Swedish journalist looks for Swedish extremist Jews

"Jews and pro-Israelis do not threaten churches and mosques and foreign embassies. They do not riot in the streets and throw stones at the police. Yet our Middle East expert Hilde Henriksen Waage warns the nation about a smear campaign being conducted against Norway, and Håkon Gullvåg hires in more guards to protect his paintings at the exhibition at Trondheim kunstmuseum. And now this Swedish journalist searches for extremist Jews."

Source: article in Norway, Israel and the Jews blog

"Here is an inquiry from a Swedish journalist looking for radicalization among Jews. On the one hand, this inquiry makes perfect sense. This year’s events have repeatedly shown us how anti-Israeli sentiment in the Scandinavian countries tends to blend in with outright anti-Semitism.

For instance, during the Davis-cup demonstrations in Sweden left-wing and right-wing extremists joined ranks with men commemorating the massacre at Khyber.

As for Norway we have Minister of Finance Kristin Halvorsen’s anti-war march on January 8th, when there were cries of "Kill the Jews" from some of the demonstrators. When the Jerusalem Post wrote an article on this issue, the Norwegian media and political elite reacted by denying that such cries were heard, and that the march was a "peaceful and dignified" affair.

This depressing example of Norwegian self-righteousness is unfortunately not unique. So would it be all that strange if someone decided to do a "Mazel" and protest against, say, either some aspect of demonization of Israel or a pure act of anti-Semitism?

On the other hand there is nothing to indicate that Scandinavian Jews are radicalizing. Jews and pro-Israelis do not threaten churches and mosques and foreign embassies. They do not riot in the streets and throw stones at the police. Yet our Middle East expert Hilde Henriksen Waage warns the nation about a smear campaign being conducted against Norway, and Håkon Gullvåg hires in more guards to protect his paintings at the exhibition at Trondheim kunstmuseum. And now this Swedish journalist searches for extremist Jews.

One thing is for certain, if any Jewish extremism should surface it would come as a huge relief to Nordic politicians and media alike. Let us pray they are not given this satisfaction."
————————— Original Message —————————-
Subject: Inquiry from the Swedish Television
From: Eva Renström <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JustPeaceUK/post?postID=AA9I90pKOiOPMEQaAnAmpg3UDorNifosnVIHmefNoSOGT12op3GFl3EWNDSfqBuPI8IxoDZJ2R9o2w>
Date: Fri, January 30, 2009 2:38 pm
To: mail@…
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Dear Peace-worker, [!!!]

My name is Eva Renstrom and I'm working as a journalist at the Swedish Television; the public service company in Sweden, with a program called Existens; Existence. It's a secular program about religion and society,and our assignment is to describe what happens when these two meets and collides.
Now we are planning to do a program about the escalated Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and what happens with the manifestation of the religions; Islam and Judaism, in the current situation.
Our focus will be Islam, but we intend to discuss growing radicalism and intolerance among the Jewish population as well. Here in Sweden, we see moderate movements in this direction. But since everything in Sweden is more or less moderate in comparison, we suspect that the effect is enhanced in the rest of Europe as well as in the Middle East. We want to know more about the risk of increased radicalism and extremism, about where this situation can take us. We want to know more about if and how the religious manifestation will change.
Now I'm looking for someone to talk to; who can analyze the situation, especially when it comes to the situation among Jews. I've read about you on the web site, and I thought that you maybe can help me! I´m grateful for your help!

Best wishes, and a nice weekend to you!
EVA RENSTROM
Reporter SVT Existens
+46 708 35 85 36
mailto:36eva.renstrom@…
http://svt.se/existens