Swedish Editorial on Anti-Semitism

Hat tip Expressen (Sweden). Translation by Fousesquawk.

Today’s online edition of Swedish newspaper, Expressen, is running a staff editorial decrying the explosion of anti-Semitism both in Sweden and the rest of Europe in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

 https://www.expressen.se/ledare/judehatet-kommer-som-ett-brev-pa-posten/

Jew-hatred comes as a letter in the mail

May 218, 2021 

Caption beneath photo: Anti-Semitism always flares up when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict intensifies.

Jew-hatred again shows its ugly mug in the tracks of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There must be zero tolerance for this abomination.

They are scenes that many never thought they would have to see in Germany again given the country’s history. In cities like Bonn, Dusseldorf, Muenster, and Gelsenkirchen last week, mobs of young men gathered outside synagogues and burned Israeli flags, threw rocks, and chanted, “shit-Jews”.

In Dusseldorf, a fire was set on top of a monument to a synagogue that was burned down during “Kristallnacht” in 1938. Similar incidents have taken place in other locations in our vicinity. In Essex in Great Britain, a rabbi was beaten recently outside his synagogue.

Also in Sweden, anti-Semitism has come to the surface in the face of fighting between Israel and Hamas. Jewish congregations in Stockholm and Gothenburg testify to growing hate against their members. Children and youths gave been verbally attacked in the schools. On social media, they have  been met with hateful comments, such as, “your parents would have been gassed.”

Journalist Negar Josephi has, in the past few days, reported on how Jew-hatred flows freely in the hyped audio sound chat room, Clubhouse. That ended with her being herself threatened with death.

It is shocking testimony, but, unfortunately, not surprising. Waves of Jew-hatred come like a letter in the mail every time the Israeli-Palestinian conflict flares up again. Depending on what happens in the Middle East, Jews in Sweden must consider things like whether to wear the Star of David or not, whether they dare go to the synagogue or not, and so on.

It is more than unacceptable. It is disgusting.

All are free to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians’ hardships- and also to give a thought to the misery that affects many in daily life under the rule of Hamas and Fatah. But there is absolutely no reason to allow this commitment to turn into hate against Jews in Sweden.

It is obvious that Sweden has failed on this point, even if we are far from alone in this. A new report from Malmö, shows how the conflict constantly spills over to daily life in school. Schools are perceived as unsafe and marked by anti-Semitic language, often normalized as a rash of jokes.

Stockholm has just decided to do a similar survey of anti-Semitism in the schools of the capital city. It is a first-rate initiative.

Schools must be a place characterized by zero tolerance for anti-Semitism. To succeed in that, teachers and school administrators must be given the tools they need in the form of knowledge and clear procedures when they encounter Jew-hatred connected to the Middle East conflict.

Nor can Sweden compromise on security for Jewish institutions. Over the years, the issue has been taken more seriously in the large cities, but the vulnerability is still great in smaller cities like Umeå, Lund, och Norrköping.