Behind the Humanitarian Mask: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland

"Sweden is the Scandinavian country where anti-Semitism is thriving, where there is a scathing and poisonous anti-Israelism and demonization of Israel. This trend, which has its beginning at the end of the 1960s in the days of the radical Prime Minister Olof Palme, continued into the days of those who followed him and, at times it even intensified. Sweden, a seemingly secular country, has a very active partner in these negative trends - the Lutheran Church. How strange that this church runs the "Swedish Theological Center" in Beit Tavor on "The Street of the Prophets" in Jerusalem, where the study plan, the atmosphere and its leaders are so anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian."

Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews blog

Here is a book review by Moshe Yegar, a former Israeli ambassador to Sweden, printed in Israel Today, a scholarly journal.

Behind the Humanitarian Mask: The Nordic Countries, Israel and the Jews [in pdf]

Sweden
The Scandinavian countries - Sweden, Norway, Denmark - as well as Finland enjoy a very positive image in the world. Many people are convinced that these democratic countries aim for peace, that their policies are based on justice, concern for human rights and moral humanitarian considerations, and that they help the underprivileged of the world as well as those suffering in regimes of oppression. Apparently the first person to question this, at least in regard to Sweden, was the British researcher, Professor Roland Huntford, of Cambridge University. In 1972 he published a profound study of the Swedish regime under the Social-Democratic Party, which has ruled the country since the early 1930s till now, with short interruptions. The title of his book, The New Totalitarians, as well as it contents, is very informative.

The name of the book before us now, Behind the Humanitarian Mask, and its content as well, are equally instructive. Its editor Dr Manfred Gerstenfeld is one of the most outstanding experts on Western anti-Semitism today. This is the fourteenth book he has written or edited, either alone or with partners. This time he has concentrated on the three Scandinavian countries and Finland, with an interesting chapter on Iceland.

It is no surprise that this book reveals that Sweden is the Scandinavian country where anti-Semitism is thriving, where there is a scathing and poisonous anti-Israelism and demonization of Israel. This trend, which has its beginning at the end of the 1960s in the days of the radical Prime Minister Olof Palme, continued into the days of those who followed him and, at times it even intensified. Sweden, a seemingly secular country, has a very active partner in these negative trends - the Lutheran Church. How strange that this church runs the "Swedish Theological Center" in Beit Tavor on "The Street of the Prophets" in Jerusalem, where the study plan, the atmosphere and its leaders are so anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian.

Besides the government itself, there are many important groups within the ruling Social-Democratic party, as well as other active Leftists and journalists who are responsible for the anti-Semitic activity and the anti-Israeli demonization propaganda in Sweden. They all hide behind a self-righteous appearance, hypocritical declarations about concern for human rights and anti-Semitic hypocrisy expressed as moral superiority. These trends, sometimes inconsistent, go hand in hand in Sweden as well as in the neighboring countries. Since outward anti-Semitism is not very fashionable in the world today, since the Nazi regime in Europe, these poisonous ideas are masked as anti-Zionist or anti-Israel, and are much more acceptable today in Leftist circles, as well as in the Right, among the Lutheran clergy, academics and media personalities. All of these have been active in the last generation, together with fundamentalist Muslim clergy within the ever growing Muslim communities, which are strongly involved in promoting Islamic anti-Semitism.

One prominent example of typical hypocritical Swedish policy is its attitude toward the fate of Raoul Wallenberg, the greatest of the righteous Gentiles. As is well known, he was active in Budapest at the end of the Second World War and succeeded in saving many thousands of Jews. With him was a young Swedish diplomat named Per Anger. After the war Anger returned to Stockholm and continued to work in the foreign service until his retirement. He devoted many years to researching the fate of Wallenberg and to attempt to free him from the Soviets. After he retired, he published a book - a sharp and serious accusation of his government - in which he brought out details and proof that Wallenberg had been knowingly abandoned by the governments of Sweden throughout the years, due to their fear of the Soviets. For many years Sweden did nothing to bring about Wallenberg’s release or to find out what had happened to him. A major role in this was played by the well-known Swedish ambassador Gunnar Jarring, (who is best known in Israel because of his UN peace mission to the Middle East) during his term as Sweden’s ambassador to Moscow. Only around 1990, at the time of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, did Sweden begin to think of Wallenberg as an asset, to memorialize him, to turn him into a national hero and to recognize his work, as if that had been an official Swedish undertaking.

