As Swedish Member of Parliament Lorena Delgado Varas and activist Greta Thunberg make their way to Gaza as part of the so-called Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), many Swedes assume that their intentions are good. However, the reality behind the movement they are actively supporting is as far as can be imagined from humanitarian, non-violent, peaceful activism.
The images of destruction and suffering from Gaza, combined with statements published by the flotilla's organizers, have created an image of brave and kind-hearted activists, willing to pay a heavy personal price to deliver humanitarian aid and draw the world’s attention to Gaza. On its website, GSF describes itself as “a coalition of everyday people – organizers, humanitarians, doctors, artists, clergy, lawyers, and seafarers – who believe in human dignity and the power of nonviolence.” They also emphasize that their loyalty lies with “justice, freedom, and the sanctity of human life.”
But the reality behind GSF is far removed from the idealistic image presented to the public.
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Less than three months ago, a meeting took place at Hamas’ headquarters in Algeria. Participants included representatives of the Global Sumud Flotilla and leaders of the movements that murdered, raped, tortured, and burned hundreds of Israeli civilians on October 7th – and many more before that. Among those present were Youssef Hamdan, Hamas' representative in Algeria, and Nader al-Qaisi, a representative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). This was no secret meeting. Despite the continued portrayal of the flotilla by Swedish media as a peace initiative with humanitarian aims, publicly available material reveals concrete links between GSF and some of the world’s most notorious terrorist organizations. All it takes to uncover these connections is a basic knowledge of Arabic and a quick search through social media.
In one photo published by Nabil Chennoufi, a spokesperson for GSF who frequently shares extremist violent propaganda on social media, two members of the flotilla’s steering committee – Wael Nawar and Hayfa Mansouri – can be seen smiling and wearing keffiyehs with Hamas symbols, alongside leaders of the terrorist organization in Algeria. The caption says the meeting focused on the flotilla’s progress, its positive impact, and its connection to the "Palestinian resistance." In a second photo, a third steering committee member, Marouan Ben Guettaia, is seen meeting with Hamas leader Hamdan.
It’s important to stress that Greta Thunberg is not merely a regular passenger on one of the flotilla’s boats. GSF’s own website showed her as a member of the steering committee, alongside the aforementioned individuals. For some reason, her name and picture suddenly disappeared last Thursday.
Another committee member is Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila, who has openly expressed his admiration for the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. On social media, Ávila shared how he was inspired as a young man after meeting Nasrallah and described him as “an important anti-colonial figure who defeated Zionist and imperialist armies multiple times.” Earlier this year, Ávila attended Nasrallah’s funeral in Beirut – a massive demonstration attended by tens of thousands of people chanting “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.” Ávila was impressed, writing: “Today I saw thousands of new freedom fighters.”
As a reminder, it’s worth noting that Hezbollah is a militant Shia Muslim organization allied with Iran, Russia, North Korea, and Shia militias in Iraq. It is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, and is responsible for numerous terror attacks and kidnappings around the world – financed by Iran’s Islamist regime and the narcotics trade.
But it seems Ávila is not loyal to only one terrorist organization. In a photo, he is seen posing next to convicted PFLP terrorist Leila Khaled, with a green heart emoji and a Palestinian flag. The caption reads: “Today I met one of the people I admire most in the entire world.” Khaled’s notoriety, it should be remembered, is not based on “human dignity and the power of nonviolent action,” but on her involvement in the hijackings of TWA Flight 840 and El Al Flight 219 in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Another member of the GSF steering committee is Muhammad Nadir Al-Nuri Kamaruzaman, head of the GSF Southeast Asia coalition. He is also the founder of the Malaysian organization MyAqsa Defenders and CEO of the NGO Cinta Gaza Malaysia. Both organizations have expressed support for Hamas and have been linked to financing Hamas-run infrastructure in Gaza. Among other things, Cinta Gaza has published an e-book glorifying Yahya Ayyash, known as Hamas’s top bombmaker and responsible for numerous mass-casualty attacks in Israel during the 1990s. MyAqsa Defenders has also hosted a livestream event with Muslim Imran, whose name has appeared on Hamas channels as an official Hamas spokesperson.
Despite this information being openly and proudly published by those involved, neither Greta Thunberg nor Lorena Delgado Varas have been publicly questioned in Sweden for their participation in what clearly appears to be a well-organized, international operation with strong ties to terrorist groups. Sure – as citizens of a democratic country, they have every right to take part in whatever Mediterranean adventures they choose. But when those journeys are part of a network led by individuals with proven links to organizations responsible for massacres of civilians, there is a responsibility to investigate, question, and report.
