Posted on 02/26/2011 3:21:50 AM PST by WesternCulture
A year after claims about an exodus of Jews from Malmö made global headlines, many Jewish residents still don't feel safe in southern Sweden, The Local's Karen Holst discovers.
The past couple of years have been turbulent for Malmö's Jewish community. A spike in anti-Semitic attacks in 2009 prompted a number of Jews to leave the city altogether, concluding they would never feel accepted there.
Controversial comments by the town's long-serving Social Democratic mayor Ilmar Reepalu also put Malmö in the spotlight, drawing criticism from within his own party, as well as from influential Jewish organisations aboard.
And in December 2010, the US-based Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a warning urging Jews to exercise "extreme caution" when traveling in southern Sweden.
While current statistics show a significant decline in anti-Semitic attacks in 2010 when compared to 2009, the nearly 3,000-member Jewish community in Skåne continues to shrink.
“People wonder if there will even be a Jewish community here in 10 years,” Fredrik Sieradzki, spokesperson for the Jewish Community of Malmö (Judiska Församlingen i Malmö), tells The Local.
Despite the decrease in reported attacks, as well as community efforts to ease racist rancor, many of south Sweden’s Jewish residents continue to feel dangerously threatened.
According to Sieradzki, many young Jewish families are relocating because they feel Skåne is not a safe area to raise their children. Coupled with an aging baby-boomer generation, there are few willing or present to take vacated leadership positions within many of the area's Jewish organisations.
“Some of us feel there is no hope and we are losing people because of anti-Semitism,” he adds.
Police reports show the number of anti-Semitic incidents nearly doubled in 2009 but have declined in 2010 by more than half.
“We believe the number of attacks increased in 2009 due to the Davies Cup and two big demonstrations against Israel. Now the statistics show hate-crime against Jews going down dramatically in 2010,” explains Susanne Gosenius, a hate crime coordinator for Skåne police.
Sieradzki argues, however, that the numbers may not reflect reality as many Jewish residents choose not to report every incident, such as intimidating slurs and other verbal attacks.
“Maybe the numbers are lower or maybe not. It doesn’t matter because the feeling is the same – many of us cannot and do not feel at home here,” says Sieradzki.
He points out that the severity of attacks is also intensifying.
Last October a group of about 20 teenagers attacked the Jewish community’s residential education centre during a youth retreat.
“The first night they shouted vicious, nasty slurs. The next night it escalated and they broke down the fence and were banging on windows and doors,” Sieradzki explains.
“It was quite frightening.”
Sieradzki, who applauded the nearby municipality of Vellinge for its swift response to the incident, also points out that the teenagers in the attacking group were not Muslim as many are quick to assume.
“These boys were not Arabs. They were all Swedish. And I assure you the Jewish people are not attacking anybody.”
Despite the year’s decline in reported attacks, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the largest international organization for Jewish human rights, nevertheless went ahead with its decision to issue a travel warning for Jews visiting southern Sweden.
The move put Skåne to the same plane as countries that have experienced heinous, even fatal attacks and bombings on Jewish people, such as Turkey, Greece and Belgium.
“We made a very serious statement by putting Malmö on our advisory list,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Center, tells The Local.
“It’s a serious move and we hope to take serious measures to rectify it.”
But the warning rankled some members of Malmö's Jewish community, who claim they weren't informed about the move ahead of time, and surprised local authorities as statistics showed that attacks were on the decline.
“I can understand that Jewish people feel threatened in Malmö,” hate crimes specialist Gosenius explains.
“We have a huge population from the Middle East, West Bank and Gaza and most (Jewish) victims describe their perpetrators as young Muslim men.
“But I’m not sure the warning for Malmö fits. It’s a very drastic act.”
Sieradzki has mixed emotions about the Wiesenthal Center's "surprise" advisory.
While he understands the Center’s point, he argues the move may have been too severe and feels the Jewish leaders in Skåne could have helped moderate the message had they known about it.
“They should have talked to us first,” argues Sieradzki.
“We are trying to create an atmosphere in Malmö where we co-exist and I’m not sure that this travel warning is good.”
Rabbi Cooper rejects the idea that the Center's warning came as a surprise, pointing to a meeting in Stockholm prior to the advisory where prominent members of south Sweden’s Jewish community were in attendance.
