Mexican Jewish community denounces antisemitic graffiti aimed at President Sheinbaum

The Jewish community in Mexico has condemned antisemitic graffiti on Mexico’s Supreme Court building calling the country’s Jewish-born President Claudia Sheinbaum “puta Judia,” meaning "Jewish wh*re" in Spanish. It also included a crossed-out Star of David. The anti-Jewish graffiti was reportedly sprayed during a protest against the Sheinbaum-led government on Saturday. 

“The Jewish Community of Mexico strongly condemns the antisemitic remarks and expressions," the Jewish community in Mexico City stated on Sunday. 

“Antisemitism is a form of discrimination according to our constitution and must be rejected clearly and unequivocally,” the Jewish community added.

In June 2024, Sheinbaum became the first woman and first Jew to win Mexico’s presidential election. She was elected with a promise to address Mexico’s many challenges including rising cartel violence and socioeconomic problems. 

“I won’t fail you,” Sheinbaum said after her election victory, while thanking the “millions of Mexican women and men who decided to vote for us on this historic day.” However, many of the country’s problems are deeply entrenched and remain unresolved. 

Sheinbaum who grew up in a secular Jewish family, has largely avoided talking about Jewish and Israeli issues in public. She is also not an active participant in the Mexican Jewish community. 

Israel also condemned the antisemitic attack on President Sheinbaum. 

“Israel strongly condemns the antisemitic and sexist slurs directed at Mexico’s President @Claudiashein,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar wrote on the social media platform 𝕏.

“There is no place for such attacks in political discourse. All forms of antisemitism, in any context, must be rejected unequivocally,” Jerusalem’s top diplomat added.

Israel strongly condemns the antisemitic and sexist slurs directed at Mexico’s President @Claudiashein. There is no place for such attacks in political discourse.
All forms of antisemitism, in any context, must be rejected unequivocally. pic.twitter.com/HEDKzq34e8

— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) November 16, 2025

Sa'ar's father was born in Argentina and arrived in Israel in the 1960s. 

Some of Sheinbaum’s critics have stressed her Jewish background in their political attacks on the President. The country’s former President Vincente Fox condescendingly referred to Sheinbaum as a “Bulgarian Jew,” implying that she is a foreigner. Sheinbaum’s mother, Annie Pardo, arrived in Mexico in 1946 as a Jewish refugee from Bulgaria. Her father, Carlos Sheinbaum, emigrated from Lithuania to Mexico in 1928.

Sheinbaum, who was born, and raised in Mexico City, became involved in left-wing politics in Mexico. Sheinbaum even produced her birth certificate to prove that she was born in Mexico and not in Bulgaria. 

Fox eventually apologized for his antisemitic remark. However, he then repeated his antisemitic remark in a tweet stating, “JEWISH AND FOREIGN AT THE SAME TIME.”

Between 40,000 and 50,000 Jews live in Mexico where they form a tiny minority in a country with over 130 million people. While few in numbers, Mexico’s well-integrated Jewish community has contributed disproportionally to the country’s development and wellbeing. 

Last week Mexico announced that it had prevented an Iranian plot to assassinate the Israeli Ambassador to Mexico Einat Kranz Neiger. U.S. and Israeli intelligence assisted in stopping the Iranian terrorist plot. 

“The plot was contained and does not pose a current threat,” an unnamed U.S. official stated. “This is just the latest in a long history of Iran’s global lethal targeting of diplomats, journalists, dissidents and anyone who disagrees with them, something that should deeply worry every country where there is an Iranian presence."