{"id":33825,"date":"2016-01-09T18:05:11","date_gmt":"2016-01-09T16:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=33825"},"modified":"2016-01-05T15:03:26","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T13:03:26","slug":"09-05-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=33825","title":{"rendered":"Facing death chants and hate crimes, Sweden\u2019s Jews live in a climate of fear"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Facing death chants and hate crimes, Sweden\u2019s Jews live in a climate of fear<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Josefin Dolsten<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u2018A lot of Jews are scared\u2019 in this Nordic community of 15,000, as lines blur between criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Illustrative
\nIllustrative photo of a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 20, 2009. (Miriam Alster<\/strong>\/Flash90)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

On a chilly fall day, passersby on a central street in Sweden\u2019s third largest city, Malm\u00f6, were greeted with chants in Arabic urging the killing of Jews.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDeath to the Jews,\u2019 and \u2018More stabbings,\u2019 the protesters screamed,\u201d recalls Jehoshua Kaufman, head of communications for Malm\u00f6\u2019s Jewish community. The protesters at the October pro-Palestinian rally were referring to the near-daily stabbings of Jews by Arab assailants over the past couple of months in Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Swedish politicians, including two parliament members, were present at the protest. However, after Israel\u2019s ambassador to Sweden, Isaac Bachman, condemned the event, they distanced themselves, claiming they had not understood the meaning of the Arabic slogans.
\n<\/span>Kaufman questions how such an event had been permitted to take place, and why the politicians had not demanded a translation of the chants.
\n<\/span>\u201cThe politicians could have left and said, \u2018We don\u2019t know what you are saying, but we won\u2019t participate unless we know what you are saying,\u2019\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A
\nA pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protest in Gothenburg, Sweden in November 2015. The signs in Swedish read ‘Boycott Israel.’ (Marianne Pleen Schreiber)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

These types of incidents, where anti-Israel rhetoric turns violently anti-Semitic, have created a climate of fear for Sweden\u2019s small Jewish community, which numbers 15,000. Hate crimes against Jews are on the rise, with 2014 seeing a 38 percent increase in reported anti-Semitic incidents from the previous year, according to a report by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, a lot of Jews in Sweden are scared. Parents are scared to drop off their kids at the Jewish preschool,\u201d says Johanna Schreiber, a prominent Jewish journalist who lives in the country\u2019s capital, Stockholm. \u201cPeople of all ages are scared of going to synagogue, there are many people who are taking off their Stars of David because they are too scared to wear it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Johanna Schreiber (Anna J\u00e4rphammar)<\/span>
\n\"Johanna<\/p>\n

Last month Schreiber received hateful comments and was targeted for identity theft after publishing an article where she called out political groups for not inviting Jewish organizations to ceremonies across Sweden commemorating Kristallnacht, or \u201cThe Night of Broken Glass,\u201d when violent anti-Jewish pogroms erupted throughout Nazi Germany and Austria in November 1938.<\/span><\/p>\n

When questioned, one of the organizers claimed Jews might not feel safe at the event.<\/span><\/p>\n

Expressing public support for Israel can be dangerous, and the police do not always provide proper protection at pro-Israel events. During a 2009 rally in Malm\u00f6, organized by Kaufman, the small crowd of Israel supporters was forced to abandon the event after police were unable to stop thousands of pro-Palestinian backers from storming the barricades and running towards the group.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked whether he anticipates a similar turn of events were he to organize another rally today, Kaufman says: \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jehoshua Kaufman (Nicklas Rudfell)<\/em><\/span>
\n\"JehoshuaSuch incidents and the general climate of fear makes many Israel supporters hesitant to express their opinions publicly. Idit Margulis, an Israeli who has lived in Sweden for seven years, started thinking twice about attending pro-Israel rallies after the birth of her daughter three years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have a daughter, so I usually don\u2019t take part in demonstrations or things like that, which is something I did before I had her. I\u2019m scared that someone would hurt me when I stand there,\u201d she explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Swedish government, headed by the left-wing Social Democratic Party under Prime Minister Stefan L\u00f6fven, is known for its staunch support of the Palestinian cause and criticism of Israel. In 2014, the country became the first European Union member state to recognize the State of Palestine.<\/span><\/p>\n

More recently, Foreign Minister Margot Wallstr\u00f6m was slammed by Israel for suggesting that the motivation for last month\u2019s terrorist attacks in Paris, during which Islamist terrorists killed 130 people, stemmed from the frustration of Palestinians.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Margot Wallstrom<\/em><\/span>
\n gives a statement to media on the Paris terrorist attacks, <\/em><\/span>
\nStockholm, Sweden, November 14, 2015. <\/em><\/span>
\n(AFP\/ TT NEWS AGENCY \/ HENRIK MONTGOMERY)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sweden'sWallstr\u00f6m also suggested that Israel\u2019s response to terrorism was \u201cdisproportionate,\u201d and equated the Jewish state\u2019s killing of Palestinian attackers with \u201cextrajudicial executions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Statements such as those made by Wallstr\u00f6m have created a climate where constant criticism of Israel is the norm, and lawmakers who go against the status quo face not only political isolation, but also grave safety threats.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I say something [positive] regarding Israel I get a flood of hate mail and threats,\u201d Hanif Bali, a member of parliament for the center-right Moderate Party, the largest party in the opposition bloc, tells the Times of Israel by phone. \u201cThe senders range from Palestinian or Arab immigrants to left-wing people in general, so the dialogue is very polarized and very aggressive. It\u2019s hard to talk about the issue because you have to pay such a high price for it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hanif Bali (Fredrik Wennerlund)<\/em><\/span>
\n\"HanifBali, who is of Iranian Muslim heritage, has received countless hate mail due to his open support of Israel. In one instance he had to contact the police after receiving a death threat.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople write openly anti-Semitic things to you, like \u2018Jew lover,\u2019 and \u2018Jew swine\u2019\u2026 crude anti-Semitic insults, even though I am not even Jewish. I can only imagine what it would be like if a Jew said something on the issue,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bali believes that the fact that he is not Jewish gives him courage to voice opinions that many Jews are scared to share openly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of Jewish people who contact me and thank me for supporting Israel publicly, because they are not able to do so themselves, since then the anti-Semitism that is expressed against them is so much stronger,\u201d he adds.<\/span><\/p>\n

The government\u2019s stance on Israel is deeply ingrained in the political system, Bali believes. Pro-Palestinian groups are eligible to receive governmental funds to conduct lobbying activities, further ingraining their perspective as part of the government\u2019s official stance.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked if he could imagine a pro-Israel group getting access to such funds, he says: \u201cI think that would be very, very difficult. I cannot imagine that it could happen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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twoje uwagi, linki, wlasne artykuly, lub wiadomosci przeslij do: webmaster@reunion68.com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Facing death chants and hate crimes, Sweden\u2019s Jews live in a climate of fear Josefin Dolsten \u2018A lot of Jews are scared\u2019 in this Nordic community of 15,000, as lines blur between criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism Illustrative photo of a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 20, 2009. (Miriam Alster\/Flash90) On a chilly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33825"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33825"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33851,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33825\/revisions\/33851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}