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”.

Failure to Look Immigration Policies in the Face Caused Right Swing in Swedish Elections

Gunnar Sandelin wrote an interesting opinion piece last week in the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet (SvD), one which followers of this blog will note is unexpected—both for someone of his background and for the mainstream Swedish press. In his article he claims that the “politically correct” enforced silence regarding problems which arise from Swedish immigration policy is the main cause of the right-wing Sweden Democrats’ success in the recent elections. This stance is especially surprising as Sandelin worked for a decade as social worker in the Swedish welfare system, and then followed that with a career change, working as a reporter with Swedish Television for eight years. 

In his most recent piece, Sandelin remarks that the ordinary Swede in the street feels that he or she is being “deceived” by the “political and media elites”. In his view, the conceptual ideal of a democratic society where ideas are freely expressed has been lost. Instead, Swedes have been intellectually brutalized into political correctness—and now find themselves in a situation where there is almost no room for freedom of expression. Sandelin writes:

- “During the last four years I have been interested in asylum immigration and its consequences. Among other things, I have traveled around with policy makers and activists to several refugee camps, but rarely have I met so many people who are afraid to speak their minds as here at home [in Sweden]. People fall silent when it comes to criticizing the impact of Sweden’s asylum reception policy which has crashed in numerable areas.”

He then cites a number of examples of people who disagree with the politically correct take on immigration issues, or have suffered as a result of not being able to protest the way these issues are handled. In each case the individual has chosen to remain anonymous –all fear that open discussion will result in job loss, social alienation, or make them a target of their ideological opponents.  One doesn’t have to look too far to see that those who buck the system—such as Lars Vilks, for example—pay a heavy price for speaking their minds publically.

Sandelin observes that when “the picture conveyed in the public domain does not match with what you are experiencing in your daily life this creates doubt, frustration and a feeling of being deceived.” This in turn results in a basic distrust of the powers that be, namely the Social Democrats and their political allies.  As a result, the population in Sweden has for the first time voted a party into the government which is defined as “far-right”.  Sandelin does not sympathize with the Sweden Democrats’ agenda; rather, he blames left-wing suppression of ideas for driving a segment of the public into the arms of the opposition.  He feels that open discussion of the critical failures of Sweden’s liberal immigration policies would have prevented the Sweden Democrats’ accession to the government coalition. Inter alia, Sandelin cites a number of  worrying statistics which include the high cost of immigration, the fact that only 7% of immigrants are actually refugees, and that most immigrants have practically no education (nor job skills). As a result, today in Sweden the rate of employment for individuals of working age is about 50%.

Also, almost none of the immigrants reaching Sweden today have valid identification papers.  As noted last week, the recent terror scare in Europe brought to light the fact that Sweden has “a handful” of citizens—immigrants from Muslim countries—who have been training in terrorist camps in Pakistan.  

Sandelin remarks that, “Instead of questioning and listening to what is a big part of people's reality, the political and media elites strenuously sought to educate citizens to ‘correct’ values. That any criticism of multiculturalism and massive immigration, and asylum, relative to population has been dismissed as xenophobia means that we have an almost totalitarian climate where more and more people are scared and thus probably also more prone to dissatisfaction vote.”

In the meantime, the burden which falls on the taxpayer continues to increase as less than half the population supports the rest. And, as we have discussed in numerous prior posts, violence and unrest among immigrant population continue unabated. These things are obvious to the Swedish public, but the political Left and its collaborating friends in the media continue to sugarcoat reality and celebrate multi-culturalism as a utopian ideal.

Unless Sweden’s elites decide to open a dialogue in government and society and really deal with these issues, Sandelin fears that, “Sweden in the future risks becoming an increasingly torn, divided and poor country.” We have to agree—when people spit at you, there’s only so long you can pretend it’s just raining.


By: Chanah Shapira

Children from Malmö Jewish Community Assaulted

During the weekend the Jewish community in Malmö held a seminar for children at their seminar facility in Höllviken (not far from Malmö). The weekend seminar was spoiled when an angry mob of some 10 youngsters decided to attack the seminar attendees—who were mostly children. The threatening gang was screaming hate slogans including “Heil Hitler”, “Jewi pigs” and “fucking Jews are spoiling Höllviken”. In addition to the anti-Semitic verbal abuse, the gang also trespassed into the privately-owned area in order to damage property.  

The local newspaper Sydsvenskan. reported that the attackers, who were youngsters of about 13-14, accompanied their screaming of anti-Semitic slogans with a number of physical assaults: throwing eggs at the building’s windows and walls, banging windows and throwing trashcans around,

Amongst the participants from the Malmö Jewish community were children from the ages of seven and up. The children were reportedly very frightened by the screaming and the commotion caused by the youngsters.

After the police was called to the spot on Saturday some of the youngsters were questioned and named in order to enable an investigation of the attack, according to statements made by local police chief Kenneth Abrahamson.

As noted in the Sydsvenskan article, the harassments had started Friday evening when some 10 youngsters were banging on the windows of the seminar building and throwing trashcans around. They had been able to trespass the private area by breaking a fence. When the police were alerted the youngsters had left the scene, only to return on Saturday night to continue their violent abuse.

According to chairman of the Malmö Jewish community, Fred Kahn, the majority of participants to the community’s weekend seminar were children.

The pattern of increasing violence against the Jewish community in Malmö hasn’t stopped—even though the growing threat has been acknowledged by the Swedish authorities. Attacks on children can be seen as a further escalation in the current threat against the Malmö Jewish community. 

Terror Alert à la mode —Sweden Has Euro-Chic and Home-Grown Terror

In the last week we have seen an interesting phenomenon—European countries and the UK have been in selective denial mode regarding the current terror alert.  Following the publication of intelligence regarding a potential large-scale terror threats in Europe and the UK, the English have been pointing out the danger of visiting the Eiffel Tower. In retaliation, the French have been advising tourists that London public transportation is a prime terror target.  Germany has said that they are not really under threat. And so on…

…Which brings us to Sweden, where events are running in much the same way. The Local reports that Sweden ramped up its terror threat alert on Friday. It’s now at the highest it’s been in five years—at level 3 for “elevated” risk.

In addition, Swedes can also not worry about this bit of news—that there are Swedish citizens who have been away at terror camp in Pakistan:

-"We adjudge that it is a question of a handful of people who have travelled there to take part in training camps and to participate in illegal violent acts," said Patrik Peter at the Security Service.

In case anyone hasn’t been paying attention lately, terror organisations have been employing isolated individuals, either immigrants or of immigrant parentage, who carry out solo attacks. In the U.S. these include the Underwear Bomber (British/Nigerian), the Times Square Bomber (U.S. /Pakistani), and the Fort Hood Shooter (U.S./Palestinian descent). Therefore, describing a number of individuals as a mere “handful” is to miss the point completely. In fact, solo efforts slip under the security radar much more easily than group activities, making them less preventable.

Swedish citizens who travel to train as terrorists in an al-Qaeda hotbed cannot be described as successfully integrated into Swedish society. This is an issue which the Local article fails to discuss, and in fact, they even printed this quote from the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service:

-"It is a question of a number of individuals in Sweden who have the intention and capacity to carry out attacks against Swedish targets. It is too early to say what motivates these individuals."

What? The folks in the talkbacks section had a field day with this one. How is it possible to work at a governmental intelligence agency and be unable to discover Islamic extremism at Islamist terror training camps? The only possible answer is that the Swedes wish to be like other Europeans—and find terrorism anywhere but at home.

By: Chanah Shapira

Sweden Democrats Walk Out on Government Inauguration Speech

Today at 2:00 p.m. Sweden’s newly elected minority government was inaugurated in a ceremony in the Storkyrkan church in Stockholm. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt spoke about the bright future of Sweden and discussed Swedish foreign policy, including policy regarding Israel. During a speech given by bishop Eva Brunne concerning racism and tolerance representatives of the Sweden Democrats decided to walk out.

Among the speakers at the inauguration of the new government were the king of Sweden and Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. Reinfeldt will continue to lead the Swedish government, this time, however, with a minority representation. The new government will also include some new ministers—this consequently means that others have to leave the government

In his initial speech Reinfeldt spoke about the future of Sweden and what new policies will be adapted during the new governmental term. When speaking about collaboration in the EU and a strong UN he also mentioned when speaking about Israel:

-       That Israel’s settlements must stop but also that Israel have the right to live safely within their borders.

The inaugural ceremony, according to tradition, featured a speech in the Storkyrkan church by the current bishop. When Bishop Anne Brunne delivered her speech and spoke about racism and tolerance towards foreigners the delegation from the Swedish Democrats got up and left the church. Other members of parliament reacted strongly. The leader of the Social Democrats, Mona Sahlin saw it as “childish and immature”. Maria Wetterstrand, leader of the Green Party compared Jimmy Åkesson’s behaviour as to the one of the Iranian’s president.

Others such as leader of the Christian Democrats, Göran Hägglund, stated:
-It is highly inappropriate to act like this. What the bishop talked about was all people’s equal worth, and to leave your seat on this stage and march out, like they did demonstratively, shows what their basic views are”.

The Moderates group leader in the government, Anna Kinberg Batra also said she felt that the behavior of the Sweden Democrats in the church was exaggerated. In an interview she states:

”If you get so provoked when someone talks about all peoples’ equal rights that you get up and leave, you clearly show that you are an extreme party.”

The new government lead by Fredrik Reinfeldt will contain the following ministers:

- Fredrik Reinfeldt,  (M), Prime Minister (as before)

- Anders Borg (M), Finance Minister (as before)

- Carl Bildt M), Foreign Minister (as before)

- Beatrice Ask (M), Minister of Justice (as before)

- Maud Olofsson (C), Enterprise and Energy Minister (as before)- has to leave the post as vice Prime Minister to Jan Björklund (FP).

- Göran Hägglund (KD), Social Minister (as before)

- Jan Björklund (FP), Education Minister (as before) but also as new Vice Prime Minister.

- Sten Tolgfors (M), Defense Minister (as before).

- Tobias Billström (M), Migration Minister (as before)

- Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth (M), Culture and Sports Minister (as before)

- Andreas Carlgren (C), Environment Minister (as before)

- Nyamko Sabuni (FP), Minister of Equality (as before) and deputy Education Minister moves into the education department.

- Gunilla Carlsson (M), Minister of Aid (as before)

- Stefan Attefall (KD), NEW Civil Affairs and Housing Minister

- Ulf Kristersson (M), NEW Social Affairs Minister.

- Hillevi Engström (M), NEW Minister of the Labor Market.

- Erik Ullenhag (FP), NEW Integration Minister and Deputy Labor Market Minister.

- Anna-Karin Hatt (C), NEW IT and Regional Minister as well as deputy Enterprise Minister.

- Peter Norman (M), NEW Minister of the Finance Market

- Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd (M), NEW Minister of Infrastructure.  

- Birgitta Ohlsson (FP), EU Minister (as before)?

- Eskil Erlandsson (C), NEW “landsbygdsminister”- Minister of Rural Areas. (This is a new ministerial post).

- Maria Larsson KD), Minister of Children and Elderly (similar to her old post)

- Ewa Björling (M), Minister of trade (as before)

The new Swedish Government contains 24 Ministers whom 13 are Moderates, 4 from the People’s Party, 4 from the Center Party and 3 from the Christian Democrats. 13 are men and 11 are women.

Israel Supporter Attacked in the Streets of Malmö

Over the weekend a 17-year-old youth was attacked by a 19-year-old man in the streets of Malmö. The reason: the 17-year-old had expressed sympathy for Israel’s right to exist on the Internet.

On Friday afternoon the 17-year-old was stopped in an open street in Malmö where he was punched in the face by the 19-year-old. The 17-year-old is a member of the youth organization for the political party the Christian Democrats. According to the Christian Democrats, the recent attack on one of their active members was the third in a row of assaults since the elections election campaign began this year.

The young man was walking home from school around 4:00 on Friday afternoon when he was stopped by the 19-year-old who asked:

- Are you X (name of the 17-year-old)?

- Yes, answered the 17-year-old.

- Why have you talked trash about Palestine?

- I haven’t.

- Stop lying to me otherwise I’ll punch you in the face.

The 19-year-old then slaps his victim in the face and says:

- I’ve seen it on Facebook.

The 19-year-old then punches the 17-year-old in the faces (with a closed fist) and runs off.

According to local newspaper Sydsvenskan the 19-year-old man was already arrested Saturday morning as he was easily tracked down via Facebook. On the social media website he had threatened the 17-year-old and written “You will die you Jew-lover”.

The 17-year-old, who is an active member of the Christian Democrats, denies that he has been “trash talking” Palestinians. He does, however, admit to publically stating on the internet that he supports Israel’s right to exist. He has also publically criticized Malmö mayor Ilmar Reepalu (who is known for critizising Israel and making controversial statements about Jews).

According to Malmö police spokesman, Mats Attin, the attack was most likely motivated by the young man’s stance in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. It can therefore be concluded that it currently is dangerous to publically and openly admit support for Israel if you are a resident of Malmö.

Posner: Shock and Horror; Political Expert: Sweden Failed to Address Real Issues

There were mixed reactions to the recent elections in Sweden—as we reported previously, for the first time the right-wing Swedish Democrats gained enough votes (nearly 6% of the electorate) to get into the government. One of those who spoke out against the Swedish Democrats was Swedish Jewish community’s head Lena Posner, who in an interview with Israeli daily Haaretz seems to be expecting to hear the stomp of fascist boots in the street already,  as she characterized the Swedish Democrats as Nazis:

-“This is a neo-Nazi party… articulate, and talented…but very dangerous,” said Lena Posner, President of the Official Council of Jewish communities in Sweden, an umbrella organization of Jewish groups in the country. “We know where these people are coming from. They are Nazi sympathizers who, under their jackets, are still wearing their brown shirts.”

What she does not explain is why two of the elected party members are Jewish. This fact flies in the face of her statement that:

“Ninety-nine percent of the community are absolutely against everything this party is for. To be Jewish is to have values of humanism. We know what it means to have to flee and to survive and we strive to protect those who are persecuted,” she says. “But Sweden is now joining other Europeans in being xenophobic.”

However the real question isn’t what the Jews think. The real issue is why a number of Swedish voters abandoned the Social Democrats in this election. An interview on the Gates of Vienna blog with Dr. Cas Mudde, a Dutch political scientist who has studied right-wing political parties, aired this week in the Swedish media. In the interview Dr. Mudde contends that the Sweden Democrats’ recent success was the predictable result of Swedish government failures to address the real problems which have resulted from having an open immigration policy and failed integration policies. Notice that the interviewer (from the mainstream Swedish media) suggests that dealing with immigration issues will increase xenophobi—as if doing nothing will solve the serious problems stemming from Muslim immigration. According to Dr. Mudde, regardless of the election results, Sweden will probably follow the lead of most European countries and introduce some immigration restrictions.

It’s also time for the Swedish government to decide what to do with the immigrants it already has—instead of continually adding to a segment of the population which has both failed to integrate into Swedish society and rejects the Western values which Sweden purports to uphold.

By Chanah Shapira