‘Fake News’ sign planted at San Antonio’s Holocaust museum

The sign appeared in the early-morning hours outside the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Campus of the San Antonio Jewish Community. The arrow is pointing to the marquee of the Holocaust Memorial Museum, a program of the Jewish Federation of San Antonio. less The sign appeared in the early-morning hours outside the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Campus of the San Antonio Jewish Community. The arrow is pointing to the marquee of the Holocaust Memorial Museum, a program ... more Photo: Courtesy Photo Photo: Courtesy Photo Image 1 of / 20 Caption Close ‘Fake News’ sign planted at San Antonio’s Holocaust museum 1 / 20 Back to Gallery

A yard sign displaying two of President Donald Trump’s oft-used phrases, “Fake News,” and “#MAGA” — with an arrow pointing to the marquee of the Holocaust Memorial Museum of San Antonio — was removed Tuesday morning from the Campus of the San Antonio Jewish Community, officials said.

The sign was placed so its arrow pointed to the museum’s freestanding marquee. It was discovered by groundskeepers at about 7 a.m. Tuesday.

“It’s clearly a statement of Holocaust denial,” said Ronit Sherwin, CEO of the Jewish Federation of San Antonio, which operates the museum.

She said the federation does not know who put up the sign but reported the incident to authorities.

Though obscured by the morning’s dense fog, the sign was in view long enough for word to spread, upsetting members of a community already shaken by national anti-Semitic incidents and the October mass shooting of a Pittsburg synagogue that claimed 11 lives.

In a statement, the federation’s board chair Harry Levy called it an act of vandalism against the Jewish community, “doubly harmful in that it laughs at the memory of all the millions of Jews who died in the Holocaust and is harmful to the precious few Holocaust survivors who witnessed the horrors of the Shoah first hand.”

“The ignorance expressed by the perpetrators can only be countered by shining the light of truth upon our shared history,” Levy said.

The museum often showcases the personal testimonies of several Holocaust survivors who live in San Antonio. Busloads of local students have heard them speak.

The San Antonio Police Department said officers were called to the campus at Wurzbach Parkway and Northwest Military Highway at 7:45 a.m. for what was described as “threats.” A report was not available.

Besides the Jewish Federation, the campus contains the Jewish Community Center and Jewish Family Services.

In a statement Tuesday, the Muslim Children Education and Civic Center condemned the sign’s placement at the Jewish campus “in the strongest terms,” calling it an “insulting, demeaning, and dehumanizing incident.”

Trump’s catch phrases, including “MAGA” for “Make America Great Again,” have been popularized by his supporters at rallies and on social media. Using the slogans to deny that the Holocaust happened should disturb even his most ardent supporters, said Aaron Delwiche, a professor of communication at Trinity University.

“The term ‘fake news’ originally referred to completely fabricated news stories appearing in phony publications that don’t actually exist,” he said via email. “During the past two years, President Trump has used this phrase as a name-calling device designed to discredit news coverage that he considers to be unfairly critical of his administration.”

“This anti-Semitic incident is a reminder that this sort of rhetoric has consequences,” Delwiche added. “The Holocaust was not fake news. It is time for all of us, on all sides of the political spectrum, to insist on facts, evidence, and logic when talking about politics.”

In 2015, several incidents of anti-Semitic graffiti targeted the Jewish community in San Antonio. They included spray-painted swastikas and racial slurs that vandalized homes, cars and other items in a Jewish neighborhood surrounding a synagogue on the city’s Northwest Side.

Elaine Ayala covers religion and minority affairs in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | eayala@express-news.net | Twitter: @ElaineAyala