Sweden Israel and the Jews

Ilya Meyer on Current and Past Swedish Demonization of Israel

2013-01-10T19:23:00.001+02:00

Meyer photo: Times of Israel

Ilya Meyer, who blogs in English here and here, writes about the anti-Israel attitude and actions which unify both right-and left-wing politicians in Sweden. In a meeting with diplomats and policy advisers, Meyer found a common thread and recommended tools to fight prejudice. Here is the article which originally appeared as "Samsyn om demonisering av Israel". Meyer terms Swedish political attitudes towards Israel a "sick obsession". We would add that while this was certainly as true 25 years ago as it is today, Sweden's poor record goes much farther back. Sweden banned kosher slaughter in the 1930's--even before the German Nazis did so. There is a long-running bias against Jews in Sweden, which has translated itself into rabid anti-Israel positions. (We cranked the article through Google translate abbreviated a bit and smoothed the rough spots.)

Swedish "pundits" know better on Israel than the locals.
Under Swedish pundits themselves ...Consensus on the demonization of Israel

Left or right does not matter, in Sweden is consensus among obsessed politicians. At least when it comes to demonizing and opposing the Jewish state of Israel.
...Among the rest of [Zvi Mazel's] guests were former Ambassador to Sweden Moshe Yegar with wife Dvora, former Norway Ambassador David Zohar with his wife Nira, Professor Raphael Israeli of Hebrew University and Ariel Center for Policy Research with Swedish-born wife Margalit (Professor Israeli has previously given talks on the Middle East in Sweden), Manfred Gerstenfeld from the prestigious think tank Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), who, inter alia, wrote "Anti-Semitism in Norway, Behind the Humanitarian Mask", Professor Robert Wistrich of Hebrew University who is also rector of the University's International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism, and Ilan Evyatar, news editor at the Jerusalem Post.
...They were very familiar with the Swedish news, Swedish news trends, Swedish domestic politics and the various political parties in the current situation, and manifestos. We exchanged many ideas and experiences, and probably this will have an impact both in Israel and here in Sweden.
...The most important was a comment by Moshe Yegar. He served as Israel's ambassador to Sweden between 1988 and 1991--a quarter century ago. At that time, just like today, it was part of an ambassador role to converse with senior representatives of all Swedish parliamentary parties. He thus had frequent contacts with, among others, Pierre Schori, who probably represented the outer extreme left wing of the Social Democrats, especially when it came to views on Israel, and Carl Bildt, who at the time was the right-wing Moderate Party leader.
Moshe Yegar said that...Left and Right in Sweden expressed the exact same antipathy toward Israel, both treated the Israeli ambassador with the same disdain, both systematically ignored one side while they worked with the other side - the gun-toting Yasser Arafat. Already 25 years ago. [Ed. Note: Bildt showed consistency when he ran to greet Swedish Flotilla members on their return from supporting the Mavi Marmara terrorists.]
The Swedish political elite's attitude toward Israel is nothing new, in other words...This puts today's anti-Israel situation in Sweden in a sharp perspective. What is happening today is nothing new. However, what is new since the last 25 years is that now there is a wider public support for this sick obsession.
[Today we have electronic media.] ...But the electronic media are useless unless we use them. So be sure to disseminate, distribute articles and comments speak for Israel's cause...Do you see an anti-Semitic demonstration? Video it. You hear a manifestation of a call for violence against Jews or Israel? Record it. Use this speed to our advantage when it is something that should get a larger audience. In the past, the mainstream media simply remained silent to kill a story. Today, they can not - thanks to your smartphone. So use it. Often.
New today is also Google and all the other excellent search engines. Before you head into a discussion either face to face or via the written word, look up facts, check both one and three times that your claims are correct. It takes so little time now, it's a shame not to have secure facts behind you before you discuss with colleagues, school mates, newspaper readers, FB friends, and so on.
Newest of all is a new approach: to never back down or not stand our ground. Instead continuously advance. We must learn to constantly move forward. Do you know why? Because our opponents always move forward. Unless we do that, we end up behind. 25 years have passed since an Israeli ambassador noted that the Swedish left and the Swedish right wing is on the line in their hatred of the Jewish state - and we are still on the old barricades...The new anti-Semitism is spelled "anti-Zionism" and all our opponents express it. It is exactly the same disease, it is anti-Semitism in secret, anti-Semitism barely covered with little verbal cosmetics. We must constantly fight against anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, Islamism, racism and the constant attacks on human rights with the exact same strength and determination. For it is exactly the same disease...

The advice we received from all was to never give up, never stand still, never at rest. The advice we gave them was to ensure the spread news about Sweden both in the Israeli media and among the political establishment...

Reepalu: Mayor of Do-Nothing

2013-01-10T18:21:00.002+02:00

Reepalu: No Problem, Zionist Criminals

A recent article in the Local reports on a survey of hate crimes reported versus charges pressed and convictions. Conclusion: many reports, no convictions. Please keep in mind that (as we have reported a number of times) the number of reports is far smaller than that actual occurrences reported.

Here are the figures:

-"Regional newspaper Sydsvenskan reports that Malmö processed a 'record' 480 hate crime complaints in a two-year span. But charges were filed in only 16 cases and none of the indictments led to a conviction.

-"None of the 44 anti-Semitic hate crimes reported in 2010 and 2011 even made it to a prosecutor, while one of the 23 reported islamophobic crimes resulted in criminal charges."

In Reepalu's Malmö, if you shout at or ignore a problem it goes away. NOT.