It seems that behind the flowery rhetoric about human rights, humanitarian aid, and nonviolence hides a movement whose leadership praises antisemitic, religiously fanatical, chauvinistic, and ultranationalist violent actors. By participating in this initiative, Thunberg and Delgado Varas help legitimize forces that threaten democracy, gender equality, freedom of expression, and the very idea of a peaceful civil society. Despite their public image as champions of justice and solidarity, the facts suggest something quite different — in reality, Thunberg and Delgado Varas are supporting right-wing extremists.
Equal rights in a one state solution may appeal to Swedish sensetivities. But in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is a recipe for bloodshed.
Israeli politics can be confusing for those who are used to a system which rewards accountability. One example is that even though Hamas' brutal attack in October 2023 was the biggest tragedy in Israel's history and part of a momentous failure of Israel's leadership, the government is still in place and seems to be stable enough to survive the crises. It's even confident enough to continue its controversial judicial overhaul which many claim is a direct assault against Israel's democracy. When it comes to the conflict with the Palestinians, Netanyahu's government is using the catastrophe as a pretext for going further to the right, perhaps even as an excuse for a future annexation of the West Bank which would be a tragedy for both Palestinians and Israelis who support peace, democracy and freedom.
This is why Standing Together, a grassroot movement of both Jewish and Palestinian Israelis who join hands in working for peace, equality, and social justice is so important. These are exactly the kind of people who can provide hope for Israel's declining peace movement. They can also be excellent partners for actors in the global community who are concerned about developments in the region and want to support positive change. And indeed, two of the movement's leaders are coming to Sweden. When I spoke to one of them, Alon-Lee Green, one of the movement's national coordinators, he told me that the visit's purpose is "to gather support for the fight to end the war, to end the occupation and to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace".
But it seems not everybody wants to listen. Instead of encouraging Israel's brave opposition, some activists are horrified by the mere thought of Israeli peace fighters. One commentator on social media wrote: " I think it's important that as a movement we keep track of which groups we choose to collaborate with. Standing Together is boycotted". As a self-appointed moral compass, the activist then quotes a text by The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel claiming that Standing Together is "serving a key role in Israel’s international propaganda strategy". One of the commentators who thanked the writer even added: "we don't recognize Isnotreal!".
Since October 7th the BDS campaign has been gaining support in Sweden. Professors, researchers and students call on their university to cut all ties with Israel, Amnesty cooperates with BDS-Sweden and lists of companies "profiting from the genocide" are all over social media leading to demonstrations and smear campaigns. All this shows what at least part of Sweden's left is all about. The BDS movement claims that Standing Together is serving "Israel’s 75-year-old regime of settler-colonialism and apartheid". Nothing could be clearer – the BDS movement isn't against specific Israeli policies, it isn't against a specific government or a specific war. BDS activists' real problem is the very existence of Israel. When they talk about 75 years of settler colonialism, they're not talking about the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, they're talking about the 1948 UN decision to found a Jewish state, and an Arab state, in Palestine. The people who don't want to listen to Israeli peace fighters are doing it simply because they are against peace between Israelis and Arabs. According to them Israelis are the original colonialist sin and they should just disappear.
Do these attitudes belong only to a handful of extremists or are they spreading to Sweden's left as a whole. A good indication is the debate about the so-called two-state solution. Those who still support it, even though it seems almost impossible to achieve, are promoting a solution which includes a compromise between two legitimate national movements. Lately, however, the idea of a one-state solution is becoming popular. Swedish academics are writing texts about one state based on "one citizen-one vote", in the Swedish Left Party congress last May many party members promoted changing the party's position to supporting a one-state solution and further to the left, Fi (the Swedish Feminist Initiative) and the new "Solidarity" party, already took the step. Fi even claims that "Zionism is an imperialist and racist ideology". Anyone who witnessed a pro-Palestinian demonstration during the last few months knows this isn't a minority. The most popular slogan doesn't leave room for doubt – "From the river to the sea Palestine will be free", Not "Palestinians will be free". Palestine means a state – one state, not two, from the river to the sea.
