Malmö Police Station Bombed

Bombed Malmö Police Station

 Lawless Elements Target Malmö Authorities

A bomb reportedly placed by two men in dark clothing exploded in the early hours of the morning leaving a hole in the Malmö police station building and extensive damage inside. No info yet on who is responsible, but this may be a response to Justice Minister Beatrice Ask's recent statement that extra police forces will be sent to Malmö to prevent it from further spiraling out of control. The Local has the full story.

Swedish Authorities Threaten Chabad Family with Heavy Fines

 Jewish Education? Only if you PAY.

Gothenburg School Authorities Push to 
Put Chabad Kids into Public School

The Lubavitch/Chabad news online Your Jewish News reports that Chabad Rabbi Alexander Namdar and his wife Leah have been informed by Swedish school authorities in Gothenburg that their children must attend public school or they will be fined $2400 (16,000 SEK) per week. The children currently learn in an online Jewish school framework (among other accomplishments and activities). Putting them into Swedish public school would subject them to the kind of abuse we have detailed here many times.

The Namdars are appealing the decision by Gothenburg authorities to force their children into an inappropriate and potentially dangerous situation. As the article below points out, Sweden is again pretending that anti-Semitism does not exist in Sweden. But there is no reason to put the Namdar kids in danger while Swedish authorities continue to ignore the Jew-hatred happening under their noses.

Thanks to Hadassa De Young for the heads-up. 

Sweden forces religious Jewish kids into public school, or face huge fines.

On January 26, Rabbi Alexander and Leah Namdar, Chabad representatives to Sweden, were served at their home with a notice by Gothenburg’s school authorities: Four of their children presently studying at an international online school must be delivered to a Swedish school by February 1. Failure to do so may result in a fine of 16000 crown—the equivalent of $2400 per week.

The notice came following a change in Sweden’s law January 1st that tightened restrictions on homeschooling, permitting it only in “extraordinary” circumstances. Religious reasons were explicitly excluded as a valid reason.

According to Richard Backenroth, the attorney representing the Namdars in their court battle against Gothenburg’s school authorities, the case will be a critical test of Sweden’s record on religious freedom. European law protects the religious freedom of its citizens, but with this action, Sweden is effectively denying the Namdars this right.

“This is a stain on the reputation of a country that takes pride in equality as a fundamental value,” says Rabbi Namdar who, like his wife, regards education as their “highest priority.”

Backenroth, who is appealing the notice and its “exorbitant fine” which came while the Namdars’ case is still pending, told lubavitch.com that “Sweden’s schools cannot possibly accommodate the needs of the Namdar children with respect to their religious requirements.”

Moreover, the law, which challenges the right of parents to home school their children, should not be applied to the Namdar children, he insists, because they are in fact, being educated “in a normal online school along with 500 international students,” as well as through private tutoring, yet Gothenburg school authorities are choosing to ignore this.

Full article here.

By Chanah Shapira

Lawless in Malmö--Eighth Fatal Shooting in Recent Days

As the Local reports yet another fatal shooting has shocked the city. One man was shot dead as he sat in his car last night.

When will the city authorities act to prevent violent and lethal crime on the streets?

From the Local:

“I heard three bangs and now the place is crawling with police with automatic weapons. I saw them carry a person out to an ambulance and try to resuscitate him,” the witness told the local Sydsvenskan newspaper.

PA TV Broadcasts Greetings and Praise of Fogel Murderers



Swedish News:
Read it and Wipe, or Just Wipe

More News You Don’t Get in Sweden



Here’s yet another item that will never cross Swedish news desks: Haaretz today reports that the Palestinian Authority-run television station sent out greetings to the two terrorists who murdered five members of the Fogel family in an attack of shocking brutality. Hakim Awad and his accomplice, his cousin Salah Awad carried out the attack in the Fogel family home in March of last year.  The Awads proudly admitted to killing parents Ehud and Ruth, and their three young children Yoav age 11, and Elad age 4, who were stabbed to death, and 3-month-old baby Hadas was decapitated.  

In fact the “For You” program, in which greetings are sent out to Palestinian security prisoners aired twice last week.  The original source for Haaretz’s report is Palestinian Media Watch which regularly monitors the Palestinian official media. It’s important to remember that in the Islamic world, power controls content, both in the media and social networks  such as Twitter.

PA: Their murderers are legendary heroes

The video is available here . In it you can see the smiling presenter who talks with the mother and aunt of Hakim Awad via telephone. In the interview, his mother calls him “the apple of her eye”, and his aunt refers to him as a “hero” and a “legend”.  The presenter includes her official greetings also.

This kind of terror glorification is commonplace in the official Palestinian media.  But reporting these stories is taboo in the Swedish state-sponsored media because it runs counter to the pro-Palestinian narrative they favor.  Still, the PA persists in singing its own peace-rejecting tune, which in the Awad case goes like this:

"My brother, in solitary confinement, your voice calls to me
You dare not throw down the rifle
That is what the homeland asked of me
In your eyes, we are all self-sacrificing fighters.
I convey greetings to the sound of the bullets of Ahmad Sa'adat and [the child-slashing knife of] Hakim Awad"

By Chanah Shapira

Welcome to the Wild Wild South

Photo Credit: The Local.se

Two young men were shot in Central Malmö during the night between Friday January 27 and Saturday January 28. The shootings indicate a frightening trend which Malmö citizens have become all too familiar with. 


