A mural in Milwaukee, which shows a Nazi swastika intertwined with a Jewish Star of David, is drawing condemnation.

The mural, which has since been vandalized, includes the text “the irony of becoming what you once hated” and suggests Jewish people are perpetrating another Holocaust against Palestinians. It depicts a bombed-out city where drones fly overhead, as women hold children and a swing set sits empty.

“It’s obvious that the image is going to contribute to further pain on the part of American Jews,” says Britt Tevis, assistant professor of history and Phyllis Backer Professor of Jewish Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, who is troubled by the way that the mural visually combines a Nazi symbol with the Star of David.

“To my eye, the mural intentionally attempts to implicate Jews writ large for the actions of the Israeli government, and it does so by taking a universal Jewish symbol, the star of David, and attempts to merge it with a swastika,” she says. “This effort to blame global Jewry for the actions, specifically, of Israel is something we’ve seen for decades, really since the establishment of the state of Israel.”

Listen to the interview or read more in the Wisconsin Public Radio article, “Milwaukee mural showing swastika with Star of David draws condemnation.”