“The analysis comes from the ground up,” says Cooper.
“Experiences from Jewish members in Malmö and a previous colleague there led to what we did.”
He stated that families should be able to go to any house of worship, whether it’s Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays, without fear of intimidation, violence or something worse.
“People of faith, or no faith, should be able to walk on the street and feel equally protected. There is a climate of intimidation in Malmö and we need to take steps to address it,” says Cooper.
In response to 2009’s hike in attacks, Malmö city officials created the Dialogue Forum to ease hostilities between Jews, Muslims, the Roma, and other victimized minorities.
As the Forum's one-year anniversary approaches, the Jewish community believes the dialogue has had little effect.
“It’s sad we have to have a group, and we do hope something good comes of it but there hasn’t been anything yet,” says Sieradzki, adding that the 6,000-member Islamic Centre, of their own initiative, recently invited members of the Jewish community to their mosque.
Mayor Reepalu, who was also singled out by the Wiesenthal Center last year for comments about the city's Jewish community in which he "blamed the situation on the Jews themselves as the community did not 'distance itself from Israel,'" according to the Center.
While Reepalu refused to be interviewed for this article, he has undertaken efforts in the last year to make amends and further understand the hostilities Jewish people encounter in Malmö through meetings with Sieradzki and other Jewish community leaders.
Since then the 15-year mayor has invited members from the Simon Wiesenthal Center to Malmö, although an exact date for the visit has not yet been set.
“I can confirm we are coming to Sweden and we are coming next month,” says Rabbi Cooper.
While the agenda for the meeting is still being hammered out, the focus will likely be on improving the situation in southern Sweden.
The meeting will be also accompanied by a seminar on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
"It’s good that something is happening," says Sieradzki.
"There are Jews is Malmö. We live here, we are here to stay and we won’t gain anything by attacking each other."
- I don't like Islam, but there were Arabs living in Jerusalem 2000 years ago (yes, before the days of Mohammad).
Let's put it this way;
My grandfather bore an ancient soldiers (sur)name. My ancestors fought at Lützen, Poltava, at Svensksund and another close relative of mine got shot while defending the Nordic countries against Stalin in the Finnish- Russian Winter War 70 years ago.
What have people originating from the Middle East ever done for Nordic freedom?
You’re no Viking.
You’re a joke who post thinly-veiled racist crud on FR, and then don’t respond when called out.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2675563/posts
“What have people originating from the Middle East ever done for Nordic freedom?”
This was answered in your other racist thread.
True nationalists deal with reality. The Sweden Democrats contain non-ethnic swedes. I believe that only 16 or their 20 or so members of the Riksdag are ethnic swedes. This includes a Jewish member, Ted Ekeroth, who used to be their speaker. Ted's brother Kent is a member of the SD who is also known for his Zionist writing and activism.
“You’re no Viking.”
- That feels all safe and good to know considering people of Scandinavian origin tend to get treated in this manner by the likes of you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raoul_Wallenberg
My grandfather bore an ancient soldiers (sur)name. My ancestors fought at Lützen, Poltava, at Svensksund and another close relative of mine got shot while defending the Nordic countries against Stalin in the Finnish- Russian Winter War 70 years ago.
My Swedish-Jewish friends and family served in the Swedish military like everone else. Plenty of Finnish Jews fought and died in the Soviet-Finn Winter War, the Continuation War, and the anti-Nazi campaign of Finland from 1940 to 1945.
Plenty of Jews fought and died protecting Poland in September 1939. My grandfather and his brother rallied eEws to fight the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1921 during the Polish–Soviet War.
As for Nordic freedom, perhaps you remember Verdund Quisling.
And as a Christian, who seems to define Europe by Christianity, your comment is dripping in irony. Unless you think Jesus was Aryan.
I think you are correct.
The Jewish population in Sweden has been there for hundreds, if not a couple thousand years.
They are born there, speak the language, serve in the military (often over generations), vote, pay taxes, are generally productive citizens, and carry a Swedish passport. Loyal citizens.
BUT, according to WC, they are not Swedes because (and this was in the earlier thread to which I linked), they don’t convert to Lutheranism and cease observance of the Law of Moses and marry outside their religion.