In Sweden's radical left there are those who take it even further. There's a at least one youth movement (RKU) which supports the October 7th "historic offensive in which the Palestinian resistance broke open the prison bars". Another "solidarity movement" (Samidoun) supports the PFLP, an organization which took part in the massacre. In addition, there are plenty left wing-oriented publications which continue to support the narrative which sees Hamas as an anti-imperialist decolonization force. All these movements support a one state solution. Just like Hamas and the most radical Jewish extremists.
One state with an equal vote and equal rights may sound appealing to Swedish sensibilities. Indeed, why not have nothing to kill or die for and no religion too? The only problem is that in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict one state is a receipt for a blood bath. Most Palestinians who support a one state solution mean a Palestinian state. Most Jews who support it mean a Jewish one. The result of such an experiment will either be apartheid or some version of ethnic cleansing or genocide. The only question will be who's killing who.
When I talked to Standing Together's National Coordinator he said that the movement doesn't support a specific model of solution. "We support an Israeli-Palestinian peace", he said, "one that will enable everyone to live in freedom, equality and independence". When it comes to the boycott movement Green says that Standing Together is the largest Israeli movement fighting for peace and against occupation. "We've been protesting all over Israel for 15 months, we arrange aid for Gaza, our activists are fighting settlers who attacked humanitarian aid convoys and we demand an end to the killing", he says, "if anybody wants to argue with us about words that we say or don't say, they can write an essay and perhaps we can discuss it in some lecture in the world of academia. But in the world of politics and actions, the one that we focus on, the BDS statement about us has no influence where we live. It wasn't even translated to Arabic".
The BDS movement leaves no room for Standing Together. It only accepts Israelis who think that their country shouldn't exist. But the men and women of Standing Together are different. They love Israel and they're fighting to make it better. They realize that both Jews and Arabs are there to stay and they promote pragmatic compromises rather than holly wars and abstract ideologies. This is why the Olof Palme Center, the Robert Weil fund and Kulturhuset made the right choice when they invited them to Sweden. Naturally, those who are against Standing Together have the right to protest, but we shouldn’t call them peace activist, we should call them what they really are – dogmatic chaos agents who, if they get what they want, will lead both Israelis and Palestinians to a catastrophic disaster.
Since my article about Amnesty and Swedish schools was written and published in Swedish and since the debate with Amnesty Sweden's Secretery Genral in Svenska Dagbladet was also in Swedish, I finally got round to translating the original texts into English so that non-Swedish speakers can see what the all the fuss was about…
When a Jewish woman from Umeå was featured on DN's first page after she decided to leave town, at least one writer, Göran Rosenberg, was critical. The article explained that the woman was leaving because of decades of antisemitic harassment. Still, Rosenberg wasn't impressed. "Today, DN publishes on its entire front page that a woman in Umeå (of Israeli origin) intends to leave the city because of her experiences of antisemitism ", he wrote and added that DN failed to explain the background: "consequently, we are not told that the same woman was very active in supporting Israel in the Gaza war". A couple of days later he explained in Expressen that antisemitism is being used as a political weapon. The woman from Umeå, it seems, had it coming. After all, she's not a "Swedish Jew", rather she's "a woman in Umeå (of Israeli origin)". Rosenberg's message is clear: while Antisemitism against regular Jews like himself, is despicable, Zionists and Israelis just "experience" antisemitism which is actually just good old criticism of Israel, or as Swedes elegantly call it – Israelkritik.
I thought of this when I talked to an organization called "Zikaron" last week. This small but extremely important organization offers lectures on the fates of Holocaust survivors to Swedish schools. The lectures are carried out by young people, grandchildren or great grandchildren of survivors who are taking over the historic burden of remembrance. Naturally, this has nothing to do with Israel. The Holocaust took place before there was an Israel and the victims were not "settler colonialist" or responsible for the "blockade of Gaza". And yet, it turns out that sometimes even the Holocaust is too problematic for some schools. When I talked to one of Zikaron's organizers, she told me that after the massacre of October 7th last year there were about ten schools that cancelled their lectures due to reasons like "wrong timing" or "sensitive timing" and since then, there has been less demand for their lectures. Could this also be "Israelkritik" or is it just that Swedish schools are too scared of upsetting the sensitive souls who find Holocaust education provocative. Or perhaps they don’t want to get in trouble with activist bullies who didn't get the memo saying that it's ok to talk about dead Jews from the 40s and the problem is only with the other kind of Jews, the ones with guns from the Middle-East. Whatever it is, anyone who's worried about Swedish schools being cowards can rest assured. They found their courage elsewhere.