Muslim Malmö Resident vs. Anti-Semitism

2013-01-10T18:11:00.000+02:00

Derakti visits Malmö Schul

One young Muslim resident of has decided to speak out against the tide of anti-Semitism in the city. According to 21-year-old Siavosh Derakhti, his family fled Iran looking for a better life. The American Trial Attorneys Defending Israel Blog quotes Derakhti:

-“I found out Jews are fleeing Malmo, that they feel scared and unsafe on the streets,” says Derakhti, who is studying to be a youth worker at Malmo University and Folkhögskola Hvilan college, both in southern Sweden. “And then I thought that something needs to be done. We can’t keep on letting this happen — not in a country like Sweden, and not in my hometown of Malmo.”

While Derakhti acknowledges that his advocacy may prove dangerous, he is determined to act and educate:

-Derakhti decided to educate his fellow Swedes about anti-Semitism and the Holocaust after learning not only how little his high school classmates knew, but that his school, Malmös Latinskola, was not trying to change the situation.

“In 25 years, they hadn’t invited any Holocaust survivors, and then they wonder how there are so many people who deny the Holocaust or don’t know a lot,” Derakhti says. After a struggle against school opposition and indifference he managed to organize a class trip to Poland.

Derakhti credits his immigrant background and especially his father for helping him investigate the Holocaust.

-“My parents fled from dictatorship so their children could grow up in a peaceful place and experience democracy, and then to come to a country where there is hate, discrimination and racism on our streets, this is not acceptable. Something must be done,” Derakhti says.

We couldn't agree more.

Article in full is worth a read...

Photo credit: Swedish Committee Against Antisemitism

Religiously Restricted In Sweden

2012-12-19T13:28:00.000+02:00

Two Jewish law students from Canada recently took the opportunity to study at Sweden's Lund University as part of their final year course at Canada's Dalhousie University. Renée Zatzman and Alexandra Schwarz were warmly welcomed by Rabbi Kesselman in Malmö and the community for the Jewish High Holidays.

In addition to noting the very strict security measures in place, the students noted:

-"The community’s generosity has helped us adjust to life away from home and has given us a greater appreciation for something that can easily be taken for granted in Canada: the ability to openly practise our faith without fear."

"Heil Hitler" and Stoning by Malmö School Bullies

2012-12-18T17:49:00.001+02:00

Reepalu's town: Bad talk, no action

15-Year-Old Jewish Boy Targeted: Maybe Police Will Do Something

Or not...Arutz 7 reports another case of in-your-face flat-out anti-Semitism in Malmö:

-"The latest incidents took place over a period of several days, with the snowball and stoning attacks following two 'Hitler salutes' earlier in the week.
-"Comments by a local Jewish leader highlight the sense of futility in the Jewish community. Fred Kahn, head of the Jewish community in Malmo told the local newspaper Skånska Dagbladet, 'Things like this happen all the time in Malmo. It's nothing new. The difference is that nowadays people report things to the police, and that's good.'
-"Radio Sweden reported that a complaint was filed with the police, but prosecutors have not yet decided whether to or not to drop the case."

What this incident and the most recent case we reported, is that in both these cases the offenses persisted over several days. Plenty of opportunity to catch the perpetrators, but the Swedish authorities are still thinking about whether they will do anything...

Update: Gallery Backs Down, What Next?

2012-12-13T22:38:00.000+02:00

Majdanek

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has reported that the Martin Bryder Gallery in Lund has ceased to display its vile "ash-painting" which used actual human remains stolen from the Majdanek Nazi death camp in Poland:

After an international outcry led by the Swedish Jewish community, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and other activists, a Swedish gallery has taken down an exhibit of a painting that used ashes of Holocaust victims. The painting, by Swedish artist Carl Michael von Hausswolff, contained ashes stolen by him from the Majdanek death camp in Poland

The question now is whether the "artist", CM von Hausswolff, will restore the ashes to the memorial site and apologize for his actions. If he does not do this himself, no one in Sweden will, since the Swedish authorities have declined to pursue the matter. Once again, the liberal-minded regime has dropped the ball. And worse, they agree with many voices in the talkbacks to press reports that these ashes are only meaningless matter. When the Swedish authorities did this they accepted the Nazi proposition that a heap of ash is only an insignificant heap of ash, even if those ashes are the remains of human lives. Shame on all of them.

Chanah Shapira

Protest Jewish Remains as Sick "Art"

2012-12-09T15:13:00.001+02:00

Here's a snippet from the Daily Telegraph piece on the stolen ashes from Maidanek now on display as "art":

Von Hausswolff: Sick photo: TopNews

-"...Salomon Schulman, a leading voice in Sweden's Jewish community who lost many relatives to the Holocaust, has condemned the painting as' revolting'.

-'Who knows,' he wrote in a letter to a local newspaper. "Maybe some of the ashes originated from my relatives. No one knows where they were deported: all my mother's siblings and their children, and my grandparents.

-'I will never go to this gallery and it as view the desecration of Jewish bodies,' he added. 'I am sickened by his work and obsession with necrophilia.'"

Shulman is correct in describing this as revolting. Once again, it's important to note that the artist collected these ashes himself, taking human remains as a personal souvenir of his visit to Majdanek. For many of us, the photos and memories we take away are sufficient to remind us of the Nazi horrors, but for this Swedish artist, the only thing that would do was a handful of Jew-ashes. Having been to Majdanek myself, I can only speculate as to how von Hausswolff managed to collect his souvenir. Scraping around in the crematoria? Jumping into the giant ash-pile memorial?