The two men, 19 and 22-year old were shot in the central parts of Malmö and were treated at Malmö hospital for their wounds which reportedly, are not life threatening. Malmö police says its yet too early to connect the shootings with other similar shootings and violent crimes, which during the end of the year rattled Malmö. 


The developments are also a frightening reminder of what the southern town of Malmö and its citizens have to put up with. 

EJC Head Calls Sweden "Center for Anti-Semitism"



PM Reinfeldt to Jews:
 Sorry, we're unavailable
to discuss Anti-Semitism
in Sweden

A report from Brussels quotes European Jewish Community head Dr. Moshe Kantor slamming Sweden for refusing to participate in talks on rising European anti-Semitism. Not only is Sweden the only country in Europe to shun these discussions, but the Swedish government also refuses to reply to the EJC despite numerous attempts by the EJC to talk to Swedish leadership.
On a related tack, the Jerusalem Post notes that retired judge Gabriel Bach, prosecutor at the Eichmann trial, also spoke at the EU Holocaust Commemoration. Judge Bach quoted the unrepentant Eichmann as saying that the creation of the State of Israel showed that the Nazis failed to deal harshly enough with Jews.

From today's JPost:

European Parliament in Brussels commemorates Holocaust; Kantor tells 'Post' that level of anti-Semitism in Malmo "unthinkable."

 

Unapologetic Eichmann: If only we had killed
more Jews, Israel wouldn't exist

BRUSSELS – Sweden has become “a center of anti-Semitism,” the president of the European Jewish Congress, Dr. Moshe Kantor, told the JPost Tuesday night, ahead of a ceremony at the European Parliament in Brussels to commemorate the Holocaust.

“Sweden, previously a calm country where there was no anti-Semitic problem just a few years ago, is a center of anti-Semitism,” Kantor said. He added that it was “unthinkable that in the 21st century Jews need to move from the city of Malmo to Stockholm and elsewhere.”

Full story here.

Suspected Hizbollah Operative Claims "Mossad Did It"

Swedish-Lebanese national Atris Hussein in Thai police custody
Photo credit: AP

Thai authorities obviously failed to buy his story and arrested Atris Hussein, a Swedish-Lebanese national, at the Bangkok airport on January 12^th on suspicion of being a Hizbollah operative. It appears that another operative has eluded capture. Hussein, who has not resided in Sweden since 2005, used his Swedish passport to move freely in and out of Thailand.

Hussein was arrested based on his possession of over 4 tons of chemicals which can be used in bomb-making. Hussein stored the chemical in two warehouse locations in Bangkok.  According to a number of reports which have emerged in the Swedish and Israeli press, Hussein had been detained earlier and revealed the first warehouse prior to his arrest. He then shifted materials to a second warehouse. Hussein was apparently attempting to flee to Lebanon where he lives in what he describes as a Hizbollah stronghold.  According to Thai officials:

“Hussein had admitted to being part of a terrorist cell planning attacks either in Thailand or an unnamed third country and that the plans had been called off after his arrest. He remains in jail on charges of possessing illegal substances and faces five years in a Thai prison if convicted.”

Hussein, however, denies that he is involved with Hizbollah, the Iranian-backed terror group based in Lebanon. Instead, Hussein alleges that the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, planted the chemicals in his warehouse.  He claims the Mossad “set him up” since he voted for the Swedish Social Democratic Party. Of course, a large percentage of the Swedish electorate votes for the SDs.

Clearly, the Mossad is concerned not about Swedish votes, but terror. Reprisal attacks have been an issue since February 2008 when Hizbollah military terror chief Imad Mughniyah was killed in a car bombing. Nine months later a massive terror attack in Mumbai killed 164 people, and wounded over 300 more.  One target of the Mumbai attacks was the Chabad House. Chabad Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his pregnant wife Rivka were among those murdered.

Heightened security alerts have been in effect in Thailand since December. Many Israelis and Jews travelling abroad visit Chabad Houses making them an “ideal” target for terrorists. Now Thai police have further tightened the 24/7 security around Chabad Houses in Thailand. Chabad authorities are working closely with the Thai police to minimize the threat.

Currently, a “severe travel warning” is in effect and Israelis are advised against travelling to Bangkok. Synagogues and embassy locations are also considered to be potential targets, possibly for car bomb attacks.  The U.S. has also issued travellers’ warnings for popular tourist destinations.

According to Swedish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Camilla Åkesson Lindblom, the ministry will be providing consular aid to Hussein, as he is a Swedish citizen. It appears this will include legal aid. SAPO has stated that it regularly cooperates with other security bodies and did not comment on the case.

Aftonbladet was granted an interview with Hussein in jail, and assisted Hussein in getting out his version of his innocence and how the Mossad was punishing him for his pre-2005 voting record.

We understand that Sweden is obliged to provide consular services to its citizens. And we understand that Aftonbladet likes to sell a good Israel-bashing story. But it still doesn’t sit well that Sweden will be providing legal assistance to a suspected terrorist who hasn’t lived in Sweden for nearly seven years.

It’s also clear that when Aftonbladet titles their major article on the would-be Thai bomber ”I voted for for the Social Democrats” that they are helping the Social Dems garner support among Muslim immigrants.  Using support for a terror suspect to recruit voters is just ugly.

By Chanah Shapira