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

Media Hits at Bildt

Start hunting for that exit sign!

Today's Local carries an op-ed titled 'Lundin may have led Bildt to the heart of darkness' in which Leo Lagercranz of Expressen levels corruption charges against the Swedish Foreign Minister. As we have noted in a number of SIJ posts, Carl Bildt has been linked to Lundin's acceptance of brutal Sudanese actions to protect the oil firm's drilling operations. These days, even Aftonbladet is issuing a call for Bildt's resignation.

Here's an excerpt:

-"..the Ethiopian affair is just one of several that are haunting the Swedish foreign minister after his seven years in the Lundin sphere.

Let us go back ten years to the year 2000. It was the year that the former prime minister (1991-1994) and EU envoy to the Balkans (1995) joined the Lundin Petroleum's board of directors. 

The seven years with the Lundin Group that followed would make Carl Bildt a wealthy man. But at what price? 

His time as a 'Lundin man' follows him like a dark shadow that he can’t shake." 

Although Bildt has tried for some time to shrug off these accusations, even the government-subsidized media has turned against him. How long will he last in office?

By Chanah Shapira