While Holocaust education may be too sensitive, foreign policy political activism seems to be no problem at all. Otherwise, how could 39 Swedish schools be "partner schools (samarbetsskolor)" of Amnesty, a political organization which is as far from mainstream as it gets. These schools use Amnesty's "Schools for Human Rights" model (skola för mänskliga rättigheter) for teacher's education, planning "theme days" (temadagar) and providing material and lectures. They even take part in global campaigns. This model may be great for highlighting human rights and democracy, but there's a serious problem when it comes to the conflict in the Middle-East, since Amnesty is anything but impartial.
In recent years Amnesty International positioned itself clearly as opposed to everything Israeli. It has disproportionately targeted Israel for years, it has supported boycott campaigns and some of its campaigners and partners have supported or even been linked to terror organization and Islamist movements (to name some: Yasmin Hussein, Saleh Hijazi and Moazzam Begg). It almost entirely ignores attacks against Israel and atrocities committed against its civilians, it bases its information about Gaza casualties on Hamas' propaganda and it makes claims which are obviously false like "Israel's military operations in Gaza continue to kill people on a scale that has never been seen before".
But it's not only talk. Amnesty Sweden actively campaigned against policies of the Swedish government, like the decision to pause funding for UNRWA (based on information that some of its employees took part in the October 7th massacre) and the decision to stop funding Swedish Ibn Rushd study circle (after accusations that the organization has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and spreads antisemitism). In fact, whoever wants an idea of what Amnesty really supports can take a look at the kind of people it awards its prizes to. Elin Forghani, a Vänsterpartiet activist from Östersund just won Amnesty's new "Noismaker" prize after publicly claiming that: "Israel is a colonial project and an outpost of the West in the Middle East and always has been". And just to make clear what should be done with the colonizers she wrote: "we can make Israel and their sponsors sweat, tremble and fall. Liberation is in sight".
Naturally, in a democracy political activism is more than legitimate. However, it's also clear that Amnesty is in no way neutral or objective. It's a political player in global geo-politics, but it's still marching into Swedish schools, presenting itself as a non-biased public informer and bearer of a universal truth. Although political parties and organizations are allowed in Swedish schools and naturally Democracy and human rights should be part of their education, this isn't a case of mainstream education. Amnesty is getting a special "partner" status as a long-term official partner while other political actors are just guests, implying that Amnesty represents facts while the others represent opinions.
It's unclear why Swedish schools should be discussing the war in Gaza in the first place, but if they must, the material should be written and supervised carefully by serious state actors. This isn’t the place to start outsourcing. I spoke to a few parents and students in a Stockholm high school. They told me about their complaints to the school management regarding Amnesty's Gaza war education material and about lessons using material from Globalis, an organization run by "Svenska FN-förbundet" an organization which claims to "work for a better and stronger UN ". The UN in the title shouldn't be confused with impartiality. When I spoke to one student, he told me that since the lessons about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict started "it feels like I have to go to school to defend Israel twice a week. It's not that the teacher lies but it's so one-sided. For example, there were two lessons about the Palestinian Nakba and only half a slide about the expulsion of Jews from Arab countries and Iran and even that, according to the teacher, could be understood as a result of "Mossad activity". When the students were given texts on the subject, they were given guiding questions like: "what support is there for the claim that Israel is an apartheid state?". Student I spoke to talked about feeling very uncomfortable and worried about their classmates. "I feel I have to give the other side", one of them said, "because the other students in the class don't know the whole picture".
In an incident in another school, UN day was celebrated in the schoolyard by waving flags of different countries. According to one of the teachers, when some angry spectators who were passing by threatened to enter the school and remove the Israeli flag, the reaction wasn’t standing up to the threatening bullies and informing the police. Instead, the flag was removed and the person waving it was asked not to wave it again.
It seems that our schools are becoming a ridiculous case of Dr. Jackyle and Mr. Hyde. On one hand, they're wannabe rebels, dealing with the world's most complicated conflicts by employing radical political activists, while on the other hand, they're so afraid of controversy and conflict that they can't even wave a flag of a UN member country or talk about the Holocaust.
