Finland: supermarket chain investigated for vicious anti-Semitism

Tundra Tabloids:  The free paper issued to over 360 000 homes by the J. Kärkkäinen supermarket chain, Magneetti Media, has been consistently publishing conspiracy stories for some time now, many of them anti-Semitic. There’s no question about it, J. Kärkkäinen has a "Jew problem" as the following picture from their most recent publication that includes the entire reading of the fraudulent Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, shows. Continue reading.  (The Protocols article is taken from the viciously antisemitic blog Radio Islam run by Ahmed Rami, a Moroccan-Swedish writer and Holocaust-denier.)

They have also lifted from Radio Islam this article about Henry Ford's The International Jew:

There are also links to:

1. When Jews Rule The World
2. David Duke: Juutalainen Ylivalta
3. Kuka omistaa median 2012
4. Kannanotto Israel-vastaiseen kirjoitukseen lehdessä 42/2012

This is also found on Magneetti: What Christians Don’t Know About Israel, by Grace Halsell @ Washington Report, which claims to be telling the truth (you know about what) for 30 years.

And more of the same:

Jews leaving Malmö in Sweden and the community Rabbi fears the hatred he meets in the city.

Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews (The way Sweden is going…)

With kind collaboration from a reader with contacts in Sweden. Lets just hope this scenario does not pan out in Norway…

Jews are leaving Malmö in Sweden and the community Rabbi fears the hatred he meets in the city.

In a unique interview in the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter the Rabbi of Malmö blames the political leaders for the hatred growing with young Muslims. In peaceful Sweden Jews are not safe and can not walk the streets without fear. It is almost unreal that this is Sweden in 2011, not 1941.

“I wasn’t prepared for the hatred I was to face”

In recent years the hatred of Jews has increased in Malmö. many translocate from there. Rabbi Shneur Kesselman has chosen to stay. But when he came to Malmö seven years ago, he was not prepared for the hatred he would face.

Seven years ago the Jewish Rabbi Shneur Kesselman and his wife  moved to Malmö. He grew up in the car city of Detroit in the northern United States.  "We had many Muslims neighbors and never experienced unpleasantness. But in Malmö … when the young guys shout “support Hitler” after me it has gone very far. I wasn’t prepared for the hatred I would meet here as a Jew."

The Jewish community in Malmö today has about 650 members, the number has steadily decreased in recent years. Young people choose to study in other locations, retirees follow their children. Anti-Semitism also make members  leave the city. The Kesselman couple have no plans to leave the city.

More HERE

Captain of French ship to Gaza lied to Greeks and the Israelis

No wonder the ship and the crew were French.  This exploit like so many others makes the French people so proud.

Source: Sweden, Israel and the Jews (Lone Flotilla Boat Fails to Enter Gaza)
 

Not missing the Flotilla:
Shoppers at newest Gaza Mall
Photo Credit: EoZ blog 

Early yesterday afternoon a single boat from the “Fizzled Flotilla” entered Israel’s territorial waters and was stopped by the Israeli Navy. The ship's activists had misled Greek authorities by stating that they were headed for Egypt, but they changed course to head for Gaza. 

The boat was boarded without incident; this represented, we hope, the end of protest cruise season this year. The Ship to Gaza movement, which last year brought little or useless aid to Gaza  residents, was represented today by the French-Corsican registeredDignite al Karama. Like last year’s Mavi Marmara it is a passenger ship, and carried no aid supplies.  But unlike theMavi Marmara, it carried no club- and knife-wielding mercenary jihadists, just a small number of protesters.

A flotilla information press release dated yesterday lists 16 passengers and crew, including Swedish repeat cruiser Dror Feiler. (Seems that Swedish author Henning Mankell missed the boat this time.) Since Feiler was barred from entering Israel for 10 years last year, we will see if Israeli immigration authorities prosecute him this year.

A talkback comment titled “Swedish news agency TT manipulates reporting” by Fredrik on the Ynet news item stated:

Hollywood film-maker changes mind over making Jewish film in Sweden

Source: Tundra Tabloids

Remember, this is taking place in ‘MODERATE’ fun loving Sweden.

Hollywood scraps filming after Malmö Jews alert

The Local: A Hollywood film company was planning to set a movie with a Jewish theme in Skåne in southern Sweden but changed its mind due to concerns over anti-Semitism in Malmö.

The Öresund Film Commission, a Swedish-Danish cooperation helping foreign film companies seeking to film in the Öresund region, received an email from the Hollywood firm in February which raised concerns over the safety of the Jewish community, according to a report in the local Sydsvenskan daily.

”Only problem I see with this project… is the huge problem that this being a Jewish story and that the Simon Wiesenthal center in the USA called the south of Sweden a VERY unsafe place for the Jewish community,” the email read.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre in December 2010 issued a travel warning urging Jews to exercise “extreme caution” when traveling in southern Sweden.

