conducted by the police Northeast Detectives Division, she said. 
 
 The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia lists Mount Carmel as a Jewish cemetery. 
 
 Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon called the report "shocking and a source of worry," although he added that he had "full confidence" that authorities in the U.S. would be able to catch and punish those responsible. 
 
 The damage comes less than a week after a Jewish cemetery in suburban St. Louis reported more than 150 headstones vandalized, many of them tipped over. 
 
 Police said Sunday evening that the Anti-Defamation League, due to support from the Mizel Family Foundation, is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. A local Fraternal Order of Police lodge also is offering a reward of $3,000. 
 
 Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said authorities were doing everything possible to find those "who desecrated this final resting place." 
 
 "My heart breaks for the families who found their loved ones' headstones toppled," he said in a statement. "Hate is not permissible in Philadelphia." 
 
 Aaron Mallin told WPVI-TV that he discovered the damage when he came to visit his father's grave. He called it "very disheartening" and said he hopes it wasn't intended as an anti-Semitic attack. 
 
 "I'm hoping it was maybe just some drunk kids," he said. "But the fact that there's so many, it leads one to think it could have been targeted." ||||| An American flag still stands next to one of more than 170 toppled Jewish headstones after a weekend vandalism attack on Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City, a suburb of St Louis, Mo., on Feb. 21. (Tom Gannam/Reuters) 
 
 After the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis over the long holiday weekend, an incident in which more than 150 headstones were toppled or damaged, two American Muslim activists started a fundraiser to help pay for needed repairs. 
 
 “Through this campaign, we hope 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,” the fundraising page on the site LaunchingGood reads. “We pray that this restores a sense of security and peace to the Jewish-American community who has undoubtedly been shaken by this event.” 
 
 Within a few hours of going up Tuesday afternoon, the page had exceeded its goal of raising $20,000. 
 
 Tarek El-Messidi, who created the campaign with fellow activist Linda Sarsour said when he saw the news about the vandalism at Chesed Shel Emeth Society cemetery in the St. Louis suburb of University City, he was reminded of a story about the prophet Muhammad, who had stood up when a Jewish funeral procession passed. When asked why, he said, “Is it not a human soul?” 
 
 “That story goes to show more than anything the humanity of the prophet. … We should bring the story to life here and show every person deserves to rest in peace,” El-Messidi said. “This is a great way to show respect and honor for our Jewish cousins.” 
 
 Missouri authorities are investigating after dozens of headstones were damaged at a Jewish cemetery near St.Louis. (AP) 
 
 Through his nonprofit, Celebrate Mercy, El-Messidi’s mission is to not only educate people about the prophet’s teachings but also to rally Muslims to respond to evil with good. A national Muslim leader in Knoxville, Tenn., he helped launch a Muslim-led fundraiser for the victims of the San Bernardino terrorist attack in 2015 that ultimately raised more than $215,000. In 2012, after the attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, El-Messidi called on Muslims to write condolence letters to the Stevens’s family and presented 8,000 of them to Steven’s sister that Thanksgiving. 
 
 [American Muslims ‘grieve for the victims like any other human being,’ raise more than $170,000 for San Bernardino families] 
 
 Since the rise of hate crime incidents after the November election, both Muslim and Jewish communities in the United States have been targeted, their institutions are threatened, their people bullied. It’s a shared experience that is bringing them together in solidarity, El-Messidi said. 
 
 “This is really a human issue,” he said. “But out of this horrible election cycle, something beautiful has come out of it and [Muslims and Jews have] bonded together to support each other and stand up to this hate. Politics can get in the way of our basic humanity; I hope this breaks through all those walls, no pun intended, to help bring us closer together.” 
 
 To underscore this point, El-Messidi shared a message he received from a woman named Barbara: 
 
 You have helped to heal the pain in my heart. I live in Los Angeles but was born and raised in St. Louis. I have family buried in that cemetery and was heartbroken seeing the desecration of the final resting place of some of my loved ones. Your kind and loving spirit gives hope to me that we can have mutual respect and tolerance of our differences and shared humanity. Bless you. 
 
 El-Messidi said he has been communicating with the director of the cemetery who was going to send him an exact estimate of the damages, but he doesn’t have that figure yet. If they raise more than is needed, he said they will keep a leftover fund that will be used to counter anti-Semitic hate. 
 
 Read more Inspired Life: 
 
 To counter Trump’s travel ban, this Jewish filmmaker wants to give American Muslims a voice 
 
 ‘I’ve never felt more welcome or more American than during Trump’s rise,’ this Muslim teen says 
 
 The incredibly gracious way Muslims welcomed a man who had drunkenly shot their mosque
– Cops in Philadelphia have vowed to track down the vandals who toppled large numbers of headstones in a Jewish cemetery over the weekend. Initial estimates put the number of graves vandalized in the Mount Carmel at around 100. CBS Philadelphia reports that the estimate has risen to 300. "It's criminal. This is beyond vandalism," Northeast Detectives Capt. Shawn Thrush tells the Philadelphia Inquirer. "It's beyond belief." Police say the damage was discovered Sunday morning after a man called to report that three of his relatives' headstones had been knocked over, the AP reports. The Anne Frank Center said it was "sickened, sickened, sickened" by the vandalism and urged President Trump to deliver a nationally televised speech outlining how he plans to fight anti-Semitism, as well as "Islamophobia and other rising forms of hate," the New York Daily News reports. Mayor Mike Kenny offered condolences to affected families. "Hate is not permissible in Philadelphia," he said. "I encourage Philadelphians to stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters and to show them that we are the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection." (After a similar attack in Missouri last week, Muslim-Americans started a fundraiser.)