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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Anti-Semitism in Sweden: Tennis Davis Cup in Sweden Gave Into Anti-Semitism

Nadene Goldfoot
Sweden has gone anti-Semitic because its Jews did not go anti-Israel!  They're being punished with attacks on Jewish school children for being Jewish as well as witnessing the Israeli flag being burned.  Everything Sweden stood for before and during the 2nd World War seems to be going down the drain in fighting for human rights.  Sweden has 18,000 Jews who moved there as Holocaust survivors after the 2nd World War in 1945.  Most live in Stockholm, but there are about 1,000 in Malmo and in  a few other cities as well. 

The Israeli flag  burning happened in Stockholm, the capital.  Sweden is shifting their policy to favor  Iran and Syria.  The Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson has contracts with Assad's regime and they refuse to be forced by the EU to cop out of their contracts with them.  Tehran, Iran and Damascus, Syria use this technology to crack down on pro-democracy movements in their countries, but Sweden is putting money first.

Johan Lundell, Swedish executive director of ProVita, a pro-family organization, is outraged that Sweden is indifferent towards burning the Israeli flag. It is believed that two Libyan immigrants stole it from a dance group and burned it. He said that this is a hate act and is outraged that no action has been taken by officials, making it a danger to Jews. Freedom of religion is a part of human rights and this means a revival of anti-Semitism in Sweden. Swedish media has not written about it. "Violence is not necessary to destroy a civilization. Each civilization dies from indifference to the unique values which created it. Flag desecrations and burning has no place in a democracy."

Carl Bildt is the Swedish foreign minister and is trying to placate Iran.  He wrote an opinion piece on Tuesday in the International Herald Tribune and did cite Iran and Syria's human rights violations, but  must have felt that that was all that was needed from him.  Sweden had always been a strong defender of human rights before.  They are not defending their Jewish citizen's rights today at all. 

The Death of Free Speech in Sweden is an article written by Bruce Bawer, expert on radical Islam.  He is saying that because of the large influx of Muslims in Malmo, Swedes are not speaking freely in fear of offending them.  Instead, they are blaming anti-Semitism on the Danes who do speak more freely in their country!   

Israel hosted the Davis Cup matches with Sweden in Ramat HaSharon in 2008. 
In 2009  they both played in Malmo, Sweden .  There were anti-Israel protests in Malmo in March in response to a 3 day tennis match between and Israeli and a Swedish player performing in the Davis Cup.  Police had to arrest 100 people  The match had to be played without spectators because of the riots. About 200+ militants carried banners saying "Turn left, Smash right" and "Boycott Israel".  They had joined about 6,000-10,000  pro-Palestinian demonstrators.  Demonstrators against Israel have thrown bottles, eggs and fireworks before.  Malmo's mayor, Ilmar Reepalu, was against Israel anyway and was siding with Palestinians at this time, but used security as the reason for no spectators. 

  "Sweden took a 2-1 lead over Israel on Saturday when Robert Lindstedt, born in Stockholm, Sweden  and Simon Aspelin, born in Sultsjobaden, Sweden,  won the doubles match over Andy Ram, Israeli, born in Uruguary  and Amir Hadad, Israeli, born in Lod, Israel.  The best-of-five tie was wrapped up on Sunday," but they had to play to an empty stadium.  Dudi Sela's opening match started with "Dudi Sela, Sela, whatever will be will be," to the tune of the Doris Day song, "Que Sera, Sera".  He led the Israeli team to a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the 7-time Davis Cup champion Swedes to advance in the 2009 Davis Cup.  He won each of his singles matches in 5 sets.  It was the biggest win of his career.  The Swedes had never lost a tie after holding a 2-1 lead before. 

In 2002, Amir Hadad, Jewish, had teamed up in doubles with Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi, a Muslim Pakistani.  "During the Open, Hadad said, "Two people from different countries, different cultures, you know, can team up, play together, play good tennis together. If you put in politics, maybe they can do the same thing."


Anti-Semitism in Sweden is highlighted in the city of Malmo.  2010 saw Muslim immigrants there make up 20% of the city of 290,000 or about 58,000.  It is also a city where Jewish Holocaust survivors had been living peacefully.  They have been not only harrassing Jews living there but have been going around with loudspeakers blasting "Sieg Heil" and "Hitler, Hitler".  They have thrown rocks and bottles at Jews peacefully demonstrating a support of Israel.

 In response, the  67 year old Estonian born Mayor, Limar Reepalu, blamed the Jews!  He was interviewed with Skanska Dagbladet and appeared on International Holocaust Memorial Day arguing that the Jews were culpable for violence inflicted on themselves.  That's right.  Blame the victim, not the aggessors.  Try to say anything or do anything showing support of Israel and you get belted for it. I can see that these aggressors would never hold up in a decent debate about Israel.  Violence is their only way. 

The outcome was that many Jews immigrated to not only other parts of Sweden from Malmo but to Israel as well in 2009.  It was getting so bad that one couldn't walk outside wearing a kippa without being attacked. 

The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem took on the traditional role of the Jewish Agency in organizing and paying for immigrant flights to Israel.  It is the young people leading the way back to Jerusalem.  As of 2012, the mayor of Malmo is still the same man, a Swedish Social Democrat whose political party has become less favorable towards immigration.  The mayor is blaming the Jews who feel that he is most anti-Semitic. 

Resource: http://blogs.jpost.com/print/3161
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/news/anti-semitism-may-be-spurring-wave-of-aliyah-from-sweden-1.7088
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/03/22/there-is-no-free-speech-in-sweden/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/03/07/us-sweden-davis-protests-idUSTRE5261R220090307
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,611738,00.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Davis_Cup_team
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=268459
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amir_Hadad
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/AmirHadad.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Ram
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lindstedt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Aspelin
http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=263236
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilmar_Reepalu

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