The warning came following an escalation of attacks directed against Malmö Jews and remarks from Malmö mayor Ilmar Reepalu perceived to lay the blame on the city’s Jewish community for failing to denounce Israel.

Mikael Svensson at the Öresund Film Commission expressed surprise over the film company’s email and its decision to find an alternative location.

“I have followed the debate, but never thought that it could spread to the film industry and this type of decision,” he told the newspaper.

Skåne has become an established location for Swedish and international film makers with several films based in and around the cities of Malmö and Ystad, such as the criminal detective series “Wallander”, starring Kenneth Branagh.

- Jews leave Swedish city after sharp rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes, Daily Telegraph, Feb. 21, 2010
Sweden's reputation as a tolerant, liberal nation is being threatened by a steep rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes in the city of Malmo.

Unholy Money, Unholy Lies: Swedish Diakonia and the UK Methodists

Source: Sweden, Israel and the Jews 

As we reported last year, in 2010 the Swedish government was funneling 800 million SEK ($111.5 mil USD) to organizations like Diakonia, a church NGO which also sponsors anti-Israel activism. Some of the funds also find their way via Diakonia and other organizations (such as SIDA) to terror-linked organizations in Gaza and the West Bank, or may be squandered through corruption and mismanagement.  As we noted regarding the Israel delegitimization efforts of these NGOs:

“In Sweden, these campaigns are a large part the contribution of aid to the Palestinians. This political lobbying is clearly not meant to get the Palestinians to the negotiation table, recognizing the Jewish state or stopping terrorism. It is solely about making Israel into a pariah state.  The top agenda items for these government-funded campaigns are: questioning Israel’s right to exist, forcing territorial concessions, and putting all the blame of the conflict on Israel.”

It must be pointed out that although Sweden is large part of this campaign as a major international donor, it is not alone. There is a linkage with other countries through Christian Aid and its activist recruiting partner Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). These international organizations work to delegitimize Israel through fund-raising and propaganda. In the UK most churches (with the notable exception of pro-Israel evangelical Christians) support Christian Aid and its agenda.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, whose representative recently visited Malmö in an attempt to promote tolerance, published a blog post which takes the UK Methodists—probably the most radical of major UK churches—to task for an article published on the official Methodist website by a church official.  The main point of the article, which purports to give Jewish and Muslim perspectives on Israel and Palestine, is that Jews use Holocaust education to justify Israel’s existence. It also complains that non-European Jewish students are being indoctrinated about an event which had nothing to do with them.

Nazi past of Walter Sommerlath, the Queen of Sweden father

Source: Sweden, Israel and the Jews (Queen Silvia of Sweden—Opponent of Democratic Freedoms?)

On November 28, 2010, the Swedish program “Kalla Fakta” (Cold Facts) on TV4 broadcasted a documentary about the Swedish Queen’s late father, Walter Sommerlath (1901-1990), and his Nazi past. The factual program raised some inconvenient truths—which the queen is now trying to suppress.

Queen Silvia’s father was a German national, who worked in the steel industry in Brazil in the 1920’s. There were many German expatriates in Brazil, and Sommerlath and his brother affiliated themselves with the German Nazi party in 1934. The Sommerlaths joined the National Socialists’ foreign division (NSDAP/AS) in Brazil. In 1938 Sommerlath returned to Germany where he was able, with the help of the National Social Democrats (Nazis), to expropriate a metal factory in Berlin from its rightful Jewish owner, Efim Wechsler. The factory was soon turned into an integral part of the war industry, producing tank parts and anti-aircraft guns for the German army.

Therefore, Queen Silvia’s father was, in fact, an active Nazi sympathizer who made his fortune by acquiring a factory owned by a Jew, Efim Wechsler. Wechsler, having had his property taken away from him by extortion, and left penniless by further Nazis taxes, was then destitute and forced to flee Germany. Perhaps this was new information for Queen Silvia, who has commented previously that “her father’s involvement in Nazism was neither politically active or as a soldier”. In fact she claimed that her father’s factory produced toy trains and hair dryers and civil defense items.

Europe: antisemitism has entered the bloodstream

Antisemitism has entered the bloodstream, by Hans Rustad (via Norway, Israel and the Jews blog)

The revelation that Wikileaks’ contactpersons in Sweden and Russia are the notorious antisemite Israel Shamir and his son Johannes Wahlström, is an indication that antisemitism now has entered the bloodstream of the establishment.

For people outside of Europe this is very hard to fathom. It has to do with a much deeper development in Europe, one that should worry Americans. Europe is shifting, groping, undergoing a major transformation, and people within the media establishment are allowing extremists to play a role. That is because political correctness, as practised in Europe, dulls the senses and deprives people of normal reflexes. Extremists may enter the fray, unnoticed.

