sweden 2009

 

The number of Jews in Sweden is estimated at 18,000-20,000, representing about 0.2 percent of the total population of 9.2 million. Approximately half of all Swedish Jews reside in the largest cities of Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö.

            The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (SNCCP) reported a 57 percent increase in antisemitic hate crimes in 2009 – 250 compared to 159 in 2008 − the highest number of such crimes recorded in a single year since the organization began monitoring in 1999. It noted that while the total number of hate crimes declined in 2009 (see below), the rate of antisemitism increased (probably due to the Israeli military operation in Gaza in early 2009). The number of antisemitic incidents in Stockholm rose from 67 in 2008 to 89 in 2009; in Gothenburg, from 14 to 39; and in Malmö, from 39 to 72. According to SNCCP, 42 percent of offenses against religious groups were directed against Jews, as opposed to 33 percent against Muslims and 25 percent against Christians and others. In absolute numbers Jews were the religious group most attacked (the Muslim population is 20 times greater than the Jewish population in Sweden). Only 4 percent of the perpetrators of hate crimes against religious groups in 2009 were caught. Threats and physical violence against individual Jews were the most common type of antisemitic expression. There were 130 such incidents reported (52 percent of all antisemitic incidents), followed by 75 incidents of incitement (30 percent), 36 of vandalism (14 percent), and 9 of discrimination (4 percent).

            The rate of threats and physical violence in 2009 doubled compared to 2008. The greatest proportion occurred in Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city, which has the largest Muslim community in the country. As a result of harassment and insults in the streets, such as “bloody Jew” and “Zionist murderer,” some Jewish residents of Malmö decided to leave. Twice in January, the period of Operation Cast Lead, a Jewish cemetery in Malmö was the target of an arson attack. Another serious incident occurred in Helsingborg during that time, when a fire was started at the Jewish community center and synagogue.

            Anti-Israel sentiments are common in Swedish radical left-wing circles, and statements from left-wing politicians and intellectuals sometimes incorporate hostile anti-Zionism and even antisemitic expressions. Radical left-wing tropes include the concept of Israel as an illegitimate and artificial colonial construct based on Apartheid South Africa and sometimes, comparisons with Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. Besides various bloggers (see for instance http://jinge.se [see below], and http://lassewilhelmson.wordpress.com/), extreme left-wing papers such as Proletären (extreme left Communist Party), Arbetaren (Syndicalist Labor Union) and Flamman (independent socialist) employ such expressions.

            There were numerous instances of antisemitic sentiments on blogs and forums belonging to the radical left, the far right and Islamists as well as in newspapers and other media. Per Rehnberg, a member of the local board of the Left (formerly, Communist) Party in Helsingborg wrote two articles on his party’s local website, accusing the Jews of having destructive and disproportionate power in American as well as in Swedish politics and the economy. He also demonized Israel as a threat to the future of the world. The local party organization supported Rehnberg while the regional board removed the texts from the party’s website. Despite being re-elected to the local party board, Rehnberg was excluded from the party by the national board.

            Myths about Jewish control were spread by bloggers who claimed that people were not being told the truth about what was happening in Gaza because of "Zionist" manipulation of Swedish public debate. Veronica Palm, a member of the Swedish parliament (the Riksdag) representing Sweden's largest party the Social Democrats, quoted the lyrics "who will the chosen ones burn next?" in her blog on the situation in Gaza.

            In February, Left Party (formerly Communist Party) leader Lars Ohly listed his favorite blogs, which included Jinge, run by Jan-Inge Flücht, a fellow party member. His choice met with criticism in the media, since Jinge contains antisemitic statements such as: “If Obama hadn’t crawled before the Jewish Zionist mafia AIPAC & Co, we would never have heard of him, US policy is governed directly from Tel Aviv,” and: “The Talmud encourages the Jews to kill Christians.” Ohly was eventually forced to retract his support for Jinge.

            Text messages claiming that McDonalds and other companies had donated money to the Israeli army were widespread during Operation Cast Lead, and eventually forced McDonalds to repudiate such allegations.