It's true, only a few schools cancelled Holocaust lectures and only some are Amnesty partners. But it's also true that only some pro-Palestinian demonstrators support violence (which is what shouting "Intifada!" means), only part of vänsterpartiet supports the PFLP and only a handful burned an Israeli flag outside a synagogue. Not to mention that just several thousand attended a Hamas conference in Malmö, and only a few hundred contribute to Islamist, antisemitic movements, and only one Imam praised Hezbollah's leader and only one or two artist spread antisemitic conspiracy theories, and only a small minority screamed at Holocaust survivors entering a memorial ceremony. How many minorities will it take to get the message? and when will our schools become part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
Amnesty Sweden's comment (originally in Swedish):
Our schoolwork is based on international conventions and Swedish school's governing documents.
On December 10th, 1948, the newly formed UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For the first time, the world had an agreement that viewed all people as free and equal, regardless of gender, skin color, religion or other beliefs or characteristics.
In 2011, knowledge of human rights was incorporated into the Swedish curriculum. Since 2012, Amnesty has been supporting upper secondary schools with teaching materials, lectures, and a model for working with human rights, based on both international conventions and Sweden's school governing documents.
David Stavrou, guest columnist for Svenska Dagbladet, criticizes Amnesty for supporting upper secondary schools in their work on human rights education, by making directly false accusations about Amnesty as an organization and our work. But these claims are easy to refute: No, Amnesty does not support the call for a boycott of Israel. Yes, Amnesty has condemned attacks on civilian Israelis and called for those responsible for these war crimes to be held accountable. No, our teaching materials and lectures are not about Israel and Palestine.
David Stavrou claims that we are a biased organization and that our criticism of Israel is disproportionate. This is a direct false statement that is often made by representatives of the Israeli government. Amnesty is an impartial, politically independent organization. We do not accept government funds because we want to be free to investigate human rights violations without being dependent on anyone. Our demands and criticisms are based on international law and respect for human rights. And we assess all states by the same standards.
Even though our lectures in high schools this fall did not address the war in Gaza, high school students have asked many questions about the situation in Gaza. Human rights, contrary to what David Stavrou suggests, apply both in times of peace and in conflicts. Amnesty's focus in all conflicts is the protection of civilians and their human rights.
Amnesty is not alone in criticizing Israel's indiscriminate attacks on civilians, the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians, and the denial of humanitarian aid into Gaza, three clear examples of violations of the laws of war. Knowledge of human rights is necessary. We are happy to contribute to helping upper secondary schools fulfill the curriculum, providing students with more knowledge and the conditions to protect their own rights and work to ensure that others' rights are respected, both now and in the future.
Anna Johansson, Secretary General, Amnesty International Sweden.
David Stavrou's reply:
It’s great that Amnesty Sweden takes texts which are published in Svenska Dagbladet seriously. However, it’s a bit surprising because, during the process of writing the article, I contacted their press service to ask questions that had arisen after conversations with students at their partner schools. No one responded. To avoid mistakes, I wrote again, but I was ignored once more. On the other hand, Amnesty’s response suggests it might not matter – it’s filled with answers to questions no one asked and avoids addressing the questions that were actually raised.
No one suggested that schools shouldn’t teach human rights and democracy. No one asked whether human rights are important during wartime. Even if one appreciates the Secretary General of Amnesty’s inspiring words, that wasn’t at all what the article was about. Everyone knows human rights are important. The question is whether her organization is qualified to be the one teaching our children about them.
One question that goes unanswered, however, in the one addressing Amnesty’s partners abroad that have had connections to terrorist organizations and Islamist movements. Perhaps it’s because she is aware of the collaboration with Moazzam Begg, for example. Begg, a former Guantanamo detainee, was invited to Sweden by Amnesty despite having supported the Taliban. This isn’t something I’m claiming – it’s what a senior official within Amnesty in London, Gita Sahgal, said. She argued that collaboration with "Britain’s most famous Taliban supporter" and links to groups promoting Islamic right-wing ideas damage Amnesty’s integrity and pose a threat to human rights. Amnesty’s reaction – she was dismissed.
Then there’s the claim that Amnesty doesn’t support a boycott of Israel. If that’s the case, why did Amnesty’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa write the following: "We urge the international community to cease all forms of support – whether direct or indirect, through actions or omissions – for Israel’s apartheid system"? (Direct quote from Amnesty’s website).