Under normal circumstances Wahlström would never have been given a second chance. He burned his bridges when he wrote an article for a leftist magazine, Ordfront, back in December 2005, alleging that Israel controls Swedish media. This in itself was not shocking. That is staple food on the left. What caused an uproar was that he cited two of Swedens most experienced and renowned Middle East correspondents, Peter Löfgren from Swedish Television, and Lotta Schüllerqvist from Dagens Nyheter. It was they who explained how Israel rules and manipulates and bullies Swedish editorial rooms and journalists. Except for one thing: they never said as much. It was all a lie. Wahlström invented the whole story. He met both of them, but never bothered to write down their real replies, instead he invented what he wanted them to say.

He used them cynically, arrogantly and one must say – stupidly. How could he possibly expect to get away with it? He did not of course. Both Löfgren and Lotta Schüllerqvist wrote scathing denounciations and the editor of Ordfront was obliged to retract.

Read the whole piece on Document.no

- Harry's Place has been following the Julian Assange/Israel Shamir connection

- Andrew Brown also wrote about the connection in The Guardian : WikiLeaks and Israel Shamir - WikiLeaks is represented in Russia and Scandinavia by a father and son team with a disturbing record of antisemitism

"Dear pro-Israel bloggers: Are you guys getting any beer from the Mossad ?"

"Look, I just want to know if you guys are receiving any booze. Like the newspapers tell us the Swedish cops do. Does, like, the Mossad do a milkman route and drop by every morning and leave a bottle of Gin on your doorstep or something. I don’t know. Maybe they fly the booze to your bedroom window by carrier pigeon or perhaps they call you up in the dead of night and go, “ok, meet me by the old oak behind the cemetery, I’ve got some beer for you“. I don’t know."

Received this from Christian Tau of Norway, Israel and the Jews (NIJ).  In turn, we put the question to other bloggers.  Are you getting any booze from the Mossad ?  If not, should we go on strike ?

After learning about how Israel is bribing Swedish policemen with “hundreds of bottles” of alcohol, some of us here at NIJ are a bit upset. Here is a letter we have written to our colleagues in Sweden and Spain and Belgium.

Dear Spain-Israel-and the Jews, Sweden-Israel-and the Jews and La Belgique francophone, Israël et les Juifs

Are you guys getting any alcohol?

The reasons I am asking is that Swedish and Norwegian newspapers are writing about how the Israeli embassy in Sweden is bribing Swedish policemen with “hundreds of bottles” of booze. The source for this story is anonymous. But Swedish Aftonbladet insists that their anonymous source has thorough knowledge of the matter.

I know, it does not sound very credible. In fact, it sounds like something a desperate blogger would make up in lack of a proper story. But Aftonbladet, Aftenposten, radio channel P4 and Dagbladet are proper media channels. Anders Johansson, Karin Östman, Anbjørg Bakken, Harald Nygård Kvam and Marie Melgård are educated journalists writing proper stories on well-researched issues. These guys are professionals. They’ve got editors and checks and balances, all in order to provide their readers with quality product. So if they say their anonymous source has thorough knowledge of how Swedish cops are being bribed with beer, perhaps we should give them the benefit of doubt. I mean, NUPI researcher Helge Lurås says what’s going on in Sweden might very well be happening right here in Oslo. And NUPI’s got some shrewd minds, those guys are SMART.

European Union Sponsors Racist Jerusalem Art Event

"The local people told me months ago that Israelis cannot go. Our team [of 12 Dutch activists and eight artists] had to promise that we would not allow peaceful Israelis to come." (Merlijn Twaalfhoven)

Source: Solomonia and The Jerusalem Post

"Just one of those artsy-fartsy events, scattered around various locations locations througout Jerusalem. No big deal right? One catch: No Jews allowed. Peace without dialogue? Impossible :

"[...] last weekend I duly RSVP'd to a guests-only invitation to the Al-Quds Underground, touted as an unconventional festival with more than 150 small shows in private spaces in the Old City. Performances included music, storytelling, dancing, short acts and food. Locations were living rooms, a library, courtyards, gardens and more unique places. My expectation of a celebration of Jerusalem's diversity was dashed, however, when I arrived late Saturday afternoon at the Damascus Gate meeting point. Politely asked in English by Jamal Goseh, the director of the a-Nuzha Hakawati Theater near the American Colony Hotel, "Where do you live?" I responded in Arabic that I live in Jerusalem. From my accent and appearance, he discerned that I am an Israeli.

Al-Quds Underground's artistic director Merlijn Twaalfhoven of Amsterdam then told me, along with some Israeli peace activists who had arrived, that we were not welcome. My reply that I had been invited was to no avail, nor was my guarded threat to pen an expose of their racism.

And so here it is. For the sake of fairness, I met Twaalfhoven the next day to allow him an opportunity to explain... or dig himself a deeper hole. (Goseh declined my request for an interview.) "We want to bring art to the world," he began. "I sometimes break through the boundaries between art and life. That is the core of my work."

A visionary creator of art happenings such as a dance performance at the Jalazoun refugee camp near Ramallah and the Long Distance Call concert on the rooftops of the Turkish half of the divided Cypriot city of Nicosia, Twaalfhoven said he had vaguely heard that the Arab League had chosen Jerusalem as Al-Quds 2009 Capital of Arab Culture and that the Israeli government had banned the festival as a political event forbidden under the Oslo Accords. "I don't know the details. I thought it was a good idea to bring people together."