            Sweden’s largest newspaper Aftonbladet published an article on August 17 by the freelance photographer Donald Boström, who accused the IDF of killing Palestinians in order to sell their organs both in Israel and abroad. The article created an outrage both in Sweden and internationally. Neither the paper nor the author retracted the claims, and Boström even claimed to be the victim of an orchestrated smear-campaign aimed at silencing his criticism of Israel. Earlier in the year, on June 4, Aftonbladet published an article referring to the deicide myth that the Jews killed Jesus.

            Some articles, even in mainstream papers such as Sydsvenska Dagbladet and Nyheter 24, described Israeli actions and the driving forces behind them as motivated by the biblical "eye for an eye." Because Israel’s war in Gaza took place close to International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27), some connected the two. The former archbishop of Sweden, K.G. Hammar, asserted that Israel’s actions made it difficult for him to honor the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. A planned memorial procession in Luleå, in northern Sweden, was also canceled by local Church representatives. The director of a play about the Holocaust based on Primo Levy’s book If This Is a Man canceled his participation in rehearsals in Helsingborg due to Israel's actions.

            Mohamed Omar is a well-known intellectual who made a name for himself emphasizing the importance of Islamic-Christian dialogue in Europe. He has published articles in many of the most respected papers and magazines in Sweden, such as Dagens Nyheter, Sydsvenska Dagbladet, Kyrkans Tidning, Axess, and was also editor-in-chief of Minaret, the leading Swedish Muslim magazine. In a piece published in the tabloid Expressen on January 9, Omar declared to the world that he was an Islamist and that he supported Hamas and Hizballah, "the Islamic resistance movements." He blamed his turn to Islamism on Israel, stating that "the latest bloodbath was quite simply too much" and described Operation Cast Lead – "the current massacre" – as "the peak of 60 years of ethnic cleansing." Omar then said that "the demonization of Muslims has been an important part of Israel's psychological warfare," since Islam is considered the only force that can oppose the American and Israeli colonial project in the Middle East.

            Omar wrote additional articles and posts on his blog during 2009 further clarifying his new worldview. His support of antisemitism, homophobia and anti-feminism has made him persona non grata in the Swedish public discourse; he has grown increasingly close to various right-wing extremist groups, and announced his intention of establishing an "anti-Zionist" party in Sweden to run in the 2010 elections.

            Infighting between various factions of neo-Nazi groups in 2009 led to a slight decrease in political activities such as demonstrations, but the level of violent incidents did not fall significantly.

               The SNCCP registered some 5,800 reports of hate crimes in 2009, a decrease of about 100 from 2008. The majority, about 4,100, had a racist or xenophobic motive. These crimes also decreased by about 100 compared to 2008. Threats were the most common form of hate crime (42 percent). Only 8 percent of hate crimes complaints lodged had led to convictions by March 2010.

            The vast majority (97 percent) were committed against minority groups. Ethnic Swedes carried out about 77 percent of hate crimes, whereas about 20 percent of the perpetrators belonged to ethnic minorities. According to the SNCCP, the distribution of perpetrators and victims was similar to that in 2008.

            According to the SNCCP report, a total of 555 complaints of hate crimes in 2009 could be connected to the white-power milieu or ideology − 140 incidents fewer than in 2008. A quarter of the hate crimes with white-power motives could be linked to a specific organization − the Folkfronten/Svenskarnas Parti (formerly, the National Socialist Party, Nationalsocialistisk Front) − which was responsible for 43 percent. The second largest organization responsible for white power hate crimes was Swedish National Resistance Movement/National Democrats – Svenska Motståndsrörelsen/Nationell Ungdom, SMR/NU) (23 percent).

            The school was the crime scene in 20 percent of cases of white power hate crimes and these were overwhelmingly racially motivated; in 8 percent of cases the target was a religious group, and in 2 percent the LGBT community.

            SMR is the most militant Swedish ultra-right extremist group, and is led by Klas Lund, one of the most notorious neo-Nazis in the country. The leader of ND, Marc Abramsson, spoke twice in the Stockholm area on June 6, 2009, Sweden's National Day. In Tyresö, he had an audience of some 100 right-wing extremists from Info 14, which describes itself as “an independent patriotic news medium,” and its network Free Nationalists (Fria Nationalister). The so-called March of the People, Folkets March, held annually in previous years on Sweden’s National Day, was cancelled in 2009 due to the aforementioned infighting between the various extremist groups.