Anti-Israeli Rioter in Malmö Sentenced to Prison Term

There were 6000 anti-Israeli demonstrators when the Davis Cup game between Sweden and Israel was played in Malmö in March 2009, two months after the end of the Gaza war.During the riots, there was major violence against the police by part of the demonstrators and last week, one of these hooligans -- a 23-year-old man from Stockholm – was sentenced to six months in prison.

The controversial Swedish-Israeli Davis Cup-game, which made headlines worldwide, was held in an empty hall as decided to Malmö’s municipal council led by Ilmar Reepalu (Social Democrat). Malmö municipal council is controlled by a majority of Reepalu’s party and the Left Party. The council first argued that the game was to be boycotted but later ruled that the games would be played without public. On a national level these two parties together with the Green Party have decided on a common anti-Israel policy if they win the next parliamentary elections in September 2010. The majority on the Malmö municipal council claimed at the time that the decision to have the games held in an empty hall was based on security considerations. This despite the fact that the police had stated that public could be admitted.

Barbro Posner, a member of the Malmö Jewish community, said at the time that it was hard to believe that the municipal council’s majority decision was not a political one. In an interview with the national daily Svenska Dagbladet Posner also mentioned that anti-Semitic hate crimes had increased when the Davis Cup was held. She said that every time the Israeli-Palestinian conflict takes a new turn the situation for Malmö’s Jews got worse.
Posner concluded her interview by saying: “I can not feel safe in a town where the municipal council makes foreign policy out of tennis.”

Due to the recent disclosure of a large number of anti-Semitic incidents and several hateful statements by Reepalu, Malmö has become internationally known as a hotbed of the widespread anti-Semitism in Sweden.