Israel's government has boycotted the Sweden Democrats since the party's founding by neo-Nazis in 1988. The political repercussions of the Gaza war have led to a new Israeli directive calling for exploratory talks, but the Swedish Jewish community still refuses all contact with the far-right party
STOCKHOLM – Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar's instruction for Israeli diplomats to launch discreet talks with the far-right Sweden Democrats has made waves in the Swedish media. It marks a drastic change for Israel's foreign policy, which was previously characterized by a long-standing boycott against far-right parties associated with antisemitism, Holocaust revisionism and neo-Nazi activists.
Sa'ar has ordered these exploratory talks with far-right parties in France, Spain and Sweden, Axios' Barak Ravid reported Monday. The Sweden Democrats' foreign policy spokesman, Aron Emilsson, who heads the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, told the daily Expressen that Israel's decision was "extremely positive."
"We've been working for a long time to improve relations," he said, adding that "the ties are also important in security matters, particularly regarding Iran."
The Sweden Democrats have been boycotted by the Israeli government since the party's inception in 1988, but two unofficial visits by the party's leaders to Israel in 2023 and early 2024, as well as a series of unpublicized talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and the Foreign Ministry triggered a policy change.
Ziv Nevo Kulman, Israel's ambassador in Stockholm, told the daily Dagens Nyheter in 2021 that his country had no ties with the Sweden Democrats and had no intention of establishing any. "This is a moral position about far-right parties with roots in Nazism," he said, two months into his term.
He told Haaretz last May: "We are aware of the positive statements by the Sweden Democrats about Israel. But at the same time, the party continues to adhere to extremist positions regarding a ban on brit milah [Jewish ritual circumcision] and the importing of kosher meat, and it has yet to seriously grapple with its neo-Nazi past and with the antisemitism among its members." He said the party's alleged support for Israel was "questionable."
Despite this earlier skepticism, the Israeli Embassy said Tuesday: "As part of a broader review of parties in Europe with which we have not previously had contact, the embassy has held talks with the Sweden Democrats. The initial contacts have largely focused on how the party handles its history and its stance on issues affecting Jewish life in Sweden."
Ziv Nevo Kulman, Photo: Israel's Embassy to Sweden
According to sources familiar with Israeli-Swedish relations, this change of tack was not only the work of Israel. Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, Sweden's center-left has been increasingly hostile toward Israel, and these parties' ties with Jerusalem have significantly weakened. Israel has become a wedge issue between Sweden's center-right coalition and the centrist and left-wing opposition.
According to the sources, the opposition's approach is pushing Israel into the arms of the Swedish populist right. As a result, the Sweden Democrats are increasingly seen as a legitimate party in both Israel and the Jewish world, a major win for the party.
For Sweden's Jewish community, the Sweden Democrats are still considered off-limits, at least officially. The party is not in touch with the community and is not welcome at community events.
In a letter to Israel's foreign minister a year ago, the European Jewish Congress and the Council of Swedish Jewish Communities expressed concerns about a meeting between Israeli ministers and Sweden Democrats visiting Jerusalem. The president of the European Jewish Congress, Ariel Muzicant, and the chairman of the Council of Swedish Jewish Communities, Aron Verständig, wrote that they were "gravely concerned" and referred to the party's "neo-Nazi roots."
Muzicant and Verständig added that the Sweden Democrats' "ideology is still inherently xenophobic even though its representatives claim to be our allies, making an exception for the Jews as a national minority, albeit claiming that Jews cannot be Swedes." They said the party regularly submitted bills to ban "non-medical circumcision," as opponents call it, and the importing of kosher meat.
When asked Tuesday about Israel's apparent policy shift, Verständig told Haaretz that he was notified a few days ago that Israel's Foreign Ministry had instructed the Stockholm embassy to forge contacts with the Sweden Democrats.
"However, we don't have contacts with the Sweden Democrats," Verständig said. "The issue of the Sweden Democrats is one that we discuss regularly, but we haven't changed our position and we still don't have ties with the party."roots
The Sweden Democrats party was founded in 1988 by members of Swedish neo-Nazi and far-right movements. A key figure in the organization was Gustav Ekström, a member of Germany's Waffen-SS, the SS' military arm, during World War II and an activist in the NSAP, the Swedish Nazi party that disbanded in 1950. Other founders were members of white supremacist parties, neofascist and neo-Nazi movements, the Swedish skinhead movement and criminal organizations.
But the neo-Nazi past wasn't the only reason for the Israeli boycott. In recent years party members have spread conspiracy theories and racist, antisemitic and Islamophobic propaganda. In 2021 the Swedish daily Aftonbladet revealed that Jörgen Fogelklou, the party's leader in Sweden's second-largest city, Gothenburg, spread antisemitic and racist statements on social media such as "It is clear that Jews are the root of all evil in the world."
A few years ago, another local party leader in southern Sweden, Jonas Lingvärn, took part in performances by rock bands supporting white supremacy and used the slogan "Skinhead 88" – 88 is shorthand for HH, meaning "Heil Hitler."
The party first entered Sweden's parliament in 2010, and in the 2022 elections it won more than 20 percent of the vote, making it the country's second largest party. Until just a few years ago, the Sweden Democrats were boycotted by parties across the political spectrum.
But after a shift in approach by two center-right parties, the Sweden Democrats became an integral part of the right-wing bloc after elections, without which a center-right government could not be formed. In parliament, the party heads the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Justice Committee and the Industry and Commerce Committee.
Ziv Nevo Kulman took office in 2021, at the tail end of one of the most difficult crises in the history of Israeli-Swedish relations. October 7 brought other voices to the fore. 'Suddenly, we see that on the core issues there is agreement,' he says in an interview with Haaretz
While singer Eden Golan was on the Eurovision stage in Malmö, one person in the audience was accompanied by at least the same amount of security guards as the Israeli delegation. Ziv Nevo Kulman, the Israeli Ambassador to Sweden and longtime Eurovision fan, insisted on coming to the event to support Golan and her team, despite likely being one of the most heavily guarded people in the Scandinavian country at the time.
"There was an illustrative moment in the Israeli performance in the semi-final," he says. "The performance began with boos before Eden even opened her mouth. In response, there were also cheers from the audience, and a kind of duel started up between them. And then, because the performance was so good and Eden wasn't affected at all by the boos, most of the audience cheered for her. They were impressed by a 20-year-old singer who was put in a difficult situation and rose to the occasion with great honor."
Nevo Kulman says the hostility and calls for a boycott of Israel were met with a clear and supportive reaction from the public. "That was also the moment when she leapt up in the odds," the ambassador says. "As someone who has really been following the boycott calls in Sweden recently, I can say that the Swedes are in favor of dialogue, in favor of listening and in favor of freedom of expression. My impression is that the Swedes are not advocates for BDS."
Ambassador Ziv Nevo Kulman, photo credit: Embassy of Israel in Sweden
The conversation with Nevo Kulman took place in a discreet location in Stockholm, with four security guards, both Swedes and Israelis, sitting in the next room. He says that after Eurovision ended, just before the delegation returned to Israel, he met with Golan. "It was one of the most thrilling and moving moments in my career," he says. "What we had here was a concerted effort by an incredible delegation with an incredible singer and an incredible song, and we [at the embassy] also helped to provide the right umbrella."
This umbrella, Nevo Kulman says, included his local media appearances in which he sought to provide a counterweight to the large anti-Israel protests in Malmö over Eurovision weekend. In an interview with the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, the ambassador was pictured wearing an ABBA T-shirt adorned with a yellow ribbon, as well as a necklace with the Chai symbol.
Nevo Kulman says that, normally, Eurovision to him is a time for celebration. If things were normal, he would probably have been going around Malmö with other ABBA fans, simply enjoying the fun and colorful event. But because of the current situation, this year none of that is possible.
"The shirt is like a wink," he explains. "I speak with a wide audience through the media interviews and I see more Swedes who are sympathetic to Israel. I hear from people who tell me – Don't get the wrong idea, don't be confused. Just because there are loud people in the streets, in protests, doesn't mean that's what the Swedes think. Our messages are getting through to a lot of readers and listeners and viewers."
Nevo Kulman wanted to stress that, while the protesters are entitled to freedom of expression, as a member of the European Broadcasting Union, Israel also has the right to participate in Eurovision without being harassed. "We also deserve the right to speak, and the competition showed that the conception that everyone in Europe hates us is incorrect," he says.
Unlike the professional juries, the voters from the general public are anonymous, and a large portion of them awarded Israel the coveted 12 points. "Including people from countries you wouldn't expect," the ambassador says.
Nevo Kulman cites the LGBT community as an example of a group that is partly hostile to Israel, despite the country's historic role in the contest. "We were supposed to be the country that carries this banner in the Eurovision, but this is a generation that doesn't know who Dana International was." Nevo Kulman, who is gay himself, says, "Now they're into being Queers for Palestine. It's not enough for them anymore to just be gay or trans, and this is concerning. We need to find a way to talk with these publics."
Things have been particularly tense at the Israeli Embassy in Sweden lately. This past Friday, the police detained several people suspected of firing guns near the embassy. In January, a grenade was thrown at the building, but did not explode. The incident took place a few days after reports came out that Hamas planned to attack the Israeli Embassy and other sites in the country.
Police outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, in January.Credit: David Stavrou
"Of course, it affects the work," Nevo Kulman says. "In Sweden, unfortunately, consular services are only provided online. But the embassy is working, we're here and we're operating." He says the threats definitely have an impact on his regular agenda as ambassador: "There are things I did in the past that I can't do now. I can't stand in a public square and give a speech, and therefore I have to miss certain events, and it breaks my heart."
Nevo Kulman has been in the Israeli foreign service for 28 years. He served as cultural attache at the embassy in Tokyo, as Deputy Ambassador to the Czech Republic, as cultural affairs advisor at the embassy in Paris, as general consul in Montreal, and as head of the cultural diplomacy division at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. The position in Sweden is his first as an ambassador. Despite the nation's tranquil image, his tenure in Stockholm has been quite tumultuous.