It's not surprising that while the remains were stolen in 1989, von Hausswolff waited until now to display this macabre insult. Lately it seems that the point of "art" seems to be to make not just plain junk, but really offensive junk with some sort of political slant. Note that while many in the art world jumped to defend Serrano's "Piss Christ", there was a either derision or stupefaction when Glenn Beck spoofed it by putting a bobblehead Obama in a jar of yellow-tinted water.

Where the climate is ripe for sacrilege, but the personality-culters are hard at work, it's time to worry.

Feel free to challenge gallery-owner Martin Bryder's assertion that you should see von Hausswolff's "art" before you judge it:

Gallery contact info: + 46 70-3805017 or martin@martinbrydergallery.se

Chanah Shapira

EJC Warns of Danger to Sweden's Jews

2012-12-06T16:56:00.003+02:00


Also: Swedish artist used stolen human ashes for "art"

Continuing Attacks on Malmö Jewry

The EJC's president, Dr. Moshe Kantor has declared that the Malmö Jewish community is "dying of 'a thousand cuts.'" The EJC (and Arutz Sheva) report on the worsening situation in Sweden for Jews and the particular danger for Malmo's Jews. In recent days, two Jewish women were robbed of Jewish items and swastikas were were painted on their doors. The harassment continued over three days--swastikas were repainted on the second day and garbage hurled at the doors on the third. Police were called several times, but in Mayor Reepalu's town there isn't much deterrence, apparently:

-"The situation is intolerable for Jews in Malmo, and every week we hear of another attack,” said EJC President Dr. Moshe Kantor....
-"The attacks against Jews should be seen in their entirety and there is a concerted attempt to rid certain areas in Sweden, if not the whole country, of Jews,”

The EJC report also noted:
-"The incident came on the heels of an attack on a synagogue in Malmo, a vicious attack on a rabbi in the street and several assaults carried out against the Jewish community in the last couple of months, Kantor added."

While the EJC is planning to request a meeting with the Prime Minister on the subject, we find it hard to believe that any significant action will result. As a note, The Local did not cover the attack--perhaps a sign that the official media generally prefers to sweep the items under the rug.

Note on Swedish "Kultur": Currently on display in a gallery in Lund is a picture which was created using human ashes stolen from the Majdanek Nazi death camp. (Blogpost photo shows ash mound memorial at Majdanek). Regardless of how the artist and gallery choose to spin this opus, the theft of human remains, use for a work to be sold for personal use or gain, and the public display of such on object are totally unconscionable. The artist and gallery must apologize and hand over the remains for respectful burial.

Chanah Shapira

One Ship, Many Kippot

2012-09-04T09:42:00.000+03:00

Controversial headgear

Today's Jerusalem Post has a tidy overview of the current situation in Sweden. Israel is about to be pestered again by so-called human rights activists of the Swedish Ship to Gaza movement supporting the totalitarian Islamist Hamas regime. Meanwhile Jews and others in Sweden are gathering in public wearing kippot--that is visibly appearing as Jews--in order to protest the ongoing anti-Semitic climate that makes it dangerous for individual Jews to appear as Jews on the streets in Sweden.

Wear a kippa, but only with police protection

By ILYA MEYER

Sweden is haunted by its uneasy relationship with Israel. Not just Israel, but everything Israeli, Zionist and Jewish.

Sweden is a remarkable country. In many ways the envy of Europe, not least for one of its most famous sons Raoul Wallenberg, its vaunted social welfare program and its industrial successes of the recent past, yet haunted by the murders of its prime minister Olof Palme and foreign minister Anna Lindh.

And by its uneasy relationship with Israel. Not just Israel, but everything Israeli, Zionist and Jewish.

Soon to arrive off the coast of Israel is the Estelle, a small Swedish vessel that is part of a publicly-funded “Ship to Gaza” propaganda exercise. Although it claims to be carrying “humanitarian aid” for the people of Gaza, what it is really carrying is a crew of human-rights saboteurs intent on vilifying the Jewish state and supporting Hamas.

While the Estelle is on its way from Sweden to the hotbed of terrorism that is the Hamas-led Gaza Strip, here in Sweden the nation continues to contend every day with the climate that spawns “Ship to Gaza”: widespread anti-Semitism in Sweden’s third-largest city, Malmö, media animosity toward Israel that easily spills over into tacit anti-Semitism, and political fear of a sizable Islamist minority following decades of immigration from strife-torn Middle East countries.

Sweden is a country whose Jews are largely invisible. Jews have been living here for more than 250 years and number about 20,000 souls. But showing one’s Jewishness in a public place is fraught with danger. Sweden is a society whose well-established, thoroughly integrated and officially recognized Jewish minority is cowed into invisibility.

Article in full here.

Bus Bomber is Swedish National

2012-07-20T14:54:00.003+03:00

Tundra Tabloids is reporting that the terrorist responsible for Wednesday's lethal bus bombing in Bulgaria which left seven dead and scores injured, was a Swedish national:

-"Mehdi-Mohammed Ghezali was released from GITMO on the condition that the Swedish authorities would keep track of his activities to U.S. authorities. Now six Israeli dead bear the price of the Swedes’ ineptness and stupidity for demanding the release of the now dead terrorist. Sweden does in fact bear some responsibility for what happened in Bulgaria, the Swedes pressured the then Bush administration for his release, in spite of all the risks that would bring."

Full story and videos, including Ghezali at the airport (pre-blast) here.