Twaalfhoven then added, "The local people told me months ago that Israelis cannot go. Our team [of 12 Dutch activists and eight artists] had to promise that we would not allow peaceful Israelis to come."

Apologetic over what had happened, he then spilled the beans. The €50,000 project was funded by the European Union through the Dutch charity Cordaid [the Dutch Catholic organisation for relief and development aid NGO has often been criticised by NGO Monitor for its anti-Israeli stance] and the Alexandria-based Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures [co-funded by the European Union]. To have said no to racism would have meant to scuttle the budget.

Al-Quds Underground's no-Israelis rule is part of a larger policy set by the Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions National Committee. This BDS movement, founded in 2005, can take credit for the cancellation of Leonard Cohen's September concert at the Ramallah Cultural Palace [...]""

- The Festival website
- Initiator and artistic director Merlijn Twaalfhoven shares his daily experiences in his diary (in Dutch)

- "Time to scrutinize ´Cordaid´", Manfred Gerstenfeld, TJP, 2007
- NGO Monitor reports on Cordaid
- A Clouded EU Presidency: Swedish Funding for NGO Rejectionism

'Israeli Cannibals', Donald Boström's accusations inspired cartoon

Cartoon by Zahraa-Hassa at Deviant Art

"Artist's comments: This artwork is related to Donald BOSTRÖM 's latest article; Our sons plundered for their organs , which announced IDF's role in stealing Palestinians organs... its a must read/spread article.."

- Anatomy of a Swedish Blood Libel, Allegations of Israeli organ theft are ugly, false, harmful—and they spread, by Andre Levin
- Europe & Israel: Points East & West: Beyond the Pale?, by Emanuele Ottolenghi
- Kristoffer Larsson, a Swedish theologian, backs Israeli organ theft claim

Sweden: ex-moderate Muslim to form 'anti-Zionist' party

"We will found a party, probably very soon. It will not be an islamic party but an anti-Zionist party. We are only against these [Zionists'] views. For example that they have a state which is rascist against Arabs and that they persecute Arabs etc.." (Mohamed Omar)

According to Gene at Harry's Place, "Swedish public radio reported on Omar’s "anti-Zionist" movement, reminiscent of the French "comedian" Dieudonné’s unsuccessful campaign for European Parliament."
_________
Sources: Islam in Europe and The Local

Swedish radio has a segment in English on the topic.

A former moderate Muslim spokesperson who last year came out as an Islamic radical wants to start a political party uniting all of Sweden's ant-Zionists.

According to Mohamed Omar, a 34-year-old author and commentator born in Uppsala in eastern Sweden, he is prepared to welcome all political stripes into his new party – from the radical left and Islamic extremists to neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists – as long as they subscribe to the party's core principles.

"Everyone is welcome as a part of our slogan, but no one is going to be able to push us in a certain direction. We're not going to focus on Islamic questions, but only on anti-Zionism in order to reach out to as many as possible," Omar told the Sveriges Radio (SR) documentary programme Kaliber.

Omar's website features interviews with known Holocaust deniers and others who hold anti-Semitic views. The Omar of today is a far cry from the measured and moderate man who once edited one of Sweden's most respected Muslim publications, Minaret magazine and condemned protests by Muslims angered by the 2007 decision of Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda to publish a drawing by artist Lars Vilks depicting the head of Muslim prophet Muhammad on a dog's body. "I think the demonstration is counterproductive and will only serve to reinforce any prejudices people have about Muslims," Omar told The Local in August 2007. "Nerikes Allehanda published the picture to illustrate a story. It's irrational to regard their decision to publish as being offensive to Muslims."

According to Omar, Israeli incursions into the Gaza strip in the second half of 2008 played a key role in his radicalization. "Last week I joined a protest against Israel for the first time," Omar wrote in an opinion article published in the Expressen newspaper on January 9th, 2009.

"The latest bloodbath was simply too much. I felt forced to take a public stance. But not only that. I decided to support Hamas and Hezbollah – the Islamic resistance movements." He concludes by declaring, "I'm a radical Muslim. And I say that with pride."

Soon thereafter he began arguing that Zionism was to blame for a number of Sweden's problems, including the disturbances which plagued the Rosengård neighbourhood in Malmö in December 2008.

"Besides, the big threat today is the Zionists. Today there are Zionists collecting money for the Israeli murder machine which used the money to burn children," Omar said on the Sveriges Television's Aktuellt news programme broadcast on January 29th.

A number of former allies have distanced themselves from Omar following his radicalization, including the current editor of Minaret, Abd al Haqq Kielan. "He's basically become a full blown extremist, seasoned with a bit if Islamic spice, but he doesn't represent Islam in any way," Kielan told Kaliber.