He is well-liked by Swedish politicians and the Swedish media, maintains extensive ties with the country's Jewish community, and does not hesitate to express an opinion in different areas. For example, he firmly denounced the practice of far-right political provocateurs burning copies of the Koran. He fought for Israeli culture to be included in the Book Fair in Gothenburg. One of his more controversial moves was to declare that Israel would not maintain ties with the populist far-right Swedish Democrats party.
"We are aware of the positive statements by the Swedish Democrats about Israel," he says. "But at the same time, the party continues to adhere to extremist positions regarding a ban on brit milah [Jewish religious circumcision] and the importing of kosher meat, and it has yet to seriously grapple with its neo-Nazi past and with the antisemitism among its members." He adds that the party has not expressed any remorse for its many years of mistreatment of Holocaust survivors, which makes its supposed support for Israel questionable.
Nevo Kulman took over the position in Sweden in the summer of 2021, when Israeli Swedish relations had been languishing after a long and difficult state of crisis. The two countries were attempting to mend the rift that began in 2014, when Sweden officially recognized a Palestinian state and was followed by years of harsh statements, recalls of ambassadors and a halt to state visits.
"It was a lengthy process," Nevo Kulman says. "The Swedes understood that they had gone too far with the recognition of a Palestinian state. The move didn't change anything on the ground and didn't contribute to the Swedish interest of being perceived as a fair partner acceptable to both sides."
But the process of rehabilitating relations was jolted again in the aftermath of October 7. "Now it's impossible to promote an agenda beyond the conflict," says the ambassador, although he also sees an optimistic angle here. "Suddenly, we see that on the core issues there is agreement: the attitude toward Hamas, Israel's right to defend itself, returning the hostages, the fight against the accusations of genocide, and other issues."
Nevo Kulman explains that Israel and Sweden have similar positions on many matters. "Swedish official statements consistently cite Israel's right to defend itself and call for the immediate release of all the hostages." He adds that the Swedish foreign minister has said that he will soon visit the region. "Naturally, this will enable a direct and fruitful dialogue about all the issues on the agenda," the ambassador says.
A visit to Sweden's third-largest city a few weeks before it hosts the huge song competition reveals that preparations for putting the Palestinian cause on Europe's biggest stage are at a fever pitch. 'People I know are taking off kippot and necklaces with Stars of David in public'
MALMÖ, Sweden – On a wintry March day, Malmö gives the impression of a multifaceted port city. Fans of the crime series "The Bridge" are familiar with its architectural symbol, the long Oresund Bridge linking the city with Copenhagen in Denmark. But a visitor to Sweden's third-largest city can discover all kinds of architectural connections to historical and demographic processes.
Take the contrast between the medieval historic city center and the impressive modern port to its west, where shipyards and industrial zones have been replaced by luxury homes, with the Turning Torso skyscraper as the area's landmark – and the contrast with concrete apartment buildings constructed decades ago as part of the government's large public housing program, which have become home to immigrants.
In May, these areas will all be flooded with swarms of visitors to celebrate the 68th Eurovision Song Contest and shake off the remnants of the freezing winter. Patriotic groups will fill the 130-year-old Folkets Park, which will become the Eurovision Village. Members of the indefatigable Eurovision fan clubs will party at the EuroClub every night, and the residents will, of course, enjoy an economic and cultural boom.
Meanwhile, when asked what they think about the event, their answers sound like they're reading from a marketing pamphlet. They're pleased and are happy to welcome everyone. This answer echoes the city council's message and description of the event: "A lively celebration of openness and inclusion."
It began with celebrations in the city on the night of October 7, after the Hamas attack that saw civilians brutally massacred. Hundreds celebrated with music, dancing, and fireworks as convoys of honking cars passed by and people handed out candy. Since then, protests against Israel and its participation in Eurovision have not stopped in the city.
Midweek, Malmö's central Möllevången neighborhood, the focal point of the protests, is quiet. Around the neighborhood, which gentrification has changed from a working-class area to one characterized by hipsters, students, and multiculturalism, hang posters with slogans like "stop the genocide" and flyers calling for demonstrations. A supermarket shelf with avocados from Israel has a label with a Palestinian flag and the word "boycott."
A secondhand clothing store's display window has a big screen breaking down the number of dead in Gaza: how many children have died, how many people are wounded or buried underneath rubble, how many become orphans every day, how many mosques have been destroyed, how many medical workers have been arrested or killed. An Israeli flag appears next to each number, and postcards are available to send to the foreign ministers.
But weekends provide a much more dynamic picture. Protests with thousands of participants are regularly held here, with Palestinian flags and signs reading "free Palestine" and "end the Israeli occupation," speeches in which Israel is called a child murderer and don't mention the events of October 7, and catchy songs with choruses such as "Free Palestine – crush Zionism."
They do not appear to have lost their strength – unsurprisingly, given that Malmö, like nearby cities such as Helsingborgs and Landskrona, is the residence of tens of thousands of Palestinian immigrants. Some claim it's one of the most antisemitic cities in Europe. But anyone expecting to find only immigrants in the throngs of demonstrators will be disappointed. There are also Swedish retirees, activists from youth organizations, and young couples with strollers.
Mira Kelber
The Jewish community is unsettled by the protests. "Being a Jew in Malmö after October 7 is living in fear," says Mira Kelber, 24, who is chairwoman of the Malmö Jewish Youth organization. "I walk around with the thought that something might happen, and the only question is what will happen, to whom, and when."
There is no question that October 7 exacerbated the situation, and Eurovision provides a unique platform for protesting the war that followed the Hamas attack. But the Jewish community was already concerned about its safety beforehand, and you don't have to look at Eurovision for the start of Malmö's ties with the Palestinian cause.
If we were to search for a starting point, it might be found in the waves of immigration to the city in the late 20th century. By 2015, Malmö had become a major focal point of the refugee crisis in Europe. Since then, thousands of people have crossed the Oresund Bridge every day to seek asylum in Sweden. Today, people from over 180 countries live in the city. More than a third of its population of 362,000 was born outside the country. And in contrast to the rest of Sweden, half of the immigrants are below the age of 35.
Among the consequences of these demographic changes was an increase in antisemitism, most notably in demonstrations that have sometimes seen violent incidents. The list of such protests is long. In 2009, when Malmö hosted the Davis Cup tennis matches between Israel and Sweden, thousands of demonstrators gathered in the city. Several hundred extremists who were among them – Islamists, far-left activists, and neo-Nazis – rioted and clashed with police.
Over the years, other demonstrations have seen antisemitic chants that have been documented and discussed in the Swedish media. In 2017, the cry was "we're going to shoot the Jews," made at a demonstration against the relocation of the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In 2019, it was young activists from the Social Democratic Party shouting "crush Zionism" at the May Day Parade. In 2020, it was "Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews, Mohammed's army will return," a reference to the victory of Mohammed's followers over the Jewish tribes in the seventh-century battle of Khaybar, an inspiration to modern Islamist fighters.
Meanwhile, Jews in the city have experienced violence. In 2009, Molotov cocktails were thrown at the city's Jewish funeral home. In 2010 and 2012, firecrackers were thrown outside the synagogue and Jewish community center, breaking windows. In the following years, several complaints have been filed of verbal and physical attacks and harassment, and the community's sense of security has been undermined.
A 2021 report by the municipality determined that the city's schools were an unsafe environment for Jewish students, who were encountering verbal and physical assault as teachers chose to avoid confronting the assailants. Media outlets have also reported that Holocaust survivors are no longer invited to tell their stories in some of the city's schools because Muslim students disrespect them.
"Those who are born Jewish in Malmö grow up with the feeling that they have to protect themselves," says Kelber. "I'm publicly known as a Jew, but people I know are taking off kippot and necklaces with Stars of David in public."
The uneasiness doesn't just stem from harassment and hate crimes. Some of the city's residents of Palestinian descent have been involved in terrorism. These include Osama Karim, a son of Palestinian immigrants who was caught in Belgium after participating in attacks in Brussels and France in 2015 and 2016 and traveling to Syria to join ISIS. There have also been Palestinian Swedish groups that have been found to have ties to terrorist organizations. One of them, Group 194, had longstanding ties with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which reportedly took part in the October 7 attack.
In May 2023, less than half a year before the slaughter in Israel's southern border communities, a large pan-European Palestinian conference was held in Malmö with the participation of Palestinian Dutch leader Amin Abu-Rashid, who has links to Hamas. The Social Democratic Party, which was scheduled to attend, canceled when it learned about his attendance. One member, Jamal al-Hajj, attended despite being forbidden from doing so.
Concerns for Malmö's Jewish community haven't been eased by the fact that he is still a member of parliament and that quite a few people in the Swedish political system, academy, and cultural world are affiliated with Hamas, directly or indirectly. The result is that the city's Jewish community is shrinking.
These events look like another chapter in a long story. The community was founded in 1871, mostly by immigrants from Germany and Poland. From the late 1800s to the 1920s, it expanded through large-scale immigration, driven by poverty, antisemitism, and pogroms, from Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic states. With Hitler's rise to power, the community absorbed more refugees, mostly from Nazi Germany, greatly expanding its social activity.
In the autumn of 1943, during World War II, Denmark's Jews were successfully smuggled to Sweden over the Oresund Straits by the Danish resistance. The Nazi occupation government in Denmark turned a blind eye. Along with other Holocaust survivors, several hundred of these Jews settled in Malmö after the war and became pillars of the community. In the late 1960s, almost 3,000 Polish Jews fleeing antisemitic persecution arrived in Sweden, with some of them settling in the Malmö area. The community's size peaked at 3,000 people in the early 1970s. The city now has 1,500 Jews, of whom only 534 are active members of the community.
Roko Kursar, photo: Liberalerna
"The issue of antisemitism is a global problem and in Malmö we have been aware of the problem locally for a long time. That's why we've been working on combating antisemitism in a structural way for a long time," says Roko Kursar, one of Malmö's deputy mayors and a member of the city council from the Liberal Party. "Antisemitism in Malmö didn't start after October 7. … We have a collaboration and cooperation with the Jewish community: we have put in resources, formed a steering committee which forms an action plan for every year. We also want to strengthen Jewish life, Jewish identity and Jewish culture in our city, and this is a wide cooperation which has been going on for over four years, and last year we extended this for another four years."
