Reepalu Put Malmö on the Map As Europe’s Most Anti-Semtic Town: -Now He’s Nominated for “World’s Best Mayor”.

Recently Malmö’s Mayor, Ilmar Reepalu, was nominated as a contender in the “World Mayor 2010” competition, along with 25 other international candidates. During the last year Reepalu has made a number of controversial statements all of which can easily be construed as semi- to truly anti-Semitic. Now, the Simon Wiesenthal Center rightly demands Reepalu’s disqualification in the contest.

The World Mayor Homepage notes proudly that the winners of previous awards have been mayors “with the vision, passion and skills to make their cities incredible places to live in, work in and visit. This seems quite laughable as Mayor Reepalu—as a result of his arguably anti-Semitic statements—has contributed to putting Malmö on the map as the most anti-Semitic town in Europe. In addition, the barely controlled riots and car-burnings which have rocked Malmö since 2009 make Malmö memorable, but not in a way which would inspire the World Mayor contest.  An objective look at Reepalu’s ineptitude makes it seem rather unlikely that Reepalu would qualify for a place on a list of competent candidates.

The recent Reepalu scandals started in 2009 when Israel was to meet Sweden in a tennis game in Malmö. Reepalu decided, contrary to Swedish government’s policy, to force a public boycott of the game by allowing the game, but having it played without a crowd. This resulted in major losses for the city of Malmö, and it clearly showed Reepalu’s capabilities to put Malmö on the map as a city of violence and hatred.  

Commenting on the violence against Jewish individuals in Malmö  which was linked to the tennis game, Reepalu said to the Swedish daily “Skånskan” on January 27^th:

- "I wish that the Jewish community [in Malmö] distanced itself from Israel's violence against the civil population in Gaza".

This, Reepalu claimed, “would 'cure' hate crimes from happening against them". This is tantamount to saying that the attacked Jews are guilty of the aggression committed against them—the perpetrators being mainly extremist violent Muslims in Malmö.

After that the anti-Semitic scandals kept on coming. During February of this year, when it was discovered that hate crimes against Jews in Malmö had become so prevalent that several Jewish families in the town had decided to leave, Reepalu respondedon February 21^st  to the British Telegraph:

- "There haven't been any attacks on Jewish people, and if Jews from the city want to move to Israel that is not a matter for Malmö."

This statement of denial and trivialization resulted in an international outcry and clearly put Malmö on the map as the number one anti-Semitic town in Europe. But this didn’t stop Reepalu from continuing.

During March of this year Reepalu stated in the Danish media that there was an “Israeli lobby” which purposely distorted his statement about anti-Semitism in Malmö. This was highly inappropriate as the “Jewish lobby” is a canard popular with anti-Semites. It also added insult to injury as he had recently met with representatives from the Malmö Jewish community to talk about the rising anti-Semitic atmosphere in the city.

These are just a few out of the string of insults which Mayor Ilmar Reepalu has made in his recent career in Malmö. What is clear is that Reepalu neither has the vision, passion nor skills “to make his city an incredible place to live in, work in and visit.”

It is therefore only right, as 400,000 Jewish families have contended in their support for the Simon Wiesenthal center, that Major Ilmar Reepalu should be disqualified from the list of nominees for “Worlds Best Mayor”.