The successive governments of Sweden have contributed their share to the anti-Israel atmosphere by expressing anti-Israeli ideas in various spheres, and by giving money to Palestinian groups, through under-cover organizations and also up-front organizations. Part of this financial aid has been used for anti-Israeli propaganda, and perhaps even worse than that.

Included in the book is a very interesting interview with Zvi Mazel, who was Israel’s ambassador in Stockholm between December 2002 and April 2004. Mazel tells how he found a country whose hate for Israel is nurtured by ruling groups, which has an extremely hostile press, and which tends to preach morality in a superior righteous and boastful tone. He paints a picture which is not known to many. Dr. Mikael Tossavainen, a Swedish historian, publishes a study of Arab and Muslim anti-Semitism in Sweden, including acts of violence against Jews, which have occurred as a result of the large Muslim immigration.

In his article, Professor Gerald Steinberg of Bar-Ilan University tells of the plots of the Swedish Agency for Foreign Aid, a branch of the Swedish Foreign Office, which distributes general financial support to Palestinian organizations which, under the mask of humanitarian aid, is used for anti-Israeli activities. These are official Swedish actions. It is hard to understand how the Government of Israel seems to be totally indifferent to these activities and does not find a way to react. In view of what has been said till now, it is not difficult to understand how Sweden refused to bring Nazi criminals to trial, and even offered them immunity. Among them are Swedes who had volunteered for the SS, just as in Norway and Denmark, and there were many thousands of such volunteers.

Norway
The situation is not much different in Norway, another country which enjoys a very positive image in the world, but which also stands out in the level of anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism in the country, among the same types of groups as in Sweden, including government ministers, heads of the Lutheran church, trade unions, academics, etc. A particular Norwegian "specialty" is publishing anti-Semitic cartoons in the manner of the Nazi Stürmer. One article in the book deals with this issue. The radicalization of the extreme anti-Israelism stood out especially during the First Lebanon War (1982-1984), and has continued till now. There was no other country in the West where Israel was attacked - in an anti-Semitic way - so strongly as in Norway and its media. Here too there is a strong connection between extreme Leftist groups and Muslim groups in the distribution of anti-Semitic propaganda material. And to these we can also add neo-Nazi groups and Lutheran clergy.

Denmark
In Denmark as well there are waves of the "new" anti-Semitism and hatred of Zionism and Israel amongst the same groups, although there it seems to be a bit less malicious. Everyone remembers to compliment the Danes for good work during the Second World War and for their saving 7,000 Jews who were transferred in small boats to the Swedish coast in October 1943. It is only in the last decade that some very problematic and unpleasant facts hitherto unknown regarding the behaviour of Denmark during that period have come to light, including the degree of its cooperation with the Nazis. Facts about handing Jews over to the Nazis, as well as other unpleasant information about the treatment of Jewish refugees, have been uncovered. This subject is covered in this book in a special article written by two Danish researchers.

Another fact unknown until now is that about 6,000 Danish volunteers fought in SS units and even participated in the murder of Jews in eastern Galicia, together with Norwegian and Swedish volunteers. Since the War the governments of Denmark have done their best to keep this information secret, as well as the story of the cooperation between Danish food industries with contractor companies which worked for the German army, using slave labour and of course benefitting financially.

In another article negative information about the "white buses" affair is brought to light, as the Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte was connected to this. The first to expose this issue was the British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, who was criticized for publishing his findings, yet he was revealing the truth. The great wonder was how Yad VaShem fell into this Swedish propaganda trap and erected a "white bus" on its premises. The management of Yad VaShem should have known that there are many question marks surrounding this issue.

Finland
Little is known about Finland’s behaviour during the Second World War. Finland has won great sympathy in the world, including from Jews, due to the "White War" she fought so valiantly against the Red Army, and because her leader, Marshall Gustaf Emil Mannerheim did not allow the Jewish-Finnish soldiers to be harmed. There were those in his government who wanted to hand them over to the Nazis. But Finland did also give up Jews to the Gestapo, especially Jewish soldiers in the Red Army who were taken prisoner. In a short essay, Professor Steinberg gives illustrative details of significant current Finnish financial help to Palestinian organizations, supposedly for humanitarian purposes, but actually it goes to less honourable use, especially anti-Israeli propaganda, much like the financial support from Sweden, Norway and Denmark (according to various rumors there are some organizations in Israel generally referred to as the "Peace Camp" which are also benefitting from these funds - a subject worthy of examination).