Can you explain?
"For example, we have coordinators in our schools with the job to combat antisemitism… We have also allocated a couple of extra million euros for work on conflict and crisis management in our schools… The work that was put in before October is a basis to gear up and face the challenges, like members of the Jewish community feeling insecure. The solidarity with the Jewish community in Malmö is widespread. We've had 'kippah marches'" – joint marches by Jewish community leaders and national or local political leaders in which they wear kippahs, held in Stockholm and Malmö since October 7 – "and we've had manifestations of solidarity from all sides of the political spectrum joined by citizens showing solidarity with our Jewish brothers and sisters. … Malmö is a very international and multicultural city. … That means we have backgrounds and ethnicities from all over the world, including places which are conflict-torn and war-torn, and many citizens of Malmö are affected by this. We have to always continue the work and be prepared to gear it up."
It may be time to speed things up. "There is fear within the Jewish community these days, especially when it comes to schoolchildren," says Fredrik Sieradzki, spokesman for the local Jewish community and director of the synagogue's Jewish learning center, which teaches locals and visitors about the community. "People are reluctant to say that they are Jewish, and some hide Jewish signs in public. All this isn't new, but it's much worse now. There is a strong sense of being alone. We have wide social circles, but a lot of people have the feeling that many in their social circles are turning against them. There's a lot of unfriending on social media, friends share antisemitic propaganda and so on. This has been a shock for many."
Fredrik Sieradzki, Malmö Jewish community spokesman and director of synagogue's learning center
Kelber describes similar feelings. "When we recently had a Shabbat dinner at the synagogue, people told me that they were afraid to even be near the synagogue." She says that every time she looks at her phone, she encounters antisemitism. "An Instagram account we opened under the name Proud Jew, for example, is filled with pig emojis and videos from Gaza with the question, 'Are you proud of this?' People do not distinguish between Israel and Jews and there are many influencers and celebrities who publish terrible things."
One of the examples Kelber is referring to is Stina Wollter, a highly prominent Swedish artist, radio host, and activist. Wollter wrote on her Instagram account, which has over 300,000 followers, that the Swedish media was not telling the truth about the conflict in Gaza and was ignoring the "fact" that Israel steals organs from dead Palestinians, that Israel lied about rapes and babies being beheaded on October 7, that Israel killed its own citizens by shooting at them from helicopters at the Nova music festival, and more. "We read in the newspaper about swastikas graffiti and attacks on Jews, a few days after October 7, Hamas published a call to attack Jews in the world, and many students simply did not go to university that day. There is always the fear – when will this happen to me," Kelber says.
The controversy surrounding Israel's participation in Eurovision, and then around the first version of its entry for this year's contest, "October Rain" – which, very symbolically, turned into "Hurricane" – certainly did little to allay the fears. "We are aware … that there are risks and security needs and restrictions here. Still, Malmö is a city that should be able to host everyone, including Israelis, so I hope the city will step up," Sieradzki says. "It's reassuring that the city is investing many resources in the event which is important to us all."
Kelber is less official sounding. "When Sweden won last time and when we heard that the Eurovision would be held in Malmö, we were very happy. I love the Eurovision and I would really like to be part of the party. But after October, I'm not ready to risk it. I won't participate" in the celebrations surrounding the event, she says, adding that her friends are also afraid. "We always doubt, and I don't feel like I want to risk myself for the Eurovision. In the past I was optimistic about a Jewish future in Malmö, I thought there were much worse places. But now, unfortunately, I'm not sure I can be optimistic. … [Eurovision is] supposed to be an event of joy and love, but for us it's about fear."
Do you have a message for [Israel's Eurovision entry] Eden Golan and the Israeli delegation?
"Yes, stay safe."
This is far from Malmös first encounter with Eurovision. It was the host city in both 1992 and 2013. "When we had all the options on the table, we conducted a thorough assessment considering many factors. And this time, once again, all the pieces fell into place in Malmö," Ebba Adielsson, the executive producer of Eurovision 2024, says. The city, she says, has the necessary "infrastructure, new meeting places and one of Sweden's best arenas. … In Malmö there is also a great commitment and a great deal of experience in hosting Eurovision."
Has the Swedish production team discussed the fact that there are large Palestinian protests on a regular basis in Malmöand that these may affect the event?
"We understand and are aware that people are making their voices heard on this issue and we are prepared for protests that may occur in connection with the event," Adielsson says.
Despite these assurances, Kelber says she was relieved when news emerged that Israel might not participate this year. Not everyone is happy that Israel is still set to do so. A group of residents has filed a motion asking the city to disqualify the Israeli delegation, which will most likely be debated in April. The Left Party is the only one in the city council that is expected to support the proposal, whose value is mainly symbolic in any case. The city has no authority to act on the matter beyond contacting the European Broadcasting Union.
Nina Jakku is a Left Party member of the Malmö City Council and the party's political secretary in the city. She says that the motion is a citizens' initiative, not a political one. We speak in her office, which is decorated with a large picture of Karl Marx and posters of Palestinian flags and slogans. "The Left Party supports the initiative by saying that it would be a good statement from the city of Malmö to say we don't wish for Israel to participate in the Eurovision."
Why shouldn't Israel participate, actually?
"It's about the situation in Gaza. The International Court of Justice is asking Israel to take immediate and effective measures to prevent a genocide and Israel has not even taken the bare minimum. Perhaps it has even done the opposite. The question should be how can we go on with business as usual."
Assuming that Eurovision does go on as usual, what are the Left Party and related movements planning to do as a protest during the song contest in May?
"The city of Malmö can't make a decision not to allow Israel's participation, but … there is a broad movement which is planning demonstration, a boycott campaign, and other protest events which in a sense have already started. We are part of that in the broader context," Jakku says.
That broad movement seems to be gaining momentum. Over 1,000 Swedish musical acts, including Robyn, Fever Ray, the folk duo First Aid Kit, and some of the singers who participated in Melodifestivalen (the competition that determines Sweden's Eurovision entry) signed an open letter demanding that Israel be barred from this year's competition over its "brutal" war in Gaza.
The letter, which was published in the Aftonbladet daily in January, states: "We believe that by allowing Israel's participation, the European Broadcasting Union is exhibiting a remarkable double standard that undermines the organization's credibility. … The fact that countries that place themselves above humanitarian law are welcomed to participate in international cultural events trivializes violations of international law and makes the suffering of the victims invisible."
From the Malmö.for.Palestine Instegram account
The musicians are hardly alone. Many social media groups are calling for a boycott of Israel and protests against its participation. One of them, Malmö for Palestine, is calling for weekly demonstrations outside city hall. In a message posted on Instagram, an illustration of an Israeli soldier with a microphone and a cable made of razor wire appears next to the slogans "remove Israel from Eurovision" and "stop the genocide in Gaza." The soldier is standing at the entrance to the Eurovision stage door, and his gun drips blood onto a large puddle that has already accumulated beneath him.
Nina Jakku's colleague at the city council, Anfal Mahdi, has also called for Israel's disqualification. "Belarus got a 'No' in 2021, Russia got a 'No' in 2022, Israel can also get a 'No' in 2024," she wrote on her Instagram account. "We've all seen how Israel starves and bombs Gaza. Children undergo amputations without anesthesia, the health services are bombed and smashed to pieces. There is no water, no food and no electricity for the residents of Gaza. Malmö should not celebrate with terrorist states." In a different post, Mahdi added: "Being political for Ukraine but not for Palestine is pure racism."
"I think there is no reason to compare wars or occupations, they are all horrific, wherever they are," Jakku says when asked about the comparison of Israel to Russia regarding Eurovision. "Still, the decision not to allow Russia to participate was correct and it would be correct not to allow Israel to participate too. In that sense it is comparable."
Do you take into account the effect of the demonstrations on members of the Jewish community in Malmö? Are you aware of the claim that the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the city include antisemitic content?"
"I hope everyone will be safe to visit anywhere they want to in Malmö . I do agree that there is a big concern when it comes to antisemitism in Malmö . Every antiracist should be concerned about that situation. But I have been participating in massive protests in Malmö almost every week since October and in these demonstrations, there are no signs or slogans that can be classified as antisemitic. The protests are against war crimes, about genocide and what's happening in Gaza. They're asking for a cease-fire and raising concerns about the violence and killing of civilians. Antisemitism in Malmö and the protests against Israel, of which [the latter] are totally legitimate, are two entirely different things," Jakku says.
Nina Jakku, photo: Emmalisa Pauli
What about the burning of the Israeli flag outside the synagogue and the spontaneous demonstrations on the evening of October 7 that praised the massacre and Hamas?
"There have been some protests that have been totally unacceptable. But if you look at the total amount of people and demonstrations, the flag-burning was just one occasion, with only a couple of people involved. There have been some other occasions that can be seen as inappropriate, but we have taken part in protests against burning the flag and we have to be able to hold two thoughts in our head at the same time," she says – that is, to support the protests against Israel while also ensuring nothing inappropriate happens.
Doesn't excluding singers, dancers, and those who love Israeli music hurt precisely Israelis who are open to criticism and destroy the chances for dialogue?
"The question implies that there are two equal parts that can engage in a dialogue; that there's a possibility of a dialogue. But as far as I can see, that's not the case in the past 75 years. What we have is a military occupation that is using massive violence, and the people of Gaza don't have the possibility of dialogue with those who oppress them. The boycott is a possibility for the rest of the world to put pressure on Israel and we need to use it. As I understand, there are also some Israeli organizations calling for a boycott. The boycott isn't against an individual. It's the State of Israel that's the target."
The situation, certainly since October 7, is not a situation where one side is strong, conquering, and oppressive. There are victims on both sides. Israel has more than 1,000 civilian victims, including more than 200 hostages, some of whom are still in Gaza. Isn't your protest one-sided?
"The massacres in Gaza are going on now, and that is what we're trying to stop. I'm not questioning feelings or other victims, it's not my place to do so, but the people in Gaza are starving, tens of thousands have been murdered in five months, the International Court of Justice has called to prevent a genocide and other organizations are talking about war crimes which are going on. Unfortunately, we can't change what happened on October 7, but nothing justifies business as usual, as the Israeli bombs are killing civilians in Gaza month after month."