Even members of Sweden's Palestinian movement (Palestinarörelsen) had kept their distance from the new Omar. "Today he functions as sort of front man for fascism in this country and he pushes the absolutely most egregious anti-Semitic propaganda that I've seen in a long time," said commentator and Palestinian movement supporter Andreas Malm to SR. "What upset me most is that he's trying to dress it up as pro-Palestinian."

Read more on this HERE

Donald Bostrom, Swedish Blood Libel Journalist Plans Visit to Israel

"Despite the blood libel, the National Federation of Algerian Journalists presented him with an award for excellence. Bostrom, in his acceptance speech, charged that 1,000 Arabs were victims of organ harvesting since 1960."

Source: article by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu in INN

A nationalist group has appealed to Interior Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) to prevent the entry of Swedish journalist Donald Bostrom, who spread the blood libel alleging that IDF soldiers sold organs of Arab terrorists. Bostrom published his allegations in August and is planning to arrive in Israel next month for the Dimona Conference in the Negev.

Im Tirtzu (If You Wish) wrote to the minister, "Everyone understands the difference between his poisonous anti-Semitic articles and freedom of expression" and knows that his articles "are a modern blood libel that recall the same form of anti-Semitism in Europe in the Middle Ages. Anyone who thinks this is freedom of expression should return to school learn history." The group asked Yishai "to take all possible measures to prevent this journalist... from stepping foot on the Land of Israel."

Last week, a media watchdog official wrote in The Wall Street Journal that Bostrom’s allegations "are ugly, false, and harmful to peace efforts." Andrea Levin, executive director of CAMERA, (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America), that Bostrom’s article in Aftonbladet, Sweden’s leading daily, "has quickly metastasized to mainstream Muslim media, spawning cartoons of Jews stealing body parts and drinking Arab blood. These have been published in Syria, Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, to name a few."

Last month, an Algerian newspaper claimed that gangs directed by Jews round up and smuggle Algerian children into Israel, where they sell their organs. Iranian Press TV reported, "An international Jewish conspiracy to kidnap children and harvest their organs is gathering momentum."

Levin noted that despite the blood libel, the National Federation of Algerian Journalists presented him with an award for excellence. Bostrom, in his acceptance speech, charged that 1,000 Arabs were victims of organ harvesting since 1960.

After Israeli officials and media harshly condemned the report by Bostrom, who admitted that his report was unconfirmed and based on unsubstantiated claims by Arabs in Judea and Samaria, Aftonbladet stated there was no evidence of the charges but still demanded an international inquiry.

However, Levin wrote, "Francis Delmonico, a Harvard surgeon and international transplant specialist who was quoted in the Aftonbladet article on the issue of organ theft in general, told me he found the Aftonbladet charges completely inconsistent with his extensive interaction with Israeli doctors…. Like many others, Dr. Delmonico noted that Mr. Bostrom's scenario in which Ghanem [an Arab] was supposedly shot before having his organs removed for trafficking was ‘not feasible from a surgical vantage.’" Ghanem’s family refuted several "facts" that Bostrom wrote in his original accusations.

- Anatomy of a Swedish Blood Libel - Allegations of Israeli organ theft are ugly, false, harmful—and they spread, Andrea Levin, WSJ

Sweden supports Goldstone report

Israel is disappointed, but not surprised. European citizens too are disappointed with the EU and their leaders ...

Source: The Jerusalem Post

Sweden supports the Goldstone Commission's report into Operation Cast Lead, the country's foreign minister, Carl Bildt, said Thursday.

Bildt told reporters in Stockholm that South African judge Richard Goldstone was a person with "high credibility" and "high integrity" and that his report carries weight. He said the probe, which alleged that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes during last winter's Israel offensive against Gaza, is worthy of consideration. He added the right place for deliberations about the report was the UN Human Rights Council.

Earlier Thursday, Bildt told Swedish Radio that Israel made "a mistake" by not cooperating with the probe, which he called "independent" and "serious."

Sweden currently holds the rotating 6-month presidency of the European Union.

An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman called Bildt's remarks "disappointing," and said they demonstrated his "lack of reading comprehension skills," since anyone who read the report would know that it was biased. [...]

More on Sweden : here

Europe & Israel: Points East & West: Beyond the Pale?, Emanuele Ottolenghi

Source: Transatlantic Institute

Does Europe have a problem with Israel? In a new book, A State Beyond the Pale (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), Robin Shepherd writes that Israel is being treated unfairly in the quantity and quality of attention it receives in Western Europe. Shepherd does not focus on all criticism of Israel — only the steady slide towards demonisation and the occasional use of old anti-Semitic tropes.

Shepherd's well-documented, elegantly written and powerfully argued book is a must-read for anyone interested in this subject. Two recent instances of Israel-related press coverage and the political response they elicited suggest he is spot on.

First, the mass-circulation Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet published a story by Donald Bostrom which alleged that the Israeli Army had systematically harvested organs from the bodies of dead Palestinians. The only established fact was the death of a Palestinian youth whose family had claimed that his corpse had undergone an autopsy without their authorisation. Bostrom later confirmed that he had no conclusive evidence to back up his story.

