To be a Jew is SWEDEN...(they don't allow slaughtering of cows, they don't like circumcision, but they like to criticise and boycott Israel...)
From the Jerusalem Post
By STEFAN MEISELS
(The writer is a former chairman of the Jewish community of Stockholm.)

The good news is that Sweden's Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds has come to Israel to speak at a Yad Vashem ceremony and meet Israeli leaders.

The bad news is that back in Sweden the situation of the Jewish community is becoming increasingly difficult.

Obviously, regular contact between Sweden and Israel – in spite of political differences – are a good thing.

And it is noteworthy that Freivalds chose to make a formal speech at Yad Vashem – the memorial site for the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis. Many of my coreligionists in Sweden came there in the wake of the Holocaust with the white buses of the Bernadotte mission and through other Swedish efforts to help the survivors.

Back in 1942-43 Sweden offered refuge to Norwegian and Danish Jews who escaped from their occupied home countries. As a Jew, I will never forget the Swedish efforts in this respect.

For many survivors Sweden was a heaven after the unbearable suffering inflicted by the Nazis.

Sweden gave them an opportunity to rebuild their lives and start new families. The Jewish community developed a wide range of religious, educational and cultural programs. An assimilated community "of the Mosaic faith" became a proud minority striving to maintain and develop their traditions while integrating into a new environment.

One can surely say that the Jews were the first minority group in Sweden in modern times to do this.

Since Israeli independence in 1948 there have been ups and downs in the relations between the two countries.

Incidents of Swedish anti-Semitism, though, have been few and far between.

Thus it is with utmost concern that I as a former resident of Sweden have witnessed a flood of anti-Semitic incidents during the past several years.

But I don't speak only for myself. What I am writing here are also the views of Salomo Berlinger, Willy Salomon and Torsten Press – all of us former chairmen of the Jewish community of Stockholm now residing in Israel.

Granted, Prime Minister Goran Persson has initiated a "Living History project" and Sweden has taken a leading role in Holocaust education.

But that is unfortunately not enough. Today we see new forms of anti-Semitism in Sweden that require attention and action from the authorities.

The number of verbal and physical attacks against Jews has increased in Sweden. Youngsters in schools are compelled to hide their Jewishness because so many have been attacked, both verbally and physically.

Teachers say that non-Jewish students refuse to participate in classes where Judaism is studied. Holocaust survivors report experiencing fear on hearing that Jews are again being cursed and blamed for the ills of Swedish society and the world.

Participants in several events supporting Israel and opposing racism have been physically attacked, with the police standing by.

It is totally unacceptable that Jews should have to fear for their physical well-being and safety if they wear a Jewish symbol in public. This is Europe in 2004!

Moreover, during the past several decades Sweden has become a center for racist and anti-Semitic white power music. Swedish anti-Semitic groups have established web sites spreading their propaganda worldwide.

Even the Swedish Church has now initiated a boycott campaign officially aimed at products from the areas Israel has controlled since the 1967 Six Day War. This boycott is reminiscent of other commercial boycotts of Jews in the past.

Criticism of Israel is legitimate, but it can never be allowed to justify anti-Semitism. This is an unequivocal point made in the Berlin Declaration of the OSCE – a commitment Sweden formally supported.

The fact is life is not easy for the 8,000 registered members of the Swedish Jewish community (there are an estimated 10–15,000 additional unaffiliated Jewish citizens).

The country is one of the few in Europe that forbids shehita – Jewish ritual meat slaughter. Ironically, a similar law was enacted in the late 1930s by Nazi Germany.

I know that the Swedish government is working on solutions to allow shehita (and hallal), and I hope that Sweden will soon eliminate this shameful law.

Sweden is also probably the only country in the democratic world that has instituted a law governing circumcision which in various ways makes it difficult to keep this more than 3000-year-old tradition.

I have no doubt that the government as well as the entire Swedish parliament stand united against anti-Semitism. What Swedish Jews lack, however, is concrete and determined actions.

Swedish government and society can't solve these problems by with educational projects or institutes. The government must clearly, repeatedly and with determination fight every form of anti-Semitism, old and new. It is not enough to keep referring to the Living History project, as the prime minister and other ministers and officials tend to do, most recently at the OSCE conference in Berlin.

Swedish Jews expect the government to take concrete and determined measures to stop the flood of anti-Semitism in Sweden and to make sure that every Jewish resident in Sweden who wishes to can practice his religion and tradition without fear of verbal or physical violence.

Freivalds's visit is welcome. Positive actions would be even more welcome.
- posted by Izak @ 11:24 PM