Iceland
The editor of this book, Dr Gerstenfeld, has done well in adding a very interesting article on Iceland, although this is an unusual issue and Iceland cannot be put in the same category as the other Scandinavian countries. This article examines the history of anti-Semitism in Iceland - an island where Jews arrived only in the 1930s- from 1625 till 2004. We have learned from other countries that Jews don’t have to be present in a place in order for anti-Semitism to develop. Anti-Semitism and anti-Semites existed in Iceland long before the arrival of a few Jews. The authorities of the island always made it difficult for any Jews who wished to settle there. It is hard to believe, but even in Iceland, before the Second World War, there was a small Nazi party. And several volunteers from Iceland also found their way into service in the SS. After the war, even in Iceland there were Holocaust deniers and those who distributed anti-Israel propaganda. And now, here we have an irony of history - the president of Iceland is married to an Israeli woman - Dorit Moussayef!

Dr Gerstenfeld has gathered very valuable material for this which must be brought to the attention of a wide audience. It is especially important that this book be distributed, as widely as possible, in the Scandinavian countries themselves. It would be good for those communities to see this book as the mirror it is, to see their picture without a mask, and perhaps this could lead to the birth of some positive groups who will be strong enough to bring about change.

Moshe Yegar

Anti-Semitism rears head in Iceland, too, by Max Socol

"... a Gallup poll released Sunday in which, of 2,000 Icelanders surveyed, only 3 percent had a positive attitude toward Israel, compared to 70% with positive feeling toward the Palestinians."

"One of the populations most severely hit by the worldwide rise in anti-Semitism that's followed Operation Cast Lead has been one of the easiest to overlook: the minuscule Jewish community of Iceland.

"In Icelandic, 'Zionist' is a derogatory term," said Dr. Vilhjálmur Örn Vilhjálmsson (see below), a Danish professor who has studied the history of Iceland's Jews. "It's a criminal emblem."

Now, a bicycle repair shop owner in Reykjavik has refused to serve Jews, despite condemnation from the Icelandic government [Icelandic protest: bicycle shop "Jews are not welcome"] .

The shop owner's stance may reflect a coming shift in the public face of anti-Israel feeling in the country. In the midst of a recession that has all but destroyed the Icelandic economy, a new far-left government has been carried to power.

"I am afraid because the members of the cabinet we're going to see created today have expressed in recent weeks and in the past that they want to cut ties with Israel," said Vilhjálmsson.

A local Jewish resident, who was reluctant to give his name due to safety concerns, agreed. "I'm trying to see if there will be any consequences for Jews [because of the new government]," he said. "I imagine they might cut diplomatic ties with Israel."

Originally from the United States, the Iceland resident has made his home and raised his family in Iceland, and he is candid about the challenge. "Being Jewish in Iceland is very difficult," he said. "Is it a contradiction for me to try to be religious and live here? Maybe." He cited the lack of a synagogue, rabbi, or any organized community.

Vilhjálmsson, who is also Jewish, has roots in Iceland and visits at least once or twice a year. He has been alarmed by a sudden rise in anti-Semitic activity in the past few years, especially in light of the Gaza war.

"Every time there's a conflict between Israel and Palestine, things get inflamed," said Vilhjálmsson. "But it's not only a matter of the conflict - we also have a society where anti-Semitism was not criticized after [World War II], in the same way it was in a place like Germany."

Anti-Semitism in Iceland in some ways resembles a time-capsule of the popular thought of the 1930s. Iceland never came under German occupation, and therefore did not have the same reckoning with the ugly fruits of bigotry as the Axis countries did after the war - a phenomenon that Vilhjálmsson has documented in his writing.

Now, anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment have blurred in a country that, according to Vilhjálmsson, rarely receives balanced coverage of the Middle East conflict. He pointed to a Gallup poll released Sunday in which, of 2,000 Icelanders surveyed, only 3 percent had a positive attitude toward Israel, compared to 70% with positive feeling toward the Palestinians.

The poll suggests that Jews and Israelis have not gained the public trust in Iceland, despite president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson's 2003 marriage to Dorrit Mussaieff, an Israeli citizen and at the time the only Jewish first lady outside of Israel.

"When the bankruptcy came, you could see people expressing a new view [about Mussaieff]," said Vilhjálmsson. "Even though she was very good for Iceland, people said that 'an Icelandic person should never have married a Jewish woman. She is part of a Jewish conspiracy.'"

