Suzan Quitaz
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, May 26, 2024
‘The imported form of antisemitism we are witnessing in Sweden is not about criticizing the Israeli government, nor is it about a call for peace, a call to return the hostages, or finding solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Instead, it’s about “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a call for the elimination of Israel and the denial of the Jews to exist as people in their own homeland.”
We all saw the thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathering in the Swedish city of Malmö to protest against Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. The media claimed peaceful protests, but that is far from the truth. Following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacres, Swedish cities, especially Malmö, have seen a vast storm of vile hatred against Israel and against the Jews of Sweden. They are a small minority of not more than 18,000 who have endured an avalanche of Jew-hatred at the hands of Islamist mobs and their far-left supporters.
On May 2, 2024, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (BRA) released a 17-page detailed report on the rise of antisemitic hate crimes, stating that between October 7 and December 31, 2023, Sweden saw five-time folds of antisemitic incidents compared to the same period a year earlier. Jon Lundgren, an investigator at BRA, said in a press statement released on May 2, “These include antisemitic placards and statements in connection with demonstrations, but also threats and offenses against individuals who, based on their Jewish background, have been blamed for Israel’s actions in Gaza.”
Lundgren added that around 20% of incidents registered by the Swedish police contained “some form of reference to the Hamas attack on October 7. Of the incidents, 39 percent of the incidents fell under the category of “incitement against an ethnic group” and 28 percent were categorized as “vandalism.” Most of the crimes of Jew-hatred crimes were recorded in the police’s southern region, which is where the city of Malmö is located.
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