When Israel protested, asking the Swedish government — the current holder of the EU presidency — to distance itself from what many saw as a 21st-century blood libel, Sweden barricaded itself behind the absolute principle of press freedom. Instead of criticising Aftonbladet, it reprimanded its ambassador to Israel for having dared condemn the article without prior co-ordination with Stockholm.

In mid-September, however, Sweden's government asked a Stockholm museum to remove a display of swastikas and female genitalia to avoid hurting sensitivities during an EU foreign ministers' meeting. What's the Swedish for "consistency"?

A few weeks later, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo also had a little spat with Israel. On 5 September, it published an interview with the Holocaust denier David Irving as part of a string of articles marking the 70th anniversary of the start of the Second World War. When the Israeli ambassador protested, El Mundo flew the flag of press freedom, implying that Irving's views — while not those of the paper — might be of public interest as long as they were not inflammatory. The ambassador was accused of having a Manichaean view of the world. The editor must have missed the irony of rejecting the Israeli ambassador's claim that El Mundo was delving into moral relativism by calling his view "Manichaean".

Ultimately, what Irving said in the interview was irrelevant. An interview in a prominent publication is a place in the sun and El Mundo gave him one.

It is worth noting that, in contrast to his Swedish colleague Carl Bildt, who chose silence in the wake of Aftonbladet's piece, the Spanish FM, Miguel Moratinos, took a robust view: "The Foreign Minister, while maintaining the most absolute respect for freedom of expression, regrets that space was given to an historian who denies one of the biggest tragedies for humanity in modern history," said a spokesman.

Bildt, who was scheduled to arrive in Israel on official EU business on the same day that Irving's interview was published, had to cancel his trip. Moratinos, whose country will assume the EU presidency after Sweden, visited Israel as scheduled a week later.

It appears that for European editors no doubt familiar with the significant restrictions on press freedom that exist in our heavily regulated continent, Israel is an exception. To smear and slander Israel — or the historical record of the Holocaust — is an absolute right. The Aftonbladet story was less about press freedom and more about a journalist relinquishing any pretence of fairness when a chance to promote a cause to which he is sympathetic came up. A journalist writing such lurid accusations without evidence against any other government would lose face with his colleagues. In this case, Bostrom's colleagues rallied to defend him instead of criticising the likely long-term damage he caused to their profession.

Even when bad taste does not stand in the way of editorial choice, freedom of the press is not the same as the obligation to give a platform to every crank. El Mundo's editor, while waving the flag of press freedom, deleted the Israeli ambassador's letter's last and most damning paragraph, which suggested that his choice to publish Irving was dictated by sensationalism.

El Mundo and Aftonbladet both crossed a red line — making the outrageous legitimate and the extreme mainstream. The thread that runs through their stories is the singling out of Israel to apply a principle they follow less strictly elsewhere. Perhaps, in the editors' minds, Israel is indeed "beyond the pale".

- 'The Spanish are not anti-Semitic'
- Report: Anti-Semitism on Rise in Spain
- Aftonbladet: behind the banner 'freedom of press'
- Spanish paper calls Holocaust denier Irving 'expert' on WWII
- Swedish author Henning Mankell on Israel apartheid
- Kristoffer Larsson, a Swedish theologian, backs Israeli organ theft claim
- Into the twilight zone: Swedish editor says “I’m not a Nazi” as he publishes second round of allegations that IDF harvests Palestinian organs

Ahmadinejad did not cross EU 'red line' with UN speech, says Sweden (EU presidency)

"Earlier this week, the European Union presidency issued a statement condemning Ahmadinejad for his statements on the Holocaust and on Israel, saying such remarks "encourage anti-Semitism and hatred"."

With such lack of coherence, no wonder there is huge disapppointment in Europe with the EU. It is impossible to know what Europe really stands for.

STOCKHOLM (AFP-EJP)--- Sweden, the country which chairs the EU, Finland and non-EU Norway stayed in the room when Ahmadinejad spoke at the UN.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not cross the "red line" that would have prompted a walkout by all EU states in his speech at the United Nations, the Swedish foreign ministry said Thursday. "There were certain criteria set for when the EU would leave the room and those criteria were not fulfilled," spokeswoman Cecilia Julin said.

Sweden currently holds the rotating EU presidency. The criteria agreed in New York before the Iranian leader spoke included denying the Holocaust and calling for the annihilation of Israel, which Ahmadinejad avoided doing this time. Even so, a number of EU states did walk out when Ahmadinejad attacked Israel, including Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary and Italy.
"We're not commenting on who left or who didn't leave," Julin said. "I think there were other reasons for other countries that decided to leave."

In his address, Ahmadinejad again took aim at Israel but without mentioning the country or Jews by name, referring only to the "Zionist regime." He accused Israel of "inhumane policies in Palestine," including genocide, and seeking to "establish a new form of slavery, and harm the reputation of other nations, even European nations and the US, to attain its racist ambitions."