Hannah Rosenthal Soon Winging Her Way to Reepalu

2012-04-17T15:00:00.001+03:00

Agenda first, Jews last? photo: Wiki

Under the title "U.S. Sends Anti-Israel Advisor to Anti-Semitic Sweden", Soeren Kern of the Gateway Institute writes that the controversial Rosenfeld will be meeting soon with Malmö's Social Democrat mayor, Ilmar Reepalu.
Rosenthal, who comes to her White House anti-Semitism advisor post via the George Soros-funded JStreet pressure group, has been criticized for anti-Israel stances including links to BDS groups. Rosenthal also failed to take a firm stance against Lithuania for its revisionist spinning of its WWII Nazi collaborators as equally abused victims. Apropos to our topic, Rosenthal has spoken out against purported "Islamophobia" while ignoring the Muslim role in the rising tide of anti-Semitic hate crime in Europe. Kern writes:

--"Rosenthal now wants to travel to Sweden to find out what Reepalu is doing to combat intolerance in Malmö. Since both share similar perspectives on the root cause of anti-Jewish hate crime in Europe, namely Jewish support for Israel, Rosenthal and Reepalu can be expected to downplay the severity of anti-Semitism in Sweden and focus their attention on Islamophobia instead."

Looks like Rosenthal's meeting with Reepalu will only serve as a handy campaign photo-op for Obama as he looks to solidify the liberal Jewish vote, while doing nothing to aid Malmö's Jewish community. This is a real shame since Reepalu's Social Democrat party merely has shrugged off Reepalu's latest anti-Semitic volley of accusations instead of demanding that he step down. In the meantime, Kern reports that 30 Jewish families have left Malmö due to increasing hate crime.

By Chanah Shapira

Muslin Immigrants Spike Anti-Semitic Poll Results

2012-04-17T14:17:00.004+03:00

The Kurdish-Swedish Super-Economy blog has an interesting post as a follow-up to Pauling Neuding's recent round of articles on anti-Semitism. Neuding was tarred with a racist label for pointing out the Muslim identity of perpetrators of anti-Semitic hate crime. Super-Economy looks at stats on rates of anti-Semitism in Sweden with figures for immigrants and sees that one and one, do indeed make two. Here's the post:

The "Mystery" of rising Antisemitism in Malmö

Anti-Semitism has risen in Malmö, including attacks on the tiny Jewish community, and reports that some are leaving the city.

Jewish-Swedish Paulina Neuding writes about this in the Jerusalem Post, attributing the phenomenon to the rise of the Muslim population share. The Swedish left is outraged, and is denouncing Neuding as a racist. But whats racist about it?

In 2005 the Social Democratic government conducted a comprehensive survey of Antisemitism in Sweden. They use an index to measure Antisemitism, asking questions such as “Jews have too much influence in the world today”. They found that the prevalence of Antisemitic views was indeed far higher among Muslims:

“antisemitiska uppfattningar och ambivalenta attityder till judar är jämförelsevis mer utbredda bland muslimer än bland kristna och icke- religiösa. Bland vuxna hyser 39 procent av dem som betecknar sig som muslimer en systematisk antisemitisk inställning jämfört med 5 procent totalt [3 procent bland etniska svenskar].”

["Anti-Semitic views and ambivalent attitudes toward Jews are relatively more prevalent among Muslims than among Christians and non-religious. Among adults harboring 39 percent of those who describe themselves as Muslims, a systematic anti-Semitic attitude, compared with 5 percent in total [3 percent among ethnic Swedes]. " note: translation via Google, Chanah]

For example, 7 percent of Swedish adults agree with the conspiracy theory that Jews were behind 9/11, compared 36 percent of Swedish Muslims. Only about 17 percent of Muslims immigrants in Sweden scored "low" on the Antisemitism index, whereas two thirds of native Swedes scored low. This is the same conclusion in all surveys of European Antisemitism I have seen: it is substantially higher among Muslim immigrants. An example is this study co-authored by a Yale university scholar. On average, Muslims are 8 times more likely to have Antisemitic views.

Full story here.

Politically Correct Blood Libel

2012-04-17T13:59:00.000+03:00

Tundra Tabloids recently reported that a Swedish website is now hosting a Chechen website which was promoting the blood libel myth in time for the Passover holiday.

Apparently it started as a joke in very poor taste on an Israeli basketball player's Facebook page and was picked up as "Gospel" (or would that be Koran?) on a Chechen website. Not funny, not nice. And these things multiply on humourless jihadi networks...

Full story here.

Malmö's "Damn Jew" Problem

2012-04-09T15:41:00.001+03:00

This is another good piece from Paulina Neuding which appears in Tablet. While giving a current picture of life for Jews in Sweden, Neuding points to the thought processes which guide Sweden's ruling elites. It's not a far jump from wrongheadedness to ignoring reality when it contradicts operative theory. While even the Local ran a story prematurely predicting Mayor Reepalu's demise, in the end his Social Democrat party made sympathetic noises to the Jewish community leadership, but ultimately backed him up. Here's why:

Sweden’s ‘Damn Jew’ Problem

Wearing a yarmulke is no longer safe in the city of Malmö. The mayor blames the Jews, while other Swedish politicians point to ‘social inequality.’