It has been reported that the Left Party's foreign aid organization, Left International Forum, has for years, via its Danish partners, cooperated with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. It is also known that the party had tight connections with Group 194 and similar organizations that, according to many reports in Swedish media outlets, also supported the DFLP, spread antisemitic propaganda, and supported armed resistance against Israel. In light of the current war, does the party still support these partners and their messages, or has the party changed its policy on this?
"Regarding [Left International Forum], their statement has been that they take responsibility and their task now is to make sure that something like this never happens again in our organization. When it comes to the other groups, I don't have any further information."
What is almost certain to happen, as Jakku says, is protests against Israel being part of Eurovision. Other Palestinian solidarity organizations in Malmö didn't respond to inquiries from Haaretz, but they are presumably planning major protest activity in the city during the song contest in May. Are measures being taken to prevent attempts to use the live broadcast as a platform for political protest, perhaps by planting large numbers of political activists in the audience with propaganda items like signs and flags to wave before the cameras?
"One of Eurovision's fundamental values is to be a nonpolitical event where everyone is united through music," says Adielsson, the song contest's executive producer this year. "[W]e always go through potential/prospective and conceivable scenarios and … take measures to avoid political expressions during the live broadcasts."
Were the musicians and members of the delegations told that they are not allowed to express political opinions before, during, and after the show, as the competition rules state?
"The European Broadcasting Union is responsible for the rules regarding the Eurovision Song Contest, [which] state that it is a nonpolitical event. For further information or questions on the topic, please contact the [union]."
City officials were similarly cautious and terse in their responses. "I heard that the Eurovision is the second largest TV show in the world after the Super Bowl, so obviously having it here in Malmö is important to us," says Kursar, a deputy member and council member. "But it's not the first time this is happening; we had the Eurovision in Malmö in the early 1990s and again in 2013. From the city's perspective, it's a very important event. … We're looking forward to having an inclusive, welcoming, and sustainable song contest," Kursar says.
I understand that despite the inclusive competition, less inclusive demonstrations are expected surrounding it. Let's say anti-Israeli protests with extreme expressions of antisemitism.
"[W]e have freedom of speech and freedom of protest in Sweden, and this is a question for the police to answer and decide on. The police are responsible for questions regarding public order, and we have a very good dialogue with the police."
Overall, the city government puts forward a united front of full trust in the police. It's a matter for the police, the city's director of safety and security, Per-Erik Ebbestahl, concurs. In any case, he adds, officials aren't aware of any concrete threats.
The police have ways to avoid eroding Jewish audiences' sense of security, such as refusing to approve a protest location or changing it, Ebbestahl says. He says the city is responsible for security at the events in which it is the main organizer and that there is no upper limit to the budget put into it.
Nevertheless, on the Israeli side, no one is taking chances. Although things are still under review, says a person familiar with the country's preparations for Eurovision, there will clearly be very stringent restrictions on the delegation, and it will be absent from events that other delegations attend, such as media appearances, public relations events, and parties.
It is Israel's ambassador to Sweden, Ziv Nevo Kulman, who sees less reason for anxiety. He says that despite Malmö's image as a place that is hostile and dangerous for Israelis, he knows another side of the city. "I was in Malmö during the 2021 Malmö International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism," Nevo Kulman says, "and I saw how this city knows how to deal with major international events. Not all of Malmö is against us, and not all of Sweden is against us.
"It is true that [Eurovision] is a complex event in which there can be provocations, protests and demonstrations, but I trust the Swedish authorities to take the challenges seriously and those responsible for the competition itself and the members of the delegations to ensure that the rules of the competition are respected and that no politics are brought into it. So, on the one hand, it may well be that Israelis, Jews, or members of the LGBT community, who usually support Israeli music, will not feel comfortable walking around Malmö with Israeli flags. But from what I hear, the Swedes are opposed to ostracism and only on the extreme left are there calls against Israel, for populist reasons. Most of the Swedes I've spoken to said they are against mixing politics and music and that they are happy that Israel is participating."
In general, says Nevo Kulman, a die-hard Eurovision fan and Israel's official representative, if it weren't for the political issue, he has no doubt that Israel would reach a respectable place in the final contest. "The song is excellent, Eden is amazing, and the performance is great," he says.
Are you willing to bet on Israel's final position?
Israel has so far refrained from engaging with the Swedish Democrats amid antisemitic and Islamophobic sentiments expressed by members. Party members told Haaretz that they met with several ministers during their visit but refused to disclose their names.
A delegation of senior members from the far-right party in Sweden, the Swedish Democrats, arrived in Israel on an unofficial visit and met on Monday with Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli in the Knesset.
The party, currently the second-largest in the Swedish parliament, has roots in neo-Nazi and antisemitic ideologies. It is one of several European parties with which Israel has refrained from establishing official ties.
The delegation has visited Yad Vashem, one of the crossings connecting Israel to the West Bank, and the Old City in Jerusalem. Yad Vashem Museum has emphasized that the delegation members registered for a regular guided tour at the site, like any other tourists, and did not have an official visit within the compound.
Officials in Sweden following the party suggest that the visit is part of its attempt to whitewash its antisemitic and racist positions by presenting itself as a friend of Israel. In a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the party leader, Jimmie Akesson, wrote: "It is clear that our parties and our nations share common values," accompanied by a photo of himself with Minister Chikli.
Party members told Haaretz that they met with several ministers during their visit but refused to disclose their names.
Israel has so far refrained from engaging with the Swedish Democrats not only due to their neo-Nazi roots but also because members of the party have disseminated conspiracy theories and expressed racist, antisemitic, and Islamophobic sentiments in recent years.
Israel's Ambassador to Stockholm, Ziv Nevo Kulman, even declared that Israel does not maintain and will not establish future relations with the party. The Israeli foreign ministry, which was not involved in coordinating the visit, clarified on Monday that "there is no change in policy towards the party."
Among the delegation members who visited the Knesset were party leader Akesson, the chairman of the Swedish parliament's foreign affairs committee, Aron Emilsson, the head of the party's parliamentary group, Linda Lindberg, and the head of the party's group in the European Parliament, Charlie Weimers.
Weimers is one of the party's top members who already visited Israel in May of last year. During the previous visit, it was reported that party leaders met with Knesset member Amit Halevi from Likud and former Knesset member Michael Kleiner, who now serves as the president of the Likud's court.
Though part of the Swedish political establishment today, the Sweden Democrats do indeed have roots in Nazism. Some of the party's founders were known Nazis, such as its first auditor, Gustaf Ekström, who was a Waffen-SS veteran.
The party's first spokesperson Leif Ericsson and its first chairman Anders Klarström were both active in various neo-Nazi and extremist right-wing parties, and the chairman of the party's youth organization, Robert Vesterlund, was also a known neo-Nazi. During the 80's and 90's, the party was a marginal force in Swedish politics, and it began distancing itself from extremism and aligning itself closer to mainstream politics in the mid 90's.
The party entered the Swedish parliament for the first time in 2010, and in the elections held a year and a half ago, it received over 20% of the votes. Until a few years ago, the party was ostracized by parties across the political spectrum in Sweden and was not considered for inclusion in any coalition.
However, due to a change in approach by two traditional right-wing parties, the Swedish Democrats became an integral part of the right-wing bloc after the elections, with the government in Stockholm entirely dependent on their support. Party members wield significant influence over the government's policies and hold key positions in parliamentary committees, including foreign affairs, justice, and industry and trade.
In recent months, the party has been attempting to position itself as "the most pro-Israel party in Sweden" and distance itself from its antiemetic and neo-Nazi past. However, in 2021, the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet revealed that the party leader in the second-largest city council in Sweden, Gothenburg, Jörgen Fogelklou, had posted antisemitic and racist statements on social media, such as "It is clear that the Jews are the root of all evil in the world."
Two years ago, it was exposed that some party members had connections with neo-Nazi movements even in recent years. For instance, one party member in southern Sweden, Jonas Lingren, publicly supported rock bands advocating for "white supremacy" and used the slogan "Skinhead 88" (88 is a known code for Heil Hitler, i.e., HH).
Swedish daily news site Expressen reported that the object found and detonated by police was a hand grenade. Israel's ambassador to Sweden thanked police for its swift response
Swedish police detonated on Wednesday a suspicious object found near the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, believed to be an explosive charge.
The Swedish daily news site Expressen reported that it was a hand grenade.
Israel's ambassador to Sweden, Ziv Nevo Kulman, said this was an "attempted attack" against the embassy and its employees, and thanked Swedish authorities "for their swift response." He added that they "will not be intimidated by terror."
Shortly after the attack, a police car and an officer with a weapon drawn were seen outside the Hillel Jewish school in the center of Stockholm.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz commended the Swedish authorities in a post on X for their "vigilance and quick handling of the attempt to attack the embassy in Stockholm." "Our excellent diplomats around the world are subject to danger and threats from supporters of Islamic terrorism. I told this to all my colleagues – Islamic terrorism must be eradicated everywhere. In Gaza and Europe. Defend your countries," he added.
"This is very serious. An attempted attack on an embassy is an attack both on those who work there and on Sweden," Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a social media post, adding police and Sweden's Security Police were investigating "who is or who are responsible".
Kristersson said surveillance of the embassy and of Jewish institutions in Sweden had been tightened.
Aron Verstandig, chairman of the Council of Jewish Communities in Sweden, told Haaretz that he takes the incident very seriously. "I condemn this criminal act," he said.
Petra Kahn Nord, representative of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) in the Nordic countries, says she sees the attempted attack as very serious. "It is very good that the Swedish authorities acted quickly and decisively," she said. "Now I hope that whoever is behind this will be found and prosecuted soon."
Earlier this month, Israel's Mossad spy agency and Shin Bet security service said that three European countries arrested suspects allegedly involved in plans by Hamas to attack Israeli and Jewish targets abroad.
