Outrage over hotel’s sign asking Jews to shower
SWITZERLAND’S tourism office has expressed regret over an “unfortunate” incident in which a small Swiss Alpine hotel posted a sign asking “Jewish guests” to shower before swimming in the hotel pool.
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre demanded the closure of the Paradies Arosa Hotel in eastern Arosa.
On Twitter, Israeli deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely called for “justice”.
Swiss Tourism spokesman Markus Berger called the sign “unacceptable”, adding it has been removed and hotel management has apologised.
Beneath “To our Jewish Guests”, the sign read: “Please take a shower before you go swimming. If you break the rules, I am forced to cloes (sic) the swimming pool for you. Thank you for your understanding.”
Mr Berger cited a trend among some Orthodox Jews of summer travel to the area. He said he did not know the origin of the trend, but that numbers “definitely in the thousands” have grown.
He said many area hotels serve kosher food and that Jewish guests “feel well-treated”.
“It’s just this one lady at this one hotel who was not on top of the situation,” Mr Berger said.
Switzerland’s foreign ministry said it spoke to the Israeli ambassador and outlined that Switzerland condemns racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination.