Recently BBC’s reporter Wendy Robbins started her research for a radio show which was to answer the question: “Why are there increasing numbers of attacks on Jews in Europe?” During her visit to Sweden she got a bizarre answer in the Malmö forum, which is tasked with trying to reduce hate crime, including anti-Semitism, in the city.
Robbins visited a number of cities throughout Europe to get a greater understanding of why attacks on Jews are increasing in frequency in Europe. She started her journey in Malmö where she interviewed Saeed Azam, a participant in the forum. This forum was established after statistics revealed that the number of hate crimes (such as anti-Semitism) had doubled during 2009. The idea was to provide a forum which will promote meaningful dialogue among the city’s diverse ethnic groups.
When asked about the Jews’ situation in Malmö, Azam answered that he wanted to do everything in is power to make Jews stay in the city and “even dance for them”. Why? His response was: since Jews “will kill Palestinians if they move to Israel”.
This is exactly the kind of response one might expect—given that Malmö’s Mayor Reepalu has stated that if Jews are suffering in Malmö they can leave, presumably for the State of Israel which he finds so reprehensible. Reepalu and his fellow Social Democrats support anti-Israel organizations with links to terror groups, and many, including Reepalu, fail to distinguish between Israeli government policies with which they disagree and Jews living in Sweden.
In fact, the main perpetrators of anti-Semitic hate crimes in Malmö are members of the Moslem immigrant population, and it’s clear that they are reading Reepalu’s hints. Reepalu in effect has signaled that it’s “understandable” to take out anti-Israel anger on the local Jews. The forum is just a political piece of window-dressing.
As long as the mayor continues to imply that Malmö’s Jews are responsible for the attacks directed against them, the “dialogue” in the forum will consist of the kind of hate-filled diatribes that Azam freely offers to BBC reporter Robbins. It’s no wonder that Robbins began her research right in Malmö, the anti-Semitism capital of Europe.
This article brought to mind something that I hear over and over: that all Muslims should not be judged or held to account for the actions of radical Muslims. That local Jews should be judged or held to account for the actions of Israel should also be ridiculous, especially when all of those involved are in Sweden because they left awful countries in order to live in a peaceful country. Thank you for providing this information to your English speaking audience.
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