As for Amnesty having condemned attacks on Israeli civilians, it is true that they’ve done so on certain occasions. After October 7th, it would have been absurd if they hadn’t. But anyone familiar with Amnesty’s publications knows that the Secretary General’s statement is misleading. During September and October, Amnesty International published 14 texts on their website criticizing Israel. That’s as many as the texts about Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq – combined. Iran received seven texts during the same period, Sudan and South Sudan six in total, and Belarus only four. During these two months, 7,517 rockets were fired at Israel. Amnesty published nothing about these attacks, which kill and injure and have forced over 140,000 Israeli citizens to live as internally displaced persons for more than a year.
"We assess all states by the same standards," writes Amnesty’s Secretary General. That’s hard to believe when reading about their "regional activist seminars" in Stockholm and Malmö in November. The program begins with "Palestine then and now" and continues with "a deeper understanding of the Palestine issue through a Palestinian perspective." Then there’s a lecture on the Palestine groups in Malmö, followed by "panel discussion: Academics for Palestine." Later in the day, there’s "panel discussion: on Palestine, struggle, and conflict." It seems like the Rohingyas, Uighurs, the Belarusian opposition, and Tigrayans from Ethiopia will have to wait for the next seminar because the next workshop is "What can I do? A guide to action for Palestinian liberation." This is organized by, drumroll, BDS Sweden. Yes, BDS – Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (remember the Secretary General’s statement: "But these claims are easy to refute: No, Amnesty does not support the call for a boycott of Israel." Does she think we can’t read?).
None of the speakers at the seminar are pro-Israel; instead, it’s full of well-known pro-Palestinian activists. And that’s entirely okay. The Svenska Dagbladet article wasn’t about whether Amnesty is right or wrong or about their right to be pro-Palestinian. It was about impartiality. I wonder if any of the young people who participated in the activist seminar are students from one of Amnesty’s 39 partner schools. I suggest that Sweden’s school principals take what the Secretary General wrote seriously. When she writes that she’s glad to "give students more knowledge," it becomes clear that their schools are her recruitment ground.
Students stay home from class or attend and suffer abuse, protesters call for Israel’s erasure, and radical Islamist groups operate unfettered. Sweden’s Jewish community fears for its safety against the backdrop of the war and mass killings in Gaza.
STOCKHOLM – It’s unclear whether Swedes are aware of what the country’s Jewish community has been facing – their neighbors, coworkers, customers, and teachers. The community has been in a state of anxiety since the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 and the start of Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip. Swedish Jews fear for their safety, and it seems the authorities aren’t grasping the urgency of the situation.
October 13. Threats by Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal to spark an international “day of rage” circulated through social media. Parents, many of them in mourning and worried about family and friends in Israel, wrote in private WhatsApp groups that the school’s regular security was inadequate. Some volunteered to watch the surroundings outside the school, and the local police stationed a patrol car nearby for a few hours.
Nonetheless, conversations with parents indicate that in some classes, at least half the students stayed home from school on October 13. Those who attended were strongly advised to avoid displaying Jewish symbols and refrain from speaking Hebrew.
A pro-Palestinian demonstration in front of the Swedish Parliament, October 2023. Photo: Hugh Gordon
A., a former Israeli who lives in Sweden, kept his shop closed on the same Friday, feeling he can’t protect himself and his customers. Another Israeli living in the country encountered violence on the Stockholm Metro after speaking Hebrew on his phone.
Another incident occurred to a man from southern Sweden whose mother is Jewish but who is not religious and does not display Jewish symbols. He describes receiving seven calls from an unknown number this week. A voice told him, “We know where you live. You should watch behind you when leaving home.” It added that he “should no longer live in the city.”
When he contacted the police, he was met with disappointment. They told him that there was nothing they could do because the call came from an unknown number. The police would only intervene if he could provide the caller’s name, an impossible demand for someone receiving an anonymous threat.
Multiple reports have also emerged of students receiving harassment over the Gaza war. The mother of a 16-year-old boy from a Jewish family who goes to a large high school in Goteborg gave one disturbing account. She says a girl stood up in class and shouted, “Slaughter, rape, and torture all the Jews” at her son. The teacher did not react, stop the girl, or report her to the principal, the mother says. The other students also stayed silent. She said they're now considering a transfer to another school.
Two classmates asked a Jewish boy in an elementary school in southern Sweden who he supported in the war. The boy, aged 10, replied that he supported Israel. The two others drew a crossed-out Israeli flag, crumpled it up, and threw it at him, saying, “We hate Israel.” The teacher present in the classroom did nothing until the student’s mother contacted him.
Such attacks and threats have been seen throughout Sweden, with the common denominator being that the victims were Jewish or Israeli.
