Hoax Alert: A Mural in Milwaukee (2024)

According to Daniel Edelson writing for ‘Ynet’ there was a so-called ‘anti-Semitic hate’ crime in the city of Milwaukee in Wisconsin in September 2024.

He writes how:

‘A Palestinian-American man who commissioned the painting of large mural in downtown Milwaukee, which compares Jews to Nazis, has vowed to commission more in the city after it was vandalized over the weekend; Meanwhile a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to produce new murals was removed from the platform.

The mural, located at the corner of two main streets in the city, combines a Star of David with a swastika and includes the caption: "The irony of becoming what you once hated." It also depicts drones, bombed-out buildings, women in headscarves carrying their children, an alleged mass grave, and an empty swing set.

It has sparked outrage and allegations of antisemitism. Simultaneously, a crowdfunding campaign was initiated to create more such murals. Managed on the popular platform GoFundMe, the campaign aimed to raise $10,000 to produce a series of new murals intended to raise awareness about what the organizers call "genocide" against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The first mural was completed on a building owned by Palestinian-American Ihsan Atta, who initiated the project. Following an inquiry by Ynet, the platform removed the antisemitic campaign.

The mural has caused significant anger among Jewish community leaders in Milwaukee, who described it as a "vile and horrifying act of antisemitism." Miriam Rosenzweig, president of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, claimed that the mural constitutes Holocaust denial and is intended to intimidate the Jewish community. "This mural harms Holocaust survivors who still live here," she also said.

Atta declared that comparing the Holocaust to what is happening in Gaza is justified. "That's precisely the point," he said, "what's happening in Gaza is a Holocaust." He argued that the use of the Star of David and the swastika together is political criticism of Israel, not an attack on Judaism. According to Atta, the Star of David is equivalent to the swastika and serves not only as a religious symbol but also a political one, as evidenced by its presence on the emblem of the Israeli Air Force. Atta has previously stirred controversy with provocative statements and even compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Hitler on social media.’ (1)

Now for reference this is the mural concerned:

Indeed, what you immediately notice about the shrieks about ‘anti-Semitism’ from is how… well… non-specific they are given that Miriam Rosenzweig – President of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation – claims that it is ‘Holocaust denial’ and ‘harms Holocaust survivors’ but never specifics why it is ‘Holocaust denial’ nor how it actually ‘harms Holocaust survivors.’

It is an extremely vague charge at best and to be perfectly honest I have no idea how it constitutes either ‘anti-Semitism’ or ‘Holocaust denial’ since Ihsan Atta isn’t ‘denying the Holocaust’ at all but rather stating that he believes in it, but that the Israelis are conducting a ‘Holocaust in Gaza’.

Now clearly jews don’t like that claim and while the so-called ‘Holocaust’ never occurred as best as I can work out; it is a valid point of comparison to Israeli conduct towards the Palestinians if one believes in it (as most people do) especially because the ‘Holocaust’ is more or less the raison d'être of the jewish state so to dilute that with genocidal conduct of jews towards non-jews significantly impacts the basis for the jewish state itself.

However, that simply doesn’t make such a mural ‘anti-Semitic’ let alone ‘Holocaust denial’ in any way, shape or form: it just makes it a clever anti-Zionist political mural that turns the propaganda weapons of jewish state against itself, which naturally jews get very upset about because they don’t have an easy way to answer such criticism or propaganda.

Hence this mural in Milwaukee is not ‘anti-Semitic’ but rather just a clever anti-Zionist political statement.

References

(1) https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bjjhh3lp0