Did Mexico's President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum hold up a menorah while making a speech? No, that's not true: The photo of Sheinbaum on X that shows her doing this has been edited. In the original photo, which dates back to 2017, her fist is raised high in the air, but she does not hold a menorah and is not wearing large Star of David earrings. Sheinbaum does not practice any religion, according to media reports.
The image of Sheinbaum, the country's first female, ethnic Jewish president, with a menorah appeared in a meme (archived here) posted on X by @DrLoupis on August 23, 2024. It was captioned:
What are the odds?
This is how the post appeared at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Aug 23 20:29:26 2024 UTC)
The meme is split into two panels, with a photo of Argentine President Javier Milei on the left and Sheinbaum on the right. The focus of this fact check is the manipulated image of Sheinbaum, not the rest of the meme.
The meme's text reads:
Argentina Catholics: 66% of population
Argentina Jews: 1.1% of population
President of Argentina:Mexico Catholics: 78% of population
Mexico Jews: 0.25% of population
President of Mexico:
A reverse image search for the meme with the menorah brought up a copy published on 9gag.com (archived here) on June 5, 2024. One comment posted on 9gag.com the same day (archived here) included the original photo as a rebuttal and was captioned:
Sure dude. Put your disinformation campaign up your ass.
A reverse image search for the original photo returned results dating back to August 2017 (here and here). An August 30, 2017, article on the Spanish news site Diario16plus.com (archived here), titled "Claudia Sheinbaum ganó la Ciudad de México" ("Claudia Sheinbaum Won Mexico City") featured the original photo. In that photo, Sheinbaum is standing at a lectern with her left hand raised in a fist. She is not holding a menorah, and she is wearing dangle earrings that are not the shape of the Star of David.
(Source: diario16plus.com screenshot taken on Fri Aug 23 21:33:03 2024 UTC)
An AP article published on April 22, 2024, (archived here) titled "Mexico's likely next president would be its first leader with a Jewish background," discusses the Jewish heritage of Sheinbaum's grandparents as well as the nuanced question of her religious identity and beliefs:
Her four grandparents were Jews who immigrated from Lithuania and Bulgaria. She was born in Mexico City and her parents did not raise her under any religion. According to her campaign team, Sheinbaum considers herself a woman of faith, but she is not religiously affiliated.
Additional news reports have said the same.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims regarding Claudia Scheinbaum can be found here.
