Sign for Golan community named after Trump stripped of letters
Almost all lettering missing from huge sign at entrance to Trump Heights, where nobody lives almost a year after its inauguration
The giant sign marking the community in the Golan Heights named in honor of US President Donald Trump was found missing nearly all of its letters.
Israel last year decided to name a town for Trump in the Golan Heights as a sign of appreciation for his decision to recognize the territory, which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War, as part of Israel.
The community, called Trump Heights, or Ramat Trump in Hebrew, was inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony last June that was attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Ambassador David Friedman in front of the massive sign, which had stood before an open field.
But a photo posted Thursday on social media by journalist Rubi Hammerschlag from the Kan public broadcaster showed the sign had been badly damaged, with all the English letters and most of the Hebrew letters gone.
זוכרים? "רמת טראמפ"? המתנה הקטנה שלנו לנשיא האמריקאי לאחר ההכרה בריבונותנו על הגולן? זוכרים את השלט הפומפוזי שהוצב שם? משהו בסגנון אמריקה, בלב הגולן?
אז ככה הוא נראה אז, והיום (אחרי "טיפול") pic.twitter.com/kQ8ZwgWSBj
— Rubi Hammerschlag | רובי המרשלג (@rubih67) May 7, 2020
Hammerschlag implied that vandals damaged the sign, but other Twitter users said the letters may have fallen off on their own due to winter weather and shoddy workmanship.
רמת טראמפ, יוני 2019. ככה הדביקו את האותיות על השלט. ואז הגיע חורף צפוני קשוח עם שלג, גשמים עזים ורוחות מצליפות. אם הייתי קארי מתיסון, הייתי הולכת לבדוק אם האותיות האבודות לא שוכבות בשדה הסמוך וסתם מאשימים חוליגנים.
אבל אינני קארי, אני קרין, ואני הולכת לישון pic.twitter.com/2ihwhXK627— karin shavit (@karin_shavit) May 7, 2020
A boarding school for underprivileged youths started operating in Trump Heights November.
About 20 families are scheduled to move to Trump Heights in the summer of 2020, the national-religious news site Srugim reported last year, including both observant Jewish families and secular new residents. It was not clear whether the coronavirus crisis has affected those plans.
Trump Heights, which was announced when it was still uninhabited and largely unbuilt, is the second Israeli town named after an American president, with the first one being Kfar Truman, a moshav in central Israel.
JTA contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.