The planned targets included the Israeli Embassy in Sweden, the agencies said. While other European embassies were open and functioning normally in the weeks following the outbreak of the war, the embassy in Stockholm was completely closed, very strict restrictions were imposed on the movement and work of Israeli diplomats in the country, and consular services were not provided to Israelis living in Sweden except in very urgent cases.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and opposition leader Magdalena Andersson were among those marching in Stockholm against antisemitism on Wednesday. 'All leaders bear a responsibility to draw a line against hate,' says premier
STOCKHOLM – It was minus 12 degrees Celsius (10 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Swedish capital on Wednesday afternoon. Raoul Wallenberg Square, named for the Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust, was covered with both snow and security personnel. The tightened security was not just because of the country's high terror alert, but also due to an unusual gathering taking place there at 1 P.M.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson was at the heart of it all, accompanied by senior members of his government, opposition leader Magdalena Andersson, and the heads of most other opposition parties. In fact, apart from the far-right Sweden Democrats, every single party in the Swedish Parliament showed up for this unique event, coalescing together around the same agenda.
That in itself is unusual, but there was an especially rare element to this gathering: the male politicians were all wearing kippot.
The event, an initiative of the Swedish Parliament's Network Against Antisemitism and the Council of Swedish-Jewish Communities, was dubbed a "kippa march." Politicians, Jewish leaders and several hundred marchers placed the kippot atop their heads and walked through central Stockholm, in order to show solidarity with Sweden's small Jewish community and take a stand against antisemitism.
"The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah begins [on Thursday], and it's about spreading light in the darkness," said Magnus Manhammar, who represents the Social Democratic Party and the Network Against Antisemitism. "Sweden and the world need less polarization and fewer harsh words," he added.
As politicians and participants walked past the Royal Opera House and Royal Palace, they attracted both media and public attention. They then arrived at their destination: Parliament House, where they listened to speeches by PM Kristersson, opposition leader Andersson and others.
Israel's Sweden ambassador, Ziv Nevo Kulman, was there as well, alongside the leadership of many Swedish-Jewish institutions and organizations.
"We are here today to show our support for Sweden's Jews. The right to express one's faith, identity, culture and relations is fundamental in a democracy like ours," Kristersson said. "The government and I will never accept the development we have seen both in Europe and in Sweden since the terrorist attack on October 7 [in southern Israel]. No Jew in Sweden should have to ask himself or herself whether he or she dares to stay in their own country."
Since the Israel-Hamas war began, Kristersson has made numerous statements in support of both Israel and Sweden's Jewish community. He told the parliament that in the context of the harsh, sometimes hostile, political debate about the war in Gaza, "it's legitimate to think differently about conflicts there, but not to spread antisemitism here."
Andersson, meanwhile, said that "in recent months, we have seen antisemitic slogans being chanted in the streets and squares. Spread online. More and more people with a Jewish background are affected. Anxiety spreads, insecurity grows. All leaders – political, religious, in civil society – bear a responsibility to draw a line against hate; to stand up for our way of life, in contrast to those who seek to divide."
She added that "because Jewish life in Sweden is as obvious as an inalienable part of our society, the fight against antisemitism in all its forms must be principled and vigorous. Support for Jewish life must be strong. And in this situation, continued measures against antisemitism, resources for security-enhancing measures and education about the Holocaust and antisemitism, are more important than ever."
From left to right: Center Party leader, Muharrem Demirok; Liberal Party leader, Johan Pehrson; Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson; Oposition leader Magdalena Andersson; Left Party leader, Nooshi Dadgostar Photo credit: Hugh Gordon
It's estimated that about 15,000 Jews live in Sweden, which has a population of just over 10 million (although there are probably many more Swedes who are Jewish by descent). The capital has the country's largest Jewish community, with other communities found in Malmö, Gothenburg and a couple of smaller towns.
Antisemitism is by no means a new phenomenon in Swedish society, and in recent years various governments have made concerted efforts to address it. Against the backdrop of the latest war in Gaza, though, media reports have indicated a sharp rise in the number of antisemitic incidents. These include bullying, threats and hate crimes in Swedish schools, antisemitic propaganda spread in universities, "pro-Palestinian" demonstrations featuring antisemitic slogans, and the spreading of antisemitic hate and conspiracy theories online.
"The truth is that antisemitism exists in several places in our society – among Islamists, right-wing extremists and left-wing extremists," said Aron Verständig, chairman of the Council of Swedish-Jewish Communities. "It's not possible to approach the problem by simply pointing out one group as solely responsible for Jew-hatred in society. It's gratifying, therefore, that leading politicians from so many different parties chose to cooperate on Wednesday. The fight against Jew-hatred is everyone's fight."
Swedish Police Approve Hebrew Bible-burning Event Near Israeli Embassy in Stockholm
According to reports in Swedish media, local police will allow the event to take place on Saturday, during which the attendees are expected to burn a Hebrew and Christian bible in an attempt to expose Swedish hyprocisy
July 14th
Police in Sweden have approved a request to burn both a Hebrew and a Christian Bible during a protest expected to take place Saturday in front of the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, police in the Swedish capital have confirmed. The request was made by a 32-year-old Swede who claims that his action is a protest against recent events of burning the Quran, which were approved by Swedish authorities and took place in the last few months.
In a statement released on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he condemns “in the strongest terms the authorities’ decision in Sweden to permit the burning of a Jewish Bible in front of the Israeli Embassy.” Netanyahu added that “this deeply shameful act undermines the sacredness of the Jewish people’s holiest scriptures.” Israel’s ambassador to Sweden, Ziv Nevo Kulman, condemned the burning of holy books from any religion, saying it’s “an act of hate and disrespect, that has nothing to do with freedom of expression.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he “unequivocally condemn[s] the permission granted in Sweden to burn holy books,” and that he is “heartbroken that the same fate awaits a Jewish Bible.” Herzog added that “permitting the defacement of sacred texts is not an exercise in freedom of expression, it is blatant incitement and an act of pure hate.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen also stated on Friday that “burning a Torah scroll is a hate crime, provocation, and a severe attack on the Jewish people and Jewish tradition,” urging Swedish authorities to “prevent this disgraceful event and not allow the burning of a Torah scroll.” On Friday, the European Jewish Congress (EJC) also issued a condemnation, saying the Swedish authorities shouldn’t allow the event to take place. “Provocative, racist, antisemitic and sickening acts such as these have no place in any civilized society,” EJC president Dr. Ariel Muzicant said.
The Official Council of Swedish Jewish Communities published a statement claiming that “our tragic European history links the burning of Jewish books with pogroms, expulsions, inquisitions and the Holocaust.” The council added that it condemns the abuse of freedom of expression that takes place with the aim of sowing hatred in society. “Burning holy books, be it the Quran, the Torah or the New Testament,” it concluded, “are hateful acts that we perceive as direct threats to the societies that value them. Following the Quran burnings, we support the Muslim community in Sweden, express our gratitude for their strong stance and condemnation, and sincerely hope that this and all other burnings of holy books will stop.”
In a meeting with representatives of religious communities in Sweden, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said: “Sweden is and must be a country where people of different faiths – or no faith – can live together side by side in mutual respect. Let us together fight the hatred in society, which drives people to burn the Quran, the Bible or the Torah, and in places and times that are most offensive. Instead, let’s show each other respect.”
The practice of burning holy books in Sweden started a few years ago as a result of a Danish far right provocateur and politician named Rasmus Paludan. A few of Paludan’s supporters burned the Quran in the southern city of Malmö in 2020, and he himself repeated the act a number of times since then.
Rasmus Paludan in Stockholm, August 2022, photo: David Stavrou
In April 2022, Paludan managed to provoke a violent reaction when criminal elements took advantage of the local communities’ outrage and used the opportunity to set off riots which included setting cars on fire and attacking police in several Swedish towns. In January, Paludan returned to Sweden after he received a permit to burn a Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. This time the reaction had geopolitical implications. Turkey used the Quran burning in Stockholm as a pretext to continue blocking Sweden’s decision to join NATO.
Things got even worse in June when an Iraqi Christian immigrant burned a Quran just outside a Stockholm Mosque during Eid al-Adha. This led to anti-Sweden protests all over the Arab world. In recent weeks there have been more applications sent to the police requesting approval to hold demonstrations which include burning of holy books. The current case of burning of Jewish and Christian holy scripture is intended as a way of exposing Swedish hypocrisy, claiming the authorities allow burning the Quran in the name of freedom of expression too easily, but many claim the result is that a handful of extremists have managed to drag Sweden down a path which is becoming both dangerous and internationally embracing.
Some Swedes have had enough of this, including some government officials. Jonas Trolle, the head of the Swedish Center for Preventing Violent Extremism, for example, said that it’s time for Sweden to consider certain legal changes. “Sweden needs to be equipped in a turbulent time in Europe,” he wrote in “Expressen” one of Sweden’s daily newspapers, “Today it’s Quran burnings, tomorrow it will be something else. Without a legal change, Sweden risks becoming vulnerable. It’s unreasonable that our laws concerning public order are out of step with our basic laws [concerning freedom of speech]. We must protect both our freedom of expression and our national security.” Trolle also claimed in recent interviews to the Swedish press that Sweden needs a “reality check” in these matters and it can learn from countries like Germany, France and the UK which have managed to legally forbid these kinds of events and still remain democratic.
Earlier this month, a man who identified himself in Swedish media as a refugee from Iraq burned a Quran outside a mosque in central Stockholm – resulting in strong condemnation from several countries. Shortly after, reports surfaced about another individual who had applied for a police permit to burn the Torah outside the Israeli embassy. “I am shocked and horrified by the prospect of the burning of more books in Sweden, be it the Koran [sic], the Torah or any other holy book,” Ambassador Nevo Kulman tweeted in early July.
Man Who Planned Hebrew Bible-burning Event in Stockholm Delivers Speech Against Act Instead
The 32-year-old Swedish citizen, who is Muslim, says his intention was to 'show how wrong it is that people don't respect other religions'
July 15th
STOCKHOLM — A 32-year-old Swede named Ahmad Alush who announced that he intended to burn a Hebrew and Christian Bible on Saturday in front of the Israeli embassy in Stockholm surprised those present and instead gave a speech against the burning of religious books. When he arrived in front of the Israeli embassy in Stockholm at noon holding a large lighter in his hand, he made it clear that he did not intend to use it. "I'm Muslim, we don't burn [books]," he said, adding "I wanted to show how wrong it is that people don't respect other religions."