Swedish academics have also been targeted. A renowned scholar in western Sweden was emailed threats after daring to publicly condemn the October 7 attacks. The head of one department at Uppsala University wrote a social media post stating, “Hamas gave Netanyahu and his radical right partners what they wanted.” Elsewhere, he wrote: “In 1940 and 1941, Hitler developed a plan to systematically starve 30 million Ukrainians, Russians, and Slavs. In 2023, Netanyahu is executing his ‘starvation plan’ in Gaza!”
A Jewish protester, Joanna Istner Byman, at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Stockholm, this week.Credit: David Stavrou
The cultural world has also been rife with tension. Seven hundred cultural figures published a petition urging an end to the “brutal violence in Gaza” and the end of “military, political, and financial support for Israel.” The petition did not mention Hamas’ terrorist attack, its victims, or the Israeli hostages in Gaza. Well-known Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg has taken several opportunities to express support for the Palestinians in recent days, omitting any mention of the Palestinian acts of terrorism last month or the Israeli victims.
The war between Israel and Hamas has reverberated throughout the public sphere in Sweden. Numerous demonstrations have been held since the war began, both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli. On the evening of October 7, hours after Hamas went door-to-door to brutalize and kill Israelis, thousands of people, including women and children, participated in rallies across the country. These featured music, dancing, and convoys of cars honking their horns to show support for the Hamas attack.
Even larger and fiercer demonstrations have been held in the subsequent three weeks. At these pro-Palestinian demonstrations, Israel is accused of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip and there are calls to erase Israel from the map. “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” cried the demonstrators in Sweden. The protests have also seen increasingly widespread calls for an “intifada.”
One of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations was organized by Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical Islamic group advocating for the creation of a caliphate ruled by Sharia law, which has a small branch in Sweden. It received permission for the demonstration despite being banned in several countries. Demonstrators called for a caliphate stretching from Uzbekistan to Morocco, a war between Islam and the non-Muslim world, and the liberation of “all of Palestine” through military force.
Most of the demonstrations held in Sweden since the war began have been organized by local organizations backing the Palestinians. One weekend in Stockholm's central Sergel Square saw three different organizations demonstrating separately, but with similar slogans. Beside the Palestinian organization, the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement, which has a few hundred members, was one of them, the Revolutionary Communist Youth, which argues that Palestinians have a right “to fight with every means against the occupying power to liberate their lands" was another. The latter described the October 7 attacks as an act of liberation that “caught the Zionists in their beds.”
The two organizations, one neo-Nazi and the other Marxist-Leninist, both endorse the Palestinian cry to “crush Zionism.” Another demonstration held in Stockholm’s main square a week later drew more than 5,000 people. Speeches by Palestinians and Swedish leftists called for “an intifada until victory” as they waved Palestinian flags, horrifying images from Gaza, and signs condemning the government’s support for Israel. None of the speakers at the pro-Palestinian demonstrations mentioned the Hamas attacks.
A demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Stockholm, Sweden, October 2023.Credit: Hugh Gordon
Mikail Yuksel, leader of the Nuance Party, which defines itself as the representative of Sweden’s minorities, with an emphasis on immigrants, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that he had participated in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Stockholm. Yuksel, born in Turkey and now a Stockholm resident, was once a member of Sweden’s Center Party. He was expelled for his ties with the Grey Wolves radical Islamic movement.
On October 7, Yuksel called for the removal of Hamas from the list of terrorist organizations. When Haaretz asked him about this, he replied, “If Hamas is considered a terrorist organization, it is impossible to hold a dialogue with it and reach an arrangement. So long as they are considered terrorists, we isolate and radicalize them. We are in favor of talking with them to reach a settlement.”
He added, “It’s no secret that we are a pro-Palestinian party. Israel is recognized by the UN as an occupying power, which commits war crimes and is an apartheid state. Israel must be stopped, and Netanyahu should be brought to trial at the International Criminal Court.”
Asked about the crimes committed by Hamas, Yuksel replied, “An occupied people have the right to use military force. Violence against civilians is not permitted to any of the sides. Everyone must lay down their arms and not point them against civilians to solve the dispute.”
While speaking with Haaretz, Yuksel condemned the attacks on civilians on October 7 as well as the “continuous Israeli attacks on Gaza.” His position is notable, as no Muslim organization in Sweden has condemned the attacks, including entities that previously cooperated with Sweden’s Jewish community and groups.