Suggesting there was a Jewish conspiracy, Ahmadinejad added: "It is no longer acceptable that a small minority would dominate the politics, economy and culture of major parts of the world by its complicated networks." He accused Jews of seeking to "establish a new form of slavery and harm the reputation of other nations, even European nations and the US, to attain its racist ambitions."

Israel had called for a boycott of the speech, and was not present when the Iranian leader spoke.
Canada heeded the boycott call, while delegations from Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, New Zealand and the United States also left the room as Ahmadinejad began to rail against Israel, a European source said.

Earlier this week, the European Union presidency issued a statement condemning Ahmadinejad for his statements on the Holocaust and on Israel, saying such remarks "encourage anti-Semitism and hatred".

Swedish author Henning Mankell on Israel apartheid

"The comparisons to apartheid - or, more radically and these days more typically, to the Nazis. The comparison to the Nazis began to emerge in the 1970s in Western Europe and also in the Arab world, and by now it is pretty much everywhere you look." (Paul Berman, Z Word)

"What we are now experiencing is a repetition of the despicable Apartheid system that once treated Africans and coloured as second-class citizens in their own country. [...] those who advocate a two-state solution have not got it right." (Henning Mankell, Swedish writer, 2009)

Source: Swedish newspapaer Aftonbladet's cultural section (Stoppad av apartheid)

"About a week ago, I visited Israel and Palestine. I was part of a delegation of authors with representatives from different parts of the world. We came to participate in the Palestinian Literary Festival. The opening ceremony was supposed to take place at the Palestinian National Theatre in Jerusalem. We had just gathered when heavily armed Israeli military and policemen walked in and announced that they were going to stop the ceremony. When we asked why, they answered: You are a security risk.

To claim that we at that moment posed a viable terroristic threat to Israel is absolute nonsense. But at the same time, they were right. We pose a threat when we come to Israel and speak our minds about the Israeli oppression of the Palestinian population. It can be compared to the threat that I and thousands of others once were to the Apartheid system in South Africa. Words are dangerous.

That was also what I said when those who organized the conference had managed to move the whole opening ceremony to the French Cultural Centre: – What we are now experiencing is a repetition of the despicable Apartheid system that once treated Africans and coloured as second-class citizens in their own country. But let us not forget: that very apartheid system no longer exists. That system was overthrown by human force in the beginning of the 1990’s. There is a straight line between Soweto, Sharpeville and what recently happened in Gaza. [...]

What I saw during my trip was obvious: the state of Israel in its current form has no future. Moreover, those who advocate a two-state solution have not got it right."

Read the whole piece HERE
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Norway, Israel and the Jews write about Swedes:

"Swedes think Norwegians are a bunch of undisciplined cowboys. Meanwhile Norwegians see Swedes as being overly prim-and-proper and obsessed with going by the book. This prejudice is not entirely unfounded. Norway was never feudal the way Sweden was, neither was Norway industrialized, nor was Norway ever a military power as Sweden was. In short, Obedience was never beaten into Norwegians the way it was in Sweden. The political consequence is that Sweden does not challenge its political establishment but sticks to the Social Democrats (and every now and then the Moderates). Meanwhile in Norway’s 2009 election (Yesterday) the Progress Party got 22,9 percent of the votes. Troubling as the situation in Norway may be, it is generally worse over in neighboring Sweden – they are fearful of questioning authority.

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Israeli video pokes fun at Scandinavians' sense of self-righteousness
Abba in Latma's Studio (English Subs)

- Kristoffer Larsson, a Swedish theologian, backs Israeli organ theft claim
- Aftonbladet: behind the banner 'freedom of press', by Lisa Abramowicz

Kristoffer Larsson, a Swedish theologian, backs Israeli organ theft claim

"Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman managed to tacitly draw the attention to—you guessed it!—the Holocaust [...] Lieberman’s Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt blatantly refuses to cave in [...] Ostensibly, Israel is using the article to get a message across: Sweden is an anti-Semitic country. They are set to pressure the Swedish government until it condemns the ‘blood libel accusation’. All of a sudden everyone is discussing good old anti-Semitism instead of Israel’s state terrorism and its apartheid policies towards the Palestinian people."

Source: article "The Organ Theft Affair" by Kristoffer Larsson (Kristoffer Larsson is a Swedish theology student occasionally commenting on political issues. He works with the Bethlehem-based International Middle East Media Center and is a Director of Deir Yassin Remembered.)

"Swedish photojournalist Donald Boström has really infuriated the Israelis and its supporters. On August 17, Sweden’s most widely circulated newspaper, Aftonbaldet, carried an article by Boström entitled "Our sons plundered for their organs."1

The usual suspects immediately cried "anti-Semitism," claiming that the old blood libel accusation has been brought to life again.2 The Israelis have even threatened to sue him. Such reactions were anticipated, however. Innumerable hate mails have found their way into Mr Boström’s inbox since the publication, including death threats. More surprising is that Sweden’s ambassador to Israel, Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier, issued a condemnation of the article. It was "as shocking and appalling to us Swedes as to Israelis," the ambassador claimed in a press release that was later withdrawn, having attracted criticism from the Swedish foreign ministry as well as from the government.