The man, who lives in the south of Sweden, explained on Friday that he intends to burn a Bible as a protest against an event about three weeks ago in which a Quran was burned before a mosque in Stockholm with police permission. "It deeply saddens me and many others in Sweden and the world who allow the Quran to be burned," he explained. "I know that the Swedes are very good people and that they want to prevent the burning of the Quran and that there is a legal obstacle to doing that."
Ahmad Alush, the man who said he'd burn a Torah book outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, photo: David Stavrou
After the Swedish police approved the man's request to burn the Bibles, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen instructed Israel’s ambassador to Sweden, Ziv Nevo Kulman, "to act in every way in order to prevent this shameful incident." It was also reported that the ministry's political director Aliza Bin Noun spoke with Kulman in Israel "and made clear to him the seriousness with which Israel views the police's approval of damage to the sacred sites of Judaism."
The decision to permit burning of the Bible was met with harsh criticism in Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying he condemns “in the strongest terms the authorities’ decision in Sweden to permit the burning of a Jewish Bible in front of the Israeli Embassy.” Netanyahu added that “this deeply shameful act undermines the sacredness of the Jewish people’s holiest scriptures.” Kulman earlier condemned the burning of holy books from any religion, saying it’s “an act of hate and disrespect, that has nothing to do with freedom of expression.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he “unequivocally condemn[s] the permission granted in Sweden to burn holy books,” and that he is “heartbroken that the same fate awaits a Jewish Bible.” Herzog added that “permitting the defacement of sacred texts is not an exercise in freedom of expression, it is blatant incitement and an act of pure hate.” On Friday, the European Jewish Congress (EJC) also issued a condemnation, saying the Swedish authorities shouldn’t allow the event to take place. “Provocative, racist, antisemitic and sickening acts such as these have no place in any civilized society,” EJC president Dr. Ariel Muzicant said.
In a meeting with representatives of religious communities in Sweden, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said: “Sweden is and must be a country where people of different faiths – or no faith – can live together side by side in mutual respect. Let us together fight the hatred in society, which drives people to burn the Quran, the Bible or the Torah, and in places and times that are most offensive. Instead, let’s show each other respect.”
The practice of burning holy books in Sweden started a few years ago as a result of a Danish far right provocateur and politician named Rasmus Paludan. A few of Paludan’s supporters burned the Quran in the southern city of Malmö in 2020, and he himself repeated the act a number of times since then. In January, Paludan returned to Sweden after he received a permit to burn a Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. This time the reaction had geopolitical implications. Turkey used the Quran burning in Stockholm as a pretext to continue blocking Sweden’s decision to join NATO.
When an Iraqi Christian immigrant burned a Quran just outside a Stockholm Mosque during Eid al-Adha in June, anti-Sweden protests broke out all over the Arab world. In recent weeks there have been more applications sent to the police requesting approval to hold demonstrations which include burning of holy books. Earlier this month, a man who identified himself in Swedish media as a refugee from Iraq burned a Quran outside a mosque in central Stockholm – resulting in strong condemnation from several countries. Shortly after, reports surfaced about another individual who had applied for a police permit to burn the Torah outside the Israeli embassy. “I am shocked and horrified by the prospect of the burning of more books in Sweden, be it the Koran [sic], the Torah or any other holy book,” Ambassador Nevo Kulman tweeted in early July.
The Torah Wasn’t Burned This Time. But What’s Next?
Are public burnings of the Quran and other holy books inevitable in a country that values free speech? No, according to the co-head of a Jewish-Muslim organization in Sweden, Rabbi Moshe David Hacohen. 'These events are an opportunity for cooperation, because the threat to Muslims and Jews is real,' he says
July 16th
STOCKHOLM – The Swedish capital found itself in the world news this weekend when a Muslim man who had pledged to burn copies of the Torah and Bible in front of the Israeli Embassy instead discarded his lighter and sought to send a message about respecting other religions. The Swede, who was named in the media as Ahmad Alush, went on to explain that he and many other Muslims were saddened by the burning of the Quran in Sweden and that the right to freedom of expression can’t excuse such hate crimes.
The practice of the Quran being publicly burned in Sweden started a few years ago because of a far-right Danish politician called Rasmus Paludan. A few of his supporters burned the sacred book of Islam in the southern city of Malmö in 2020, and he himself has subsequently repeated the act a number of times. In April 2022, he managed to provoke a violent reaction when criminal elements took advantage of the local outrage and started riots, including setting cars alight and attacking police forces in several Swedish towns.
Last January, Paludan returned to Sweden after receiving a permit to burn a Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. This time, the reaction had geopolitical implications: Turkey used the incident as a pretext to continue blocking Sweden’s efforts to join NATO. Things got even worse last month when an Iraqi Christian immigrant burned a Quran just outside a Stockholm mosque during the Eid al-Adha festival. This prompted not only more Turkish reaction, but also anti-Sweden protests all over the Arab world. And more applications requesting approval to hold public demonstrations to burn the holy books of three major religions (Judaism, Islam and Christianity) were sent to the police in recent weeks.
On Saturday, Alush said he wanted to expose Swedish hypocrisy that permits the Quran to be burned in the name of freedom of expression, but ended up making a wider statement by saying the practice of burning holy books must end.
Dismantling the fear
This point has been made by others, including some Swedish officials. Jonas Trolle, who heads the Swedish Center for Preventing Violent Extremism, has said it’s time for Sweden to consider certain legal changes. He said in recent media interviews that Sweden needs a “reality check” in such matters and that it can learn from countries such as Germany, France and Britain, which have managed to legally ban these kinds of events yet still remain democratic.
Civil society has also joined the discourse over the burning of holy books. The Amanah organization, founded by Imam Salahuddin Barakat and Rabbi Moshe David Hacohen, for instance, has prevented Torah burnings in the past. The group focuses on creating a trusting society while working to combat discrimination, antisemitism and Islamophobia.
“Jewish history is useful in this debate,” Hacohen said in an interview. “It’s clear that the purpose of burning holy books is not to demonstrate an objection to the content of the books; it’s about creating the Other in society – like Nazi propaganda in the 1930s. Burning books is a way of showing certain people that they are not welcome in society, and this leads to legitimizing murder.”
Asked what Amanah does when it learns that someone intends to burn a holy book, Hacohen explained that “the first thing we do is join forces. These events are a good opportunity for real cooperation, because the threat to both Muslims and Jews is real. We try to bring in forces from the Jewish world, the Muslim world, the leaderships of all communities in Sweden, the Nordic countries and Europe, and we try to send a unified message.
“On a more local and practical level, we exert our influence wherever we can behind the scenes – not only in order to prevent the burning of books, but also to prevent antisemitic incidents and Islamophobic behavior such as hate speech online. We work on dismantling the fear and building bridges in various ways. We created a digital project for Swedish schools, funded by the Swedish government, which helps young people understand what it’s like to be a Muslim or a Jew in Sweden. We also created a Jewish-Muslim madrassa [school] for adults, in order to deepen the knowledge about the two religions, understand the similarities, and see beyond the black and white way of seeing reality.” Hacohen noted that the imam of Stockholm's main mosque spoke on Friday against the burning of all holy books, and added that Muslims should not act against Jews who are their partners in the struggle against Quran burnings.
Sweden's unique interface
As for why Sweden has seemingly become an epicenter of book-burning controversies, Hacohen believes it is because the country has a unique interface where religion and social freedom meet. “The limits of democracy are stretched as they meet different cultural and religious values such as those brought by immigrants who arrive to a very different culture than they came from,” he said. “This friction triggers a debate about limits on freedom of speech and limits on behavior in the public arena when it comes to hate and racism. In Sweden, freedom of expression is a value above almost all others, and limiting it because of the danger of hate crimes is seen by many Swedes as a threat to their basic values.”
Hacohen referred to Jewish tradition when asked if Swedish exaltation of freedom of expression makes such incidents inevitable. “Amanah was invited to a panel discussion at the law faculty in Lund University. The participants were a law professor, the archbishop of the Church of Sweden and us, Imam Barakat and myself. When asked about the freedom of expression in Judaism, I replied that the notion of freedom is very personal, it’s about how one relates to choices. But when it comes to social laws and the relationship to others, the word ‘responsibility’ is used. We have rules regarding responsibility to others and the society we live in. It’s about responsibility rather than freedom. Perhaps this distinction can help direct us toward a true cohesive society where we care for one another and have a trusted shared space.”
The rabbi also highlighted recent comments by the Vatican and the World Jewish Congress. Pope Francis told United Arab Emirates daily Al-Ittihad that any book considered sacred by its people must be respected out of respect for its believers. “Freedom of expression must never be used as an excuse to despise others, and allowing this must be rejected and condemned,” the pope was quoted as saying.
WJC President Ronald Lauder, meanwhile, reacted to the recent incidents in Sweden by calling the burning of the Quran a “heinous act,” expressing solidarity with “our Muslim brothers and sisters.” On Friday, he said that “the burning of our sacred texts ostracizes and hurts the Swedish Jewish community as well as all those who value pluralism and multiculturalism. Books should be read and cherished, not set ablaze.”
Quran Burnings and Terror Threats: Israel Warns Citizens to Avoid Crowds – in Sweden
As Sweden raises its terrorism alert to its second-highest level, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson warns of potential revenge attacks for recent public burnings of the Quran – from Lebanon's Hezbollah, Al-Shabab in Somalia and Al-Qaida
August 21st
STOCKHOLM – The Swedish Security Service on Thursday raised the country's terrorist-threat level to its second-highest rung, a step last taken in 2016 when Europe was wracked by terror attacks. The move follows a spate of Quran burnings by protesters in Sweden, angering the Muslim world and triggering assaults on Swedish consulates and embassies in Baghdad, Beirut and Izmir, Turkey. The threat level will now be a 4 in a five-rung scale.
“There are also several examples of terrorist groups that have urged their sympathizers around the world to take revenge for the Quran burnings that have taken place in Sweden. Among them are Hezbollah in Lebanon, al-Shabab in Somalia and Al-Qaida,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a press conference Wednesday.