However, despite the popular sentiment, the local source said he did not feel that Jews in Iceland were in any imminent danger. He also dismissed the headline-making bike shop owner.

"Of the few Jews that are here, how many have bikes? How many are visiting his shop?" he asked. "It's just a publicity stunt. And anyway, there's 10 inches of snow on the ground.""

Source: article in TJP
-----------------------------------------------------------Annals of Icelandic-Jewish relations 1625-2003, by Dr. Vilhjálmur Örn Vilhjálmsson [Iceland, the Jews, and Anti-Semitism, 1625-2004, JCPA]

"The article provides an outline of the history of the Jews in Iceland.

Jews were only occasional visitors in Iceland from the 17th century onwards. A permanent settlement in this outpost of the habitable world, where a stray homogeneous population of somewhat xenophobic descendants of saga heroes survived under extreme conditions, was never a feasible option for any foreign visitor in their right mind. Until the 1930s, the Holy Scripture as well as the most recent European trends in anti-Semitism were almost the only knowledge the Icelanders had about the Jews.

Jews were known to the Icelanders, in positive terms as gyðingar, or júðar if the discussion was hateful. Jews in the flesh materialised as the occasional visitor or merchant and as Jewish refugees from Nazi-Germany in the 1930s. Most of the Jewish refugees moved on to other countries and a few of them were even expelled or deported back to the countries they came from. The article provides a few examples of the very negative treatment of Jewish refugees and the strict immigration policy towards Jews in particular. A young Jew, Alfred Kempner, was expelled to Copenhagen in 1938. The Icelandic authorities notified their Danish colleagues that the Icelandic authorities were willing to carry all costs for his further deportation to Germany if Denmark was not interested in keeping him.

The very few Jews who stayed on in Iceland, were an extremely heterogeneous group. Only a few of the families that were allowed to stay practised their religion. They did so together with Jewish servicemen in the British and American forces, who protected Iceland during WWII. In the post-war period Jews living in Iceland remained an isolated group. Jewish services only took place at the US Nato base in Keflavík.

Most of the Jews who immigrated to Iceland after the war, realised that most Icelanders in their attitude towards Jews did not show any consideration for, nor interest in, the sufferings some of them had gone through during WWII. Members of the pre-war Icelandic Nazi party had become high ranking officials, war criminals found safe haven in Iceland and an eccentric, social democratic politician even engaged in the publication of an extreme anti-Semitic journal and in the publishing of the anti-Semitic hoax "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in Icelandic.

Possibly due to anti-Jewish sentiments, some Jews in Iceland tried to hide their Jewish background from their children altogether. Today there is a small, but proud group of Jews in Iceland, mostly immigrants married to Icelanders, who gather regularly in Reykjavík on Jewish holidays."

Source: rambam.dk, Society for Danish Jewish History

Icelandic protest: bicycle shop "Jews are not welcome"

Some in Iceland [320,000 inhabitants] don't like Jews. Even in Iceland ...

"To protest against the Israeli operation in Gaza and show solidarity with Hamas, a bicycle shop in Reykjavik, capital of Iceland shows a poster reading "Jews are not welcome".

According to an Icelandic source, the word used 'Judar' has a negative tone in the local language whereas 'Gyndingur' is the correct neutral word."

Sources: EJP and DV.is
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More anti-Israel protests in Reykjavik (Jan. 12)

"Around 30 people are currently protesting outside the Icelandic parliament building. The protesters are angry that Iceland has not been outspoken in its criticism of Israel’s current military operations in the Gaza Strip, according to MBL.is.

The group is now outside parliament, but originally met this morning on the lawn of the Prime Minister’s office. Police are following the protesters, but have not yet done anything to intervene.

Some of the protesters are lying on the front steps of parliament, meaning police may see fit to move them should access to the building be significantly impeded."
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Protesters pelt Iceland Foreign Ministry (Jan. 11)

"A group of ten to 15 protesters, mostly wearing masks, gathered outside the Icelandic Foreign Ministry on Friday afternoon and pelted the building with balloons filled with red paint.

The protesters aim was to turn the building red in protest at Iceland’s continued political relations with Israel. According to a statement from the group, Iceland should immediately halt diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv in protest at the bloodshed currently taking place in the Gaza Strip.

Police surrounded the building quickly, but the protesters disbursed peacefully and nobody was arrested.

Reykjavik also participated in yesterday’s Europe-wide series of protests against the current Israeli operation in Gaza."