It’s true—Jews aren’t the only residents of Malmö with safety concerns. Malmö’s high rates of crime have earned the city the moniker “Sweden’s Chicago.” In 2011 and early 2012, several people were killed in the city in what are believed to be gang shootings. When a teenage boy was shot dead on New Year’s Eve, more than a thousand people took to the streets to protest against the violence under the slogan “Enough, damn it.”
High crime rates, especially among certain immigrant communities, have caused deep anxiety for the people of Malmö—and yet politicians and pundits are reluctant to discuss the issue, partly out of a genuine fear of stirring up racism and Islamophobia. When I met with Ask in 2009, for example, I asked her whether crime among immigrants in Sweden caused her to worry. She would not hear of it. “What we in fact can see, however, is that many victims of crime are immigrants,” she told me. “And that worries me.”

Full article here.

Neuding: Europe Must Change Policy and Perceptions

2012-03-30T14:17:00.002+03:00

Neuding: Seeing things as they are

As we have written here recently, violent hate crimes in France are a reflection of both failed immigration policies and a failure to defend citizens against criminal and terror elements. In a blog post published today, Paulina Neuding of Neo extracts conclusions from both the Islamically-motivated Toulouse attacks and her interview with Malmö Mayor Ilmar Reepalu in which he paradoxically accused Malmö's threatened Jewish community of spreading anti-Muslim hatred.

Neuding points out the European fallacy of simplistically equating the contentions of Muslim and Jewish groups, misplaced desire to be "even-handed" even where no equivalency exists. Accordingly, Swedish authorities, whether on the municipal level (Reepalu)or the international level (Bildt) are unwilling to change their policy approach to immigration, integration, and control of dangerous elements. Neuding has a hard look at possible scenarios and solutions in her article, ominously titled "Dark Continent":

"...we are, unfortunately, increasingly well acquainted with this imported anti-Semitism, which is proving to be extremely difficult for European societies to confront. No one wants to blame or stigmatize another minority for anti-Semitic hate crimes, but Europe’s Jews are finding themselves in an increasingly difficult situation.

"Europeans often choose to avoid the problem by viewing it as a conflict between two groups, with responsibility falling equally on both sides. When I asked Malmö’s mayor, Ilmar Reepalu, about the threats against Malmö’s Jews, he claimed that the city’s Jewish community was being “infiltrated” by the Sweden Democrats – an anti-immigration party with roots in the Swedish neo-Nazi movement – with the implication that Malmö’s Jews were on an equal footing with the anti-Semites persecuting them.

"Reepalu had to retract his claim as soon as the interview was published. Yet he acted on the popular notion that anti-Semitic attacks by Arab youths in Europe are part of a cycle of reciprocal violence that yields a kind of moral equivalence."

Full article here.

By Chanah Shapira

Bildt on Iran

2012-03-29T09:59:00.001+02:00

Sometimes the title of an article is a red flag warning that the author has tunnel vision, and you are not going to get the whole picture. It's probably also a sign that what you don't get could be pretty significant. Last week Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt (Moderate Party) co-authored a New York times op-ed with Finnish FM Erkki Tuomioja. The title was "The Only Option on Iran". Actually, if you have only one choice, it's not really an "option". What Bildt posits is that doing nothing about the Iranian nuclear weapons program, is a better "option" than preventing Iran from advancing along its ambition to be a nuclear power, which is in fact the other option.

The FMs write:

-"We are deeply concerned about all the loose talk regarding a possible military attack on Iran because of the growing uncertainty over parts of its nuclear program.

"Not only would such an attack be a clear violation of the charter of the United Nations. It could have severely negative repercussions across the region and be counterproductive to the very objectives it would seek to achieve.

"It is difficult to see a single action more likely to drive Iran into taking the final decision to acquire nuclear weapons than an attack on the country. And once such a decision was made, it would only be a matter of time before a nuclear-armed Iran became a reality."

The key whitewashing and wishing are set out in this introduction. While it is certain that the Iranians are openly enriching uranium and building and test-firing long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, this is fluffed over by the authors as "uncertainty over parts of its nuclear program".

Bildt and his Finnish colleague conveniently leave out any mention of Israel in the article. Yet continued calls by Iran's leaders to wipe out Israel constitute incitement to genocide which is a clear violation of the U.N. charter, and demands condemnation. Failing to point out the regime's stated raison d'etre of its nuclear ambitions is a dishonest omission.

Thirdly, claiming that an atack on Iran would be the cause of Iran actually producing weapons, and insistence on the pursuit of diplomacy is wishful and dangerous thinking. For Israel and the Western world, actively containing the Iranian nuclear weapons program is an existential necessity and a means to maintain stability in the Middle East. The Saudis, fearing Iran's ambitions have called on the West to "cut off the head of the snake".

Wake up Bildt. The locals know better what needs to be done.

By Chanah Shapira

Reepalu Refuses to "Normalize" Relations with Malmö's Jews

2012-03-27T23:04:00.001+02:00

Anyone who has followed the series of anti-Semitic insults which Malmö's Mayor Ilmar Reepalu (Social Democrat) flings out from time to time will not be surprised at his response to the Jewish community. Following his standard pattern, Reepalu has again added insult to injury by telling the Swedish national wire service TT that he has given up on relations with the Jewish community.
According to an article posted on Swedish website Scanomark:

-"Ilmar Reepalu on his part told the Swedish news network, TT that he has never been anti-Semitic. But that he will not try to do something to normalize relations with Jews.
'No, what can I do? They will not listen.'"

Listen to what? More insults? More accusations? Actually, the Jewish community has heard plenty from Reepalu, but what they'd like to hear is an apology and a plan of action for better security.

While the Social Dems' leader Stefan Löfven has invited the Jewish community leadership to meet with the party in early April, this is still a far cry from publicly asking Reepalu to step down.