At the news conference, officials said the authorities had thwarted terrorist attempts and made arrests. Sweden's security agencies were cooperating with each other and their foreign counterparts, Kristersson added. Meanwhile, Britain and the United States have warned their citizens to stay vigilant in public places and tourist sites in Sweden. Even the National Security Council in Jerusalem has asked Israelis to “try their best to avoid crowded places and public institutions at the present time.” British officials have said there is a chance that terrorists will attempt to strike in Sweden, adding that the Swedish security agencies had already prevented attacks on Swedish citizens.
Burning holy books as a political provocation is nothing new to this Scandinavian country. For years now, far-right Danish politician Rasmus Paludan has been burning Qurans to express opposition to immigration to Sweden and neighboring Denmark, and in a bid to goad immigrant communities. In April 2022, provoked by Paludan, criminal elements took advantage of Muslim citizens' wrath and sparked riots in Swedish cities that included the torching of cars and attacks on the police. In January this year, Paludan returned to Sweden after receiving permission to burn a Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. This time there were geopolitical repercussions: Turkey used the event as one of its reasons to block Sweden's entry into NATO.
The situation worsened in June when Salwan Momika, an Iraqi Christian, burned a Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm during the Eid al-Adha holiday. This time, the Turkish protests were joined by anti-Swedish demonstrations around the world. This wasn't the only Quran-burning by Momika, an anti-Muslim activist and asylum seeker who has been in Sweden since 2018. He has burned a Quran outside parliament, and on Friday, a day after the raising of the threat level, he burned the book outside the Iranian Embassy. Similar incidents have occurred in Denmark. In recent weeks, further requests for approval to burn holy books have been submitted to the Swedish police, with torchings of the New Testament and the Hebrew Bible also being prepared.
Sweden has absolute freedom of speech; it has no law preventing the burning of holy books. Meanwhile, the country’s legislation on hate crimes and public disturbances doesn’t allow the police to prevent book burnings, except in extraordinary circumstances. But many in Sweden argue that the country is paying too high a price for this policy. The freedom to burn holy books is letting a handful of extremists – whose views or actions are very unpopular around the country – drag Sweden into severe international crises while worsening the security situation.
At the press conference, Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer said that new legislation to fight terror groups is now in place while new policies have been crafted to prevent terrorists from entering the country in the first place. Sweden's police chiefs added that the security services were following suspects' online activities, gathering intelligence on radicals and preparing the rescue and security services for a rapid response to all scenarios. The head of the Swedish Security Service, Charlotte von Essen, added that the threat to Sweden may carry on for a long time.
She said the threat stems largely from Islamic extremists, while the spread of fake news, disinformation and rumors about Sweden – mainly portraying it as an anti-Muslim country – worsens the situation. The authorities are also monitoring intimidation from the far right and security threats in the entire region, against the backdrop of Russia's war on Ukraine and the Swedes' subsequent request to join NATO.
The threats in Sweden cast a shadow over Stockholm’s annual end-of-summer culture festival, which ended Sunday. For many Swedes, the mid-August event marks the last week of the summer vacation, after which it's back to work and school.
A police Car at Stockholm's Culture Festival. Photo: David Stavrou
Since its inception nearly two decades ago, the festival has been a huge attraction both for Stockholmers and tourists. For five days, stages throughout the city center host dance, music, circus and theater performances, all for free. Long lines stretch around dozens of food and drink stands, and more than a million visitors and hundreds of workers fill central Stockholm's streets, squares and bridges.
This year's installment went by without incident. Despite the warnings, there were no metal detectors, no one checking bags at the entrance, and no tense atmosphere at all. Maybe the reason is that instead of the rainy weather of the first half of August, the sun shined on Stockholm. Maybe it's just that the Swedish approach to terror threats, at least for now, is the same as the Swedish approach in general: faith in the authorities and security forces – and a cautious pragmatism. “We must live our lives as normal,” Kristersson said. “We stand behind our democratic values. We are defending ourselves, but we still stand behind our way of life.”
Chefs and experts at the Big Meet conference in Stockholm were all in agreement that in order to save the planet, we need to start having a serious conversation about food. ‘The future is going to look a lot more like a table in Israel than a table in 18th-century France,’ says Mitchell Davis of Asif culinary center in Tel Aviv.
A global food-technology conference is a natural fit for Sweden, where it’s not uncommon to hear locals discussing climate change, workers’ rights and environmental issues as part of their decision-making process. It is also no surprise to find young Israelis here attracting interest for their heap of new ideas, technologies and techniques.
According to the organizers of Big Meet, current food systems don’t allow consumers to understand what they’re eating and how it affects their health and the planet. Given the escalating problems of overpopulation and climate change, they say, the need for sustainable solutions to feed future generations is ever more urgent. And anyone visiting the two-day conference near Stockholm’s northern harbor on June 1-2 could experience what food-tech companies are hoping could be part of the solution.
There was a chef from New Zealand who offered a vegan “cod” fillet based on wheat, starch, algae and proteins. Near him was a Swedish businesswoman who specializes in plant-based, gluten-free vegan burgers made from mung beans. Another Swedish company showcased a pizza that replaces dough with cabbage. There were shakes from hemp seeds, vegetarian tacos and even a new kind of flavored sparkling water that, with the help of a combination of minerals and amino acids, combats post-meal fatigue and drowsiness.
Based on their presence at the event, it seems Israeli food tech is a leading player in the field. Gitit Lahav and her business partner Shimrit Lev, for instance, founded Sweet Victory – a company that has developed a chewing gum that stops sugar cravings by blocking sugar receptors. “By doing this,” Lahav explained to her audience on stage, “those who chew the gum get the power to take back control.”
Another Israeli company, Vanilla Vida, is revolutionizing the world of vanilla production by maximizing the potential of vanilla crops. It uses technological, agricultural and industrial expertise to achieve a stable supply of quality vanilla that is grown in climate-controlled greenhouses. The company says this allows it to achieve the highest vanillin concentration vanilla bean on the market, getting more flavor from less vanilla. A third company, the Mediterranean Food Lab, aims to bring together scientists, food technologists and chefs to create flavor for various food products by solid state fermentation instead of by using meat as flavoring.
Hundreds of attendees were working the room, spreading the word and talking to potential clients, colleagues and investors. Even though these are all business ventures, the language nearly always involved environmental buzz words like “sustainability,” “ethical trade” and “zero emissions.” Some of the participants – Israelis and non-Israelis alike – also paid a visit to the residence of Israel’s ambassador to Sweden, Ziv Nevo Kulman, who arranged a culinary event to showcase the Israeli entrepreneurs’ efforts.
The biggest Israeli delegation at Big Meet was a group of young chefs who succeeded in creating a very long food line, waiting to taste their wares in the conference’s test kitchen. Shirel Berger, 33, head chef and co-owner of Tel Aviv’s Opa restaurant, together with Raz Rahav, 31, head chef and owner of Tel Aviv’s OCD Restaurant and his head of R&D, Shalom Simcha Elbert, 29, created quite the stir when they served their wolffish baked in coffee flour dough with a vanilla beurre blanc, ramson (aka wild garlic) oil and chili oil, accompanied by a fresh strawberry-based dessert.
The three chefs are part of an Israeli culinary institution called Asif, a nonprofit that is endeavoring to make Israeli food culture – not just Israeli food – an important part of the global food scene. “Asif was founded in 2021 by Israeli New Yorker Naama Shefi, who’s the founder and executive director of New York’s Jewish Food Society – a nonprofit that works to preserve, celebrate and revitalize Jewish culinary heritage from around the world,” explains Michal Levit, Asif’s director of programs and innovation. Shefi joined forces with Tel Aviv’s Start-Up Nation Central and created Asif, which is dedicated to cultivating and nurturing Israel’s diverse and creative food culture.
Asif strategy consultant Mitchell Davis, who has been a leading voice on the global culinary scene for the past three decades, is an important member of this delegation. He lives in New York and has a PhD in food studies from New York University (a program he helped create 25 years ago), has written five cookbooks, worked with numerous restaurants, foundations and NGOs, and, more importantly, believes we should be taking food much more seriously.
Michal Levit, left, Shirel Berger, Shalom Sincha Elbert and Raz Rahav on stage at the Big Meet food-tech conference in Stockholm earlier this month.Credit: Miki Anagrius
This view is shared by many in the Nordic countries, who Davis sees as the ones pushing for what he calls “the food system agenda” internationally. He cites Stockholm’s EAT Forum, which works toward “a fair and sustainable global food system for healthy people and a healthy planet.” That forum was founded by Norwegian physician and environmental advocate Dr. Gunhild Stordalen, who also supports the “chef manifesto” that deals with issues of hunger, nutrition and sustainable agriculture in connection with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals blueprint.
Davis also mentions Danish chef René Redzepi’s Nordic Food Lab, Sweden’s many research institutes and another of his collaborators, Johan Jörgensen, the Swedish founder of the Big Meet conference. “Food culture is an amorphous area,” says Davis. “Everybody’s a food expert, but not everybody fully appreciates the cultural value of food. The transactions of eating in a restaurant and buying groceries are only two elements – but we’re looking to infuse that with a deeper meaning. It’s about value. When you think of classical music or dance or art, there’s an accepted appreciation of both the literal and figurative value; people spend a lot of money on them and there’s an effort to understand their meaning. But food is one of those things that are so pervasive and mundane that people haven’t paid attention to it,” he says.
“This isn’t new, but in my view a better-informed consumer public makes better decisions for itself, for its communities and for the planet. So, I’ve come to learn that Israel is perfectly situated for the food moment we need now because of the casualness of the way people eat, the variety of vegetables, the freshness, the entrepreneurial spirit and the technology. It’s a cliché and funny to even say it, but making the desert bloom is what everyone’s going to have to do not that far into the future.
“I have no proof of this,” he continues, “but you can see that Israeli restaurants are opening all over the world. I don’t think fine dining is over, but in the future it is going to look a lot more like a table in Israel than a table in 18th-century France – which it has looked like for a very long time.”