And, true to the lazy thinking of such people, when these long-time productive Swedish citizens (who happen to be Jewish) are attacked by illegal alien muslims, that’s “not Sweden’s problem,” because the Jooooos are not actually Swedish -— it’s just some middle east thing.
Exact same crap happened to my grandfather (who was French, a doctor, fully assilated into French culture, would often attend church with neighbors, etc). The only way you’d know he was Jewish is his last name.
When the Germans came, the French neighbors were quick to point out the dirty Jooooos.
WC, is just like those coward French neighbors.
Heros, all of them.
You, however, are pathetic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folke_Bernadotte
Count Bernadotte was not killed for being Swedish or in defense of Sweden. He was killed for trying to make Jews lay down their arms, while he was calling coordinated attacks by Arab armies "incidents". His assassination was unfortunate, and not just because his worker saved the life of maternal grandmother and uncle.
“WesternCulture squares this circle by promoting Christianity, presumable Latin Christendom, as the solution.”
I am not sure what Latin Christendom is, but WC effectively stated that a person is not Swedish unless they are Lutheran, and stated that Swedish Jewish citizens’ failure to “assimilate” (and become Lutheran) made them non-Swedish and thus not tolerable.
“You, however, are pathetic.”
- and people calling other persons over the Internet names are..?
“Count Bernadotte was not killed for being Swedish or in defense of Sweden. He was killed for trying to make Jews lay down their arms, while he was calling coordinated attacks by Arab armies “incidents”. His assassination was unfortunate, and not just because his worker saved the life of maternal grandmother and uncle.”
- So after all, it was pretty ok to kill one of the best friends the Jewish people ever have had?
This is what you get in return for helping people of Middle East origin.
Relatives of mine risked their lives trying to rescue Jews from Nazi concentration camps/death camps in the aftermath of WWII - none of them EVER received as much as a “Thank you” from the Jews.
Instead, the Jews killed Folke Bernadotte.
I’m not a racist or I don’t hate Jews, but do not come asking us for favors again.
The Jews and the Arabs have too much in common.
“The Jews and the Arabs have too much in common.”
Seems to me, you and the Nazis have too much in common.
(And before you ask, no not a Jew.)
So obviously, they should move to Hebron, and help us fight against Arab apartheid here.
Given the lack of observance among Swedes, WesternCulture's comments are odd. Does he believe that atheists and non-observant Lutherans are no longer Swedes?
Soil can "get saved?"
Let me try to explain.
WC's worldview is called "civilizationism." It is the belief that different cultures, over millenia, create their own unique (and equally valid) worldviews in their own images. Europe created chr*stianity in its image, so to be European one must be chr*stian.
What this is is a form of henotheism: a different "gxd" and a different "truth" for each people. This pagan worldview is currently making a comeback in spades. In addition to being promoted by some on the Right as an antidote to "globalism" and multiculturalism (who call it "a planet of peoples"), some on the Left promote it in the name of multiculturalism (this "Westerners can't judge non-western cultures by western standards"). Leftist "national liberation movements" are eaten up with this notion.
What civilizationism/henotheism absolutely refuses to address is which G-d is the One True G-d for all people everywhere at all times, and what are His laws for all people everywhere at all times?
Civilizationism is the furthest thing from religious fundamentalism. However, because some civilizationists on the right defend chr*stianity (as the West's created self-expression), some people mistake it for fundamentalism. I hope no one on this thread, or on this forum, will make this mistake.
Relatives of mine risked their lives trying to rescue Jews from Nazi concentration camps/death camps in the aftermath of WWII - none of them EVER received as much as a “Thank you” from the Jews.
I doubt it. Jewish groups have celebrated those who gave post war aid. "Risked their lives?"
Instead, the Jews killed Folke Bernadotte.
The Jews didn't do this any more than Quisling represents all Scandinavians.
I’m not a racist or I don’t hate Jews, but do not come asking us for favors again.
I didn't realize that living with the same safety as other Swedes. Then again, some people seem to think that all Jews are responsible for any crime committed by an Jew anywhere.
The Jews and the Arabs have too much in common.
Wjere are the Jewish rape gange is Swedish cities?
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