A Swiss hotel sign asking Jewish guests to shower before using a swimming pool has outraged Israeli officials, and many others, the BBC News reported on Tuesday.
The Apartmenthaus Paradies, a mountain resort of Arosa, had posted signs for its Jewish guests with specific instructions on using the pool and even what times they could use a staff room refrigerator, BBC said.
Photos of the signs, in English, were shared on Israel's Channel 2 TV after an Orthodox Jewish guest spoke about it, sparking outrage on social media.
"The staff (was) really very nice to us," the Channel 2 interviewee said, per BBC. "But one morning I came down and saw this sign. I was shocked."
The pool sign read: "To our Jewish guests, women, men and children, please take a shower before you go swimming. If you break the rules I'm forced to cloes [sic] the swimming pool for you."
The signs brought condemnation from Israeli deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely, who called the incident "an anti-Semitic act of the worst and ugliest kind," Agence France-Presse reported.
Paradies manager Ruth Thomann told local Swiss media that her "choice of words was a mistake" and the signs were not meant to be anti-Semitic, AFP said. She said the hotel serves many Jewish clients but alleged other guests complained that some did not shower before using the pool.
"I wrote something naive on that poster," Thomann told local media, per AFP, adding that she realized now that she should have addressed all guests with the message.
Thomann said the hotel was popular with ultra-orthodox Jewish guests because she allowed access to a freezer to store kosher food. She said, though, since the freezer was located in the staff room, she needed to schedule times so guest could have access to freezer and the staff could use the area for lunch and dinner uninterrupted, AFP explained.