“The French created the idea of a national cuisine,” Davis says. “They codified it and then everybody else thought they had to do the same in response. But that’s the French way. Asif’s mission is not to define what Israeli cuisine is, because it’s a constantly changing and dynamic thing. But there is a clear distinction between Israeli cuisine and Jewish food. To use a French idea after all, there’s the notion of terroir – the combination of geography, history and culture.
“The evolution of what’s being cooked in Israel is a product of the people, the land, the climate and history of the country, whereas Jewish food is much more similar to what’s eaten in places Jews have lived than it is to food eaten by other Jews around the world. Jewish food is obviously a huge part of Israeli cuisine, but you can see that elements of different communities are finding their way into a common table: there’s the Bukharan dishes, there’s the new, amazing Druze restaurant Naifa, which I visited recently; there’s the prevalence of salads; the spreads; the sharing of plates; and all these second- and third-generation kids who now have restaurants and are referring back to their grandparents.”
“The three things I think are most important these days in food are a dynamic and diverse culture, a recognition of the impact our food decisions have on the environment, climate change and sustainability issues. And then there’s this idea of innovation and technology, which we all know we’re going to need.
In an exclusive interview with Haaretz, Swedish prime minister Stefan Löfven explains his policies on Israel, and reaffirms his support for Holocaust commemoration, better U.S.-Europe relations and a revived Iran nuclear deal
GOTHENBURG, Sweden – Just weeks after Sweden hosted the Malmö International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism, Stefan Löfven, the country’s prime minister and the driving force behind the forum, is stepping down as head of the Social Democratic party – and the government. While the 64-year-old premier, whose tenure is coming to an end this week after more than seven years, has recently been praised internationally for his role in confronting antisemitism, his policies concerning a host of other issues, both foreign and domestic, have also attracted attention. Among these are his country's unique handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the way it is dealing with challenges posed by a looming refugee crisis in Europe, relations with Iran, and Sweden's recently improved ties with Israel. Talking to Haaretz during a party congress in Gothenburg, Löfven addresses these subjects and offers some initial insight into his political legacy.
It’s recently been announced that you are the recipient of the Aron Isaac Prize that's awarded by the Jewish community in Stockholm for your “efforts to ensure that the victims of the Holocaust are not forgotten and to counter antisemitism and racism in today’s society.” When and why did you decide to make these issues part of your job as prime minister?
“This is a deep conviction that I’ve held all my life, ever since I can remember. When I became prime minister, it was obvious to me that I would take part in Holocaust commemoration, and naturally I met more and more people, I heard more stories and I promised the survivors that I’d do all I could both as prime minister and as a fellow human being. For example, when (Holocaust survivor) Max Safir called me a few years ago and asked me to help found a Holocaust museum in Sweden – that felt like something I could do, so we started a dialogue with survivors and organization and we’re well on our way now (the museum will open next year). Then, when the 20-year anniversary of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust took place, we thought that since these problems still exist, we have to do more.”
Löfven is referring to the 2020 conference of an organization initiated by then-Prime Minister Göran Persson as an international partnership to fight antisemitism and promote Holocaust remembrance, education and research. 21 years later, Löfven created the Malmö forum to continue to address the same problems. “I started with a deep personal conviction,” he stresses, “and the prime ministerial role gave me the possibility to do a lot more”.
Stefan Löfven Photo: Kristian Pohl/Regeringskansliet
Despite the awards and ceremonies, Sweden’s Jewish community still has many unresolved problems. With possible changes in the country’s school system, will it still be possible to have a Jewish school in the country? Will circumcision for religious purposes stay legal? And for how long will hate crimes and bullying of Jewish children and teachers continue in Swedish schools? Has enough been done in these areas? Is there more than just rhetoric?
“It’s true, we do still have problems. That’s why, in the short run, we’re investing more in security. Yes, it will be possible to have Jewish schools in Sweden even if independent religious schools which receive public funding will be prohibited in the future. The Jewish minority is one of our national minorities, which means that its language, culture and schools are protected. [Five minorities are protected by law in Sweden: Jews, the Roma, the Sami people – Sweden’s indigenous inhabitants – Swedish Finns and the residents of the Torne Valley.]. I don’t see any danger for the right to conduct circumcisions since there’s no majority against it. Sure, there are still problems and that’s why the Malmö forum was all about commitments, not about speeches. It was about two kinds of commitments: first, never to forget, which is why different countries undertook to have various memorial events and memorial sites, and second, the fight against antisemitism, which is also about commitments. In our case, this means doing more in schools, investing more in research so that we have a better understanding of the forces behind antisemitism and so on. We want to spread this to other countries, organizations and companies (such as social media companies for example). Everyone can make commitments. Individual schools can commit, more companies can make commitments, sport organizations can make commitments. That’s the way to address these issues". More than 40 countries and more than 20 international organizations, civil society organizations and private sector giants such as Facebook and Googel participated in the Malmö Forum and made pledges to combat antisemitism and promote Holocaust remembrance.
Löfven has served as prime minister since October 2014. Though born in Stockholm, he grew up in northern Sweden with a foster family, since his biological father died before he was born and his biological mother was unable to raise him. His foster parents were working-class Swedes – the father a lumberjack and factory worker; the mother, a homemaker. After completing his high school and a couple of years of military service in the Swedish Air Force, he became a welder. As a metal worker, he became a trade unionist and worked his way up the ranks until 2005 when he became the head of IF Metall, one of Sweden’s largest and most powerful blue-collar unions. In January 2012, Löfven, who had been active as a young man in the Social Democratic youth league, was elected head of the party at a point when the Social Democrats were in the opposition and suffered a leadership crisis. Löfven became Sweden's Prime-Minister after the 2014 general elections and won a second term four years later, despite the fact that the Social Democrats had their worse showing in over 100 years in those elections. The fact that country's four center-right parties would not cooperate with the populist right-wing Sweden Democrats at the time created a situation in which Löfven was able to form a coalition with the Green Party, bolstered by a left-wing party and a couple of center-right parties. This coalition, still in power, has suffered and still suffers from week support in the parliament and the Social Democrats have had to make painful compromises in order to stay in power. Löfven has often been described as a political survivor and an extremely skillful negotiator who has managed to keep his party afloat despite the tough political landscape.
Last week, during the party gathering in Gothenburg, Löfven’s successor, Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson, was elected. If all goes according to Löfven’s plan, Andersson will be chosen by the Swedish parliament to become prime minister until the 2022 elections. She'll be the first woman ever to hold the job. Her task now is to lead the Social Democratic party to victory. In her first speech as party leader, she chose to stress the core values of her electorate, away from the compromises made by her predecessor. “In the age of global crises, it is obvious to more and more people that the wind is blowing for us Social Democrats, for strong society, for equality,” she said, adding that after decades of privatization, market experiments, weakened worker’s rights and growing social gaps in the interest of private profits, it’s time for common solutions rather than market solutions. In another speech Andersson mentioned Löfven’s efforts to combat antisemitism and promote Holocaust remembrance, and vowed: “Stefan, we will all continue that work.” Löfven himself is confident that she will continue stepping in the path he laid. “This is part of our party’s ideology,” he says. “I’m convinced that my successor as party leader has no different understanding than I do (on these issues).”
Bilateral ties
When it comes to Sweden’s relations with Israel, the start of Löfven’s first term couldn’t have been worse. One of his government’s first steps was the recognition of a Palestinian state. The following year, 2015, in an interview on Swedish TV, then-Foreign Minister Margot Wallström linked that year's jihadist terror attacks in Paris to the Palestinians' plight under Israel's occupation. That comment, and others like it, were viewed in Jerusalem as pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli in Jerusalem, and led to the recall of ambassadors and freezing of bilateral relations. Indeed, for nearly three years, there were no meetings between the countries' official and Israel repeatedly rebuffed requests by Wallström and Löfven to make more efforts to improve ties. The situation improved slightly toward the end of 2017, but there were no one-on-one meetings between Löfven and Israel’s then-Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and no high-level contacts between the countries’ foreign ministries. But all that changed last month when Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde visited Israel and met with her Israeli counterpart, Yair Lapid. A few days earlier, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog made an online appearance at the Malmö forum.
Israel's new ambassador to Sweden, Ziv Nevo Kulman, is eliciting strong reactions in the country following an interview he gave to Swedish newspaper, in which he said that Israel has no ties to the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats party.
The ambassador's interview followed the official visit of Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde to Israel, which was the first such visit in ten years. It was seen by many as a new start for bilateral relations between Israel and Sweden after the frigid period that came with Sweden’s recognition of Palestinian statehood in 2014. Speaking to the Dagens Nyheter daily, Nevo Kulman, who took his post in August, said that Israel has no relations with the Sweden Democrats and has no intention of establishing such ties in the future. He does not mean to get involved in Sweden's democratic process, he said, "but this is a moral position that is about far-right parties with roots in Nazism."
He continued, "We don't have, and don't intend to establish, any contact with the Sweden Democrats. They can say that they support Israel, but you also have to look at what they don't support. We will also not have contact with openly Islamophobic parties. This also applies to other countries in Europe. ”The Sweden Democrats party was founded in the late 80's as a result of a series of mergers of political movements on Sweden's far-right, nationalist and neo-Nazi scene. Since then, it has become closer to the mainstream, referring to itself as a "nationalist and social-conservative" party. It entered the Swedish parliament in 2010, and is currently the third-largest political party in Sweden.
Anders Lindberg, left-leaning political editor-in-chief of the Aftonbladet daily wrote that Israel's clear spoken language about "far-right parties with roots in Nazism" should be seen as a "wake-up call" to his home country. He also claimed that the Israeli statement emphasized that the Sweden Democrats’ Nazi past and ideology should make it impossible for democratic parties to have any contact with them.
On the other hand, on the right, many claimed on social media that Nevo Kulman was meddling in Swedish politics. "I hardly think that an ‘apartheid state’ built on stolen land where the original inhabitants are treated as less-than-second-class citizens are in a position to lecture others on ‘xenophobia,’" one critic wrote on Twitter, "nor is what happens in Sweden any of your business." Another wrote, "Please avoid burning bridges at this point, you might change your mind after a year in an almost-dystopia of rampant crime, Arabic clan infiltration and imported antisemitism."
דיויד סטברו 