By Chanah Shapira

Reepalu Fiasco: Social Democrats' Failed Leadership

2012-03-27T11:51:00.000+02:00

Social Dems: Blaming the Jews

There was a time when the Social Democratic Party of Sweden was a powerful force for change, striving for a society based on equality, a society where everyone was equally welcome, regardless of gender, age, religion, nationality or ethnicity.

That was a long time ago.

With the far-right movements of Sweden being small and weak, it seems that members of the political Left have taken it upon themselves to carry on the long and proud European tradition of anti-Semitism. Arguably the greatest champion for hatred of Jews in Sweden is Ilmar Reepalu, the Social Democratic mayor of Sweden's third largest city, Malmö.

It all began three years ago, during Operation: Cast Lead. A group of Jewish residents of Malmö had gathered to express their heartfelt support for all the victims of the war, be they Jewish, Arabic, or otherwise. The rally was soon attacked by a violent mob of Islamist extremists, who threw bottles and fired rockets into the crowd. Reepalu, when asked to comment on this, blamed the Jewish residents of Malmö, saying that they should have publicly denounced the state of Israel. If they had done so, Reepalu reasoned, then they wouldn't have been attacked. He went on to say that Malmö ”accepts neither Zionism nor anti-Semitism”.

Now, there is obviously a problem with the above statement. Anti-Semitism is a racist ideology, claiming that Jews are inferior or evil for no other reason than because we are Jews. Zionism, on the other hand, is the belief that Jews, as a people, have the right of self-determination, as well as pride in the shared cultural heritage of the Jewish people. Saying that this is as bad as hating someone simply for being born by the ”wrong” parents is odd, to say the least. However, so far, this can be chalked up to ignorance. Annoying, certainly. Infuriating, sure. But not racist. The claim that Swedish Jews should denounce Israel in order to avoid being attacked in broad daylight is worse, but one can just assume that the man is simply that dense.

However, it doesn't end there.

When confronted by various Jewish groups and organizations, Reepalu complained to the media that there were people out to get him, hinting at dark, shadowy organizations with vast power.

Recognize that line of reasoning from somewhere?

This is an accusation he has repeated a number of times, apparently refusing to accept that the source of the steady stream of criticism against him from Swedish Jews, Liberals, and sane Leftists (of which there are actually quite a few, as it turns out) is his own repeated slandering of Sweden's Jews. When the Simon Wiesenthal Center wrote to the Swedish Minister of Justice about the persecution of minorities in Malmö, pointing out the situation for Africans and Roma in particular, Reepalu, instead of accepting responsibility, accused the Center of trying to divert attention from Israel and its' ”violations of human rights”.

In his attempts to slander Sweden's Jews, he recently tried to connect them with the anti-immigration Sweden Democratic Party, a party which is strongly disliked among a majority of Swedes, claiming that members of the Party had ”infiltrated the Jewish community in order to spread their hatred of Moslems”. The truth is the opposite; the Sweden Democrats have given up all hope for Sweden's Jews, claiming that they are simply too naïve to see the threat immigration poses to them. One high-ranking party official is from a Jewish background, and he wants to ban circumcision and kosher meat.

However, the straw that finally broke the camel's back was when, in a radio interview, Reepalu recently accused the Jews of Malmö of being an elitist group receiving preferrential treatment, percieving themselves as being worth more than other groups. He also claimed that the Jews are in control of the media, and that was why he was so heavily criticized whenever he made an anti-Semitic comment.

These are but a few examples, hastily thrown together during a short break from studying. Reepalu has established a pattern, one which he refuses to deviate from: if Jews are attacked, blame the Jews. If Jews are involved, in any way whatsoever, blame the Jews. If no Jews are involved, blame the Jews. It is painfully obvious that Reepalu is a pure anti-Semite, and his continued position as leader of a mayor Swedish city is nothing short of a disgrace.

By Adam Eberhag

Malmö Mayor Reepalu Slurs Jews Again

2012-03-25T19:25:00.001+02:00

Reepalu: Pathetic lies and accusations

Reepalu Attempted to Paint Malmö's Beleaguered Jewish Community as a Nest of Bigots

In an intervew in NEO which was published on Thursday, Ilmar Reepalu (Social Democrat) once again took aim at the Jewish community. This time Reepalu (who has blamed Malmö's Jews for anti-Semitic attacks directed against them) falsely claimed that the Jewish community has been "infiltrated" by the Sweden Democrats Party, alleging that Sweden Democrat MP Kent Ekeroth has been active in the Jewish community. Reepalu then accused SD elements as being responsible for inciting "anti-Muslim hatred" in the Jewish community.

Understandably, a brouhaha broke out in the media and Reepalu then backtracked in Dagens Nyheter, claiming that he misinterpreted Ekeroth's presence at a community meeting. After accusing the Jews of hate-mongering, that kind of "oops!" remark was a pathetic excuse.

Even the generally optimistic Jewish community leader Lena Posner Körösi lashed out at Reepalu in the Christian daily Världen idag. Pulling no punches, she called him an anti-Semite. The Jewish community also berated Reepalu in a letter to the Social Democrat Party, which all key members of the community signed. The community consensus is that Reepalu has lost all remaining shreds of credibility.

In the NEO interview, journalist Paulina Neuding, asked Reepalu about ongoing issues of criminality prevalent in the immigrant community in Malmö. One victim of criminal brutality was her own 84-year-old grandmother who was knocked to the ground by a gang of thugs. In short, Reepalu's response was to claim credit for a supposed vast improvement in community relations, and then to accuse the Jewish community of propagating hatred. By sticking a Sweden Democrat label on the Jewish community, Reepalu attempted to paint the Jews as all a pile of far-right hate-mongerers.

