Does Sweden Have an Anti-Semitism Problem?

Yes, says the Prime Minister:

Swedish society has an anti-Semitism problem, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven told press in Paris, where he is participating in a climate meet to mark the anniversary of the 2015 Paris agreement.

“We need to see it clearly. In Malmö we see it, and in Gothenburg. It is up to us to both counteract and prevent this,” he said, referring to a weekend which saw anti-Semitic slogans chanted at a demonstration in Malmö and a Molotov cocktail attack on a Gothenburg synagogue.

“We need to be really clear that such anti-Semitism and hatred of Jews has no place in our society.”

But is it really Swedish society that has an anti-Semitism problem? The details on the firebombing of the Gothenburg synagogue come from the Gatestone Institute:

On Saturday, December 9, masked men threw firebombs at a synagogue in Gothenburg, Sweden. The attack took place shortly after 10:00 pm, at a time when about thirty children and teenagers were attending a party at the Jewish Center adjoining the main building. When the assault began, the guards rushed them into the cellar, and finally allowed them to go home at about 11:30 pm. (Guards, of course, are a fixture at European synagogues these days.)
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A small fire did indeed spread out at the synagogue, but was soon extinguished by firefighters. Fortunately, there were no injuries; alas, there were only three arrests. When asked by the daily Expressen to say something about the identity of the suspects, a police spokesperson would say only that the three persons taken into custody were about 20 years old. In the aftermath of the attack, Swedish police have intensified security arrangements around the handful of other synagogues in the country.

Reportedly there were around a dozen “masked youths” who participated in the firebombing. For some reason, the identity of those who were arrested is a closely-guarded secret, but it has now been reported that “[t]wo of them are understood to be from Syria and one from Palestine and arrived in Sweden ‘in recent years.'” This, ironically, is courtesy of an “anti-racism magazine.”

Back to the news story first linked in this post: Sweden’s Prime Minister suggests several possible solutions to the problem, including sending more young people to the sites of concentration camps and the like. The article also indicts a familiar villain:

Willy Silberstein, former chairperson with the Swedish Committee against Anti-Semitism, told Expressen TV that the series of incidents in Sweden could be related to Trump’s announcement. “When the USA decides to move the embassy to Jerusalem, that results, in the sick world we live in, in consequences for Jews living in Sweden. Swedish citizens become part of the conflict,” Silberstein said.

Absent from the article are the words “immigrant,” “immigration,” “Islam” and “Muslim.” So, in answer to the question, “Does Sweden have an anti-Semitism problem?” I would answer: It does now.

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