One pro-Palestinian demonstrator, prominent Muslim leader Rashid Musa, went as far as writing a sarcastic article mocking demands for condemnation in the national tabloid Expressen. “I, Rashid Musa, as a spokesman for 1.3 billion people worldwide, condemn the Hamas, condemn hummus, condemn Hassan, and [Swedish football club] Hammarby.”
Magnus Ranstorp, a prominent Swedish researcher on domestic Salafi-jihadism, terrorism, and radical groups, is concerned about more than just antisemitic slogans at the demonstrations and incidents at schools and workplaces. He says this could escalate to physical threats against Jewish and Israeli targets. A lecturer and strategic advisor at the Swedish Defense University, Ranstorp says two parallel crises are affecting Sweden’s security.
“The first is related to the burning of Koran books and a false campaign regarding the alleged kidnapping of Muslim children by Swedish welfare services,” he says. “This crisis has put Sweden in the crosshairs of organizations such as al-Qaeda, ISIS, and al-Shabab.
“The second crisis is the conflict between Israel and Hamas,” he continues. He says that according to the Swedish Security Service, there were about 2,000 Salafi-jihadists in various Swedish cities in 2017 who had a definite potential for violent activity.
In the cities of Malmö and Helsingborg, large Palestinian communities include families with members previously convicted of terrorist activities in Germany. Malmö is home to Scandinavia’s largest mosque, built recently with the help of millions of euros from Qatar. It is also home to civil society organizations like Group 194. Despite receiving municipal funding, the Swedish Palestinian group endorses terrorism, spreads antisemitism, and has connections to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which was involved in the October 7 attacks.
It also recently emerged that the Left Party had used taxpayer money to support a project related to the PFLP through an organization run by its Danish counterpart. Meanwhile, in May, a large Palestinian European conference was held in Malmö with the participation of Amin Abu Rashid, a Dutch Palestinian leader linked to Hamas.
Although the Left Party canceled its participation in the conference when it learned that Abu Rashid would be present, a member of the Social Democratic Party, Jamal el-Haj, ignored a prohibition by party leaders and participated. El-Haj is a member of parliament, and some say he was saved from being kicked out of the party because of his substantial political base.
Ranstorp notes the case of Die Wahre Religion (“The True Religion”), an organization outlawed in Germany. It was banned in part because some of the people connected to it volunteered and joined the ranks of ISIS. Nevertheless, it operated freely as a legitimate Swedish organization that promoted an educational project on Koran reading.
In another case, a Swedish activist named Ahmad Qadan raised money for ISIS and Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat-al-Nusra) and was sentenced to a few months in jail. It seems that his imprisonment didn’t change much. On October 7, he posted a video on social media of Israelis fleeing Hamas gunmen together with a quote from the Koran, “I will fill the hearts of the unbelievers with fear.”
The international organization Islamic Relief, founded in the U.K. in the 1980s, also has an official Swedish branch. The organization enjoys considerable financial support from the Swedish government and engages in humanitarian activities. Various governments, including the Israeli one, say it’s associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, however. According to Ranstorp, Sweden is an important European center for Islamic Relief and, therefore, the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe.
Ranstorp and others have spoken of this for years. Although politicians’ approach has changed somewhat, some say Swedish authorities and public opinion still don’t appreciate how grave things are. Swedish money ends up financing terrorism, and Middle Eastern money is invested in organizations that pose a risk to Sweden. The law allows public activities that threaten the country’s stability and security bodies.
In response to a query by Haaretz, the security service refused to estimate of current number of jihadi activists and organizations in Sweden. Asked about specific organizations, a spokesperson replied: “The Swedish Security Service does not go into details describing our operational activities. We follow violent extremists and assess the threat to prevent terrorist acts and other security threatening activities. We follow individuals and do not target organizations.”
Regarding the protection of Jewish institutions in Stockholm, the police said, “What security measures we implement, if and when we implement them, and in what way, is something we do not publicize.”
Despite several requests, Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer, who oversees the police, prosecutions, and the courts, declined to grant an interview to Haaretz.
Hizb ut-Tahrir in Sweden and the Palestine Solidarity Association of Sweden (Palestinagrupperna) did not respond to Haaretz's requests for comment. Greta Thunberg also showed no enthusiasm for speaking with Haaretz about the subject. When she was offered an interview in which she could clarify her position, a spokesman said, “Greta is not holding interviews at this time.”
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