As Rabbi Abraham Cooper points out in a Jerusalem Post article, Reepalu's remarks were both contemptible and added to the tension in Malmö. Coming on the heels of the despicable murders in Toulouse last week, Reepalu's comments should be denounced by the Social Democrats, Cooper added.

Blaming the Jews for anti-Semitism is a not-so-subtle variety of inversion, where the Jews are accused of being the "Nazis". It is time for Malmö and the Social Democrats to ask Ilmar Reepalu to get another job, and preferably one where he has to keep his nasty mouth shut.

By Chanah Shapira

France and Sweden: Security Parallels

2012-03-23T16:37:00.000+02:00

In an article entitled "Preventing the next attack: How does a community protect itself from unseen assailants?"
Anshel Pfeffer of Haaretz offers some thoughts about European Jewry and the security issues they are facing. A key component is governmental ongoing denial of Muslim anti-Semitism.

-"One of the many contradictory remarks made by French Interior Minister Claude Gueant during the protracted saga of the shootings and siege in southwest France this week was that the terrorist Mohamed Merah 'wanted to kill another soldier, but did not find anyone so he turned to the Jewish school and killed the teacher and three children.'

"It reminded me of the old joke about the man walking up a street in Northern Ireland during the time of the Troubles. Someone sticks a gun in his back and demands 'are you Protestant or Catholic?'

"It's OK" answers the man with a sigh of relief, 'I'm Jewish.'

"To which the gunman responds, 'I must be the luckiest Palestinian in Belfast tonight.'

"Perhaps I should apologize for writing jokes during the week of the worst anti-Semitic attack in Western Europe for nearly three decades, but having seen the Ozar Hatorah high school in Toulouse this week and after interviewing some of the eye-witnesses to the attack, the idea that Merah just turned up at the school on the off chance and killed a rabbi and three young children is so ridiculous as to be laughable...There is no way that such an attack could have been carried out unless Mareh scouted out the target in advance, observing it at length to find the most advantageous timing for his purpose."

The article in full is available here.

Following Murders in France, Swedish Jews Upgrade Security

2012-03-20T20:44:00.001+02:00

Miriam Monsonego ז''ל age 8, one victim of Toulouse murderer

Tension has spread in Europe following the Toulouse shootings at a Jewish school which left one teacher, his two small boys and the principal's daughter dead. Lena Posner-Koeroesi, the head of the Official Council of Swedish Jewish Communities, spoke with the Svenska Dagbladet daily regarding security measures now in effect for Jewish institutions in Sweden.

According to Posner-Koeroesi, the community has tightened security at Jewish institutions across Sweden, and especially at schools to protect children learning in Jewish frameworks:

-"Staff and Directors have issued information to parents and answered questions. We're pretty well prepared and have a high awareness of the crisis, so we're pretty well prepared for various scenarios. There are procedures for how to go out and inform if other measures are necessary others."

A throwaway line in the article noted that the Assembly has instituted an action which is supposed to boost security for the Jews in Sweden.

It appears from this report that the Jewish community itself is taking responsibility for the security increase. Certainly neither this report, nor that in the Local offers any comment made by the Swedish government regarding increased security assistance for the Jewish Community.

Readers may recall that monies were allocated from the 2012 national budget to bolster security at Jewish communal facilities. Why is this not mentioned?

By Chanah Shapira

Christian Art Exhibit Featured "Jewish Rats"

2012-03-19T17:15:00.000+02:00

A lot like Die Stuermer... photo:Bilda

A recent art exhibit stirred controversy as it included a poster showing three rats nibbling away the West Bank. One rat has an assault rifle on his back The poster was rapidly construed as an anti-Semitic slur showing the Israelis/Jews as vermin. In fact it would be hard to construe it any other way. As Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center noted in the JPost:

-"The use of animalization in caricatures was a favorite propaganda tactic of Nazis, later used by Soviet and Arab cartoonists to dehumanize Jews."

The Local quotes a far-right Swedish group's comment on the poster:

- "Swedish artists grasped that Jews were violent pests'".

Bilda, the exhibit's organizer, which is a state-funded Christian organization has published a semi-apology, in which they express their regrets for creating an internet brouhaha and straying from their mission to be even-handed and inoffensive:

-"Studieförbundet Bilda has made a mistake, and we want to apologise for this.

-"There are reasons to criticise how Bilda marketed Stefan Sjöblom’s and Larz Lindqvist's exhibition 'The holy land – the holey country'. We should have realized how wrong a picture of cheese and mice could lead people’s thoughts, and how, for example, could be exploited in anti-Semitic circles. The intention of this image was to describe how all sides in a conflict are losers." Ja.

And here's another non-apologetic line:

-"We are aware that we are always at risk in one way or another, to get mixed up in the Middle East conflict."

This was originally penned in Swedish, so a better translation would perhaps have been "All those people are so touchy, and this time we really stepped in it through no fault of our own."

Despite the final lines in which the the group "evenhandedly" apologizes to "everyone" they offended, at no point in their public apology does Bilda actually apologize to Jews for the anti-Semitic character of the poster. Their spokesman Magnus Stenberg has tried to describe as depicting as "Israelis or Palestinian leaders". Blaming all Israelis, but only Palestinian leadership for the Arab-Israeli conflict only throws more fat in the fire.

By Chanah Shapira

Gaza According to Aftonbladet: Omissions, etc.

