The statue was displayed in an exhibition honoring the work of German-Jewish sports figures from the Holocaust period. Klein, who was born in Germany and survived the Holocaust together with his mother, brother and sister, immigrated to Israel in 1951.
He starred in Israeli basketball as a player and coach, leading Maccabi Tel Aviv to its first European Cup win. The organizers of the exhibition where his statue was vandalized said after the event: "This will not deter us" The statue was installed as part of an exhibition called "Between Success and Pursuit"