Thai Deputy Interior Minister Orders Removal of Three Jewish Bodies from Cemetery

Thailand's Deputy Minister of the Interior, Polphai Suwanachai, has ordered local authorities to exhume three Jewish bodies from a Jewish cemetery in Chachoengsao province. The directive came after the deputy minister visited the cemetery in Bang Kla yesterday and determined that the individuals were buried after the cemetery's operating license had expired. A fourth individual, buried while the license was still valid, was deemed to have been interred properly. However, the deputy minister also instructed that this case be reviewed and called for a broader examination of licenses for other cemeteries across the country.

The cemetery operator obtained a license in 2021, which expired in 2023. The renewal of this license was denied when provincial authorities determined that the cemetery's construction did not meet legal standards regarding proximity to roads and tunnels. An appeal filed by the operator with the Minister of Interior was rejected, and legal proceedings are ongoing in the administrative court.

Rabbi Nechemia Wilhelm, a Chabad representative in Bangkok, explained that the land outside the city was purchased about five years ago because the older cemetery in Bangkok was nearly full, and that the initial license was legally granted. Rabbi Wilhelm suggested a connection between this decision and a recent wave of negative reporting targeting Israelis and Jews in Thailand. He stated that the community would act in accordance with the law and, if forced to exhume the bodies, would do so according to Jewish law.