2012-03-15T22:48:00.000+02:00

Gaza rocket hits Eshkol (Ynet)

Today's report currently up on Aftonbladet's website claims the truce between Israel and Gaza is fragile but still holding with barely any firing at Israel from Gaza:

-"A fragile cease-fire has virtually stopped four days of violence in and around the Gaza Strip...The Air Force attacked a farm outside the city of Gaza and an undeveloped area outside the Khan Yunis in the south. None of the attacks hurt anyone, said the Palestinians. According to Israeli military raids were in response to a Palestinian rocket fired at the city of Beer Sheba."

Note that the truce seems to indicate that the violence was caused by Israeli attacks on Gaza, with no mention of the barrage of rockets that Gaza fired at Israel's civilian population. A better and truer account is provided by Ynet:

-"...several rockets were fired at western Negev communities from the Strip.

"Gaza terrorists fired a Grad rocket at Ashdod, which was intercepted by a nearby Iron Dome battery. Moments later Qassam rockets hit open areas in Eshkol Regional Council and the outskirts of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council.

"The IDF refrained from targeting any terror hubs in the Strip Thursday, following a request from Egypt to temper its response in order "not to lose proportions" and allow the ceasefire time to take effect."

Ynet also notes that both today and tomorrow Israeli schoolkids are home from school. Most kids and their parents have better access to bomb shelters at home--short warning times and limited shelter space at schools make it unsafe to try to shepherd large numbers of kids down into shelters with less than a minute's warning.

"Following the sporadic rocket fire and mounting security concerns, several municipalities, including Ashdod, Ashkelon, Beersheba, Ofakim and Gan Yavne announced that they intend to suspend Friday's school day."

Note that the range of fire has greatly expanded with the use of weapons such as Grad missiles and upgraded Kassam rockets. So, despite Aftonbladet's breezy description of how Israelis are still "raiding" and Palestinians are barely shooting anything, the truth is that Israeli life in the South is still disrupted by continuing strikes targeting even more Israeli civilians.

By Chanah Shapira

Swedish Court Denies Legality of Sharia Minor Marriage

2012-03-15T22:01:00.000+02:00

Not in Sweden (photo: UNICEF)

In a refreshing turn of events, the Local reports that a Swedish court overturned a previous decision to accept as legal the marriage of an immigrant woman who was underage at the time of the marriage. The unnamed woman was married in Hebron in the West Bank before she was 18. A 2004 Swedish law strikes down the legality of marriages contracted abroad by minors. It's a sign that the law designed to prevent child marriage has some teeth:

A Swedish court has ruled that a 17-year-old girl's marriage by a Sharia court in the West Bank is invalid in Sweden, overturning a lower court's decision.

The girl, who is now 19-years-old, was married in June 2010 in a Sharia court located in the West Bank town of Hebron, ten days before her 18th birthday, according to Swedish court documents.

When she and her husband moved to Sweden they sought to have their marriage registered with the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket).

But the agency denied the couple's application, arguing the marriage couldn't be registered in Sweden because the woman hadn't turned 18 at the time of the wedding.

In 2004, a change to Swedish law meant to prevent child marriages made marriage under the age of 18 illegal, even if the marriage was entered into abroad.

Full story here.

Swedish Reporting Bias: Gaza

2012-03-13T18:19:00.000+02:00

If you line up two of today's reports on the recent bang-boom in Southern Israel and Gaza, you get—surprise!—a tidy example of how Aftonbladet (of the Swedish government-subsidized media) slants the news for gullible Swedes. For comparison, I have used the left-leaning Israeli daily, the Haaretz.


IDF knocks out missiles heading for Israeli civilians (Reuters)

Aftonbladet headline:

Truce in Gaza [Wasn’t that between Gaza and Israel?]

At least 25 people have died in weekend attacks

Haaretz headline:

Some 200 rockets hit Israel since start of latest Gaza escalation [Events on the other side of the border explain why a truce has to be two-sided]

Aftonbladet: Last Friday’s rocket fire from Gaza against Israel launched the latest clash. [Actually, Israel took out Islamic Jihad leadership due to good intel that another major cross border terror attack was imminent.]

The Israelis then responded with violent air raids [note that firing hundreds of rockets at Israeli civilians is not termed “violent”], which include Zuheir al-Quessi, leader of the Palestinian People's Resistance Committees (PRC), who was killed when his car was blown to pieces. [Graphic, but see major terror threat, above.]

Haaretz: The [IDF] chief of staff [Benny Gantz]said there is still a danger that a terror cell can carry out a "strategic" attack against Israel, adding that, "all of Israel is under a potential threat."

Aftonbladet: Five civilians killed All in all, at least 25 people have died in the four days of clashes, five civilians.

Haaretz: 26 Palestinians were killed as a result of IAF strikes on Gaza. Out of these 22 were militants and 4 were civilians who were in the area of IAF strikes, but were not involved in the rocket fire.

Analysis: Wow! In this operation the terrorist-to-civilian kill ratio for the Israeli Defense Forces is 85%. (For an interesting look at these stats for the U.S. military have a look here.) But the Gaza rockets purposely target Israeli civilians. That wasn’t in the Aftonbladet article. Neither was the fact that the IDF and the Israeli government provide defensive measures for civilians. These include the Iron Dome anti-missile system, and bomb shelters. On the other hand, as Gantz pointed out , Gaza’s “civilian deaths were the result of Gaza militants operating in civilian areas.”

When Swedish media organs give only half a story, that’s not news, that’s propaganda.

By Chanah Shapira