On top of that, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded that the Swedish government renounce the article, something which would be unconstitutional in Sweden. A statement from Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman managed to tacitly draw the attention to—you guessed it!—the Holocaust: "It is regrettable that the Swedish foreign ministry does not intervene when it comes to a blood libel against Jews, which reminds one of Sweden’s conduct during World War II when it also did not intervene." (I would urge Lieberman, himself a hard-core racist, to read Lenni Brenner’s excellent 51 Documents: Zionist Collaboration with the Nazis.)

Lieberman’s Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt blatantly refuses to cave in: "As a member of the Swedish government, acting on the Swedish constitution I have to respect freedom of speech, irrespective of the personal views that I might have." His boss, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, also rejects commenting on the article. Bildt is expected in Israel in about a week’s time, but Israelis are threatening to cancel his trip.

Despite all the fuss, this isn’t the first time Donald Boström publicly vents suspicions about Israelis stealing organs from Palestinians. One chapter of the book Inshallah: konflikten mellan Israel och Palestina ("Inshallah: the Conflict between Israel and Palestine"), edited by Boström and first published in 2001, was an account of what happened to a 19-year-old Palestinian boy. It includes the photo now published in Aftonbladet. Donald Boström decided to shed new light on the affair following the mass arrest in New Jersey of people involved in illegal organ trade that included a shockingly high number of Rabbis.

Read the whole piece here

SMEAR CAMPAIGN AGAINST SCANDOS! ISRAELIS POKE FUN!

Sweden: 2004 State subsidized anti-Israel and pro-terrorism conference

"At a time when the world mourns the terrorist massacre in the Russian town of Beslan, the Swedish state agency for foreign aid, SIDA, is subsidizing a conference aimed at finding ways to fund Palestinian terrorism. The "Palestinian Solidarity Conference", scheduled to be held in the Gothenburg municipality Culture House starting September 7, culminates in a celebratory party on the night of September 11 – while the rest of the world finds other more sober ways of marking the anniversary of this turning point in the impact of terrorism."

Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews blog

Remember the 2004 "Palestinian Solidarity Conference" in Gothenburg, Sweden ? When you examine what the Palestine lobby says and does, and then look back a bit in time and see what they have said and done in the past, you quickly find that there is no real difference. Operation Cast Lead didn’t really change anything – the Palestine lobby were just as critical of Israel before. The 2006 war in Lebanon, which upset our dear Jostein Gaarder [Norway up in arms after author asserts Israel has lost right to exist] so, didn’t really change anything – the Palestine lobby was just as furious before that again.

Here’s a snippet from 2004, on the "Palestinian Solidarity Conference" in Gothenburg, Sweden. Read the whole piece here. Now 2004 is five years ago now. Yet hate-mongers have been hard at work for a long time, 2004 was just yesterday.

Swedish state agency subsidizes Gothenburg terror conference
Lisa Abramowicz and David Frankfurter

At a time when the world mourns the terrorist massacre in the Russian town of Beslan, the Swedish state agency for foreign aid, SIDA, is subsidizing a conference aimed at finding ways to fund Palestinian terrorism.

The "Palestinian Solidarity Conference", scheduled to be held in the Gothenburg municipality Culture House starting September 7, culminates in a celebratory party on the night of September 11 – while the rest of the world finds other more sober ways of marking the anniversary of this turning point in the impact of terrorism.

One of the main conference agenda items is action to remove the PFLP, Hamas and other terrorist organisations from the EU’s terror list, so that these organizations can resume collecting money in Sweden and other European countries. Another agenda item is promoting a total boycott of Israel and other sanctions against the Jewish state. A third is developing strategies to explain the need for "armed resistance" (i.e. terrorism) in the struggle.

The conference is being organized by the Revolutionary Communist Youth, and the Proletären FF (Football Club), together with the Palestinian Progressive Youth Union (PPYU). The first two are associated with the most extremist and Stalinist of communist parties in Sweden. The PPYU ascribes to the most uncompromising Palestinian positions in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

So, what else is new? There are plenty extremists around. They hold conferences and demonstrate for all kinds of outrageous causes - all part of a democratic, open society.

True, but not every public outburst is deserving of government support. In fact, supporting these EU blacklisted terrorist organisations is illegal – something even recognised by the conference agenda. Notwithstanding this, the conference has been subsidized by the Swedish International Development Aid Agency, SIDA – which has donated over 5,000 Euro in support. SIDA has also given 16,000 Euro to conference co-organizer Proletären FF. When challenged, SIDA chose to ignore information about the conference objectives published by the organizers at www.rku.nu, and claimed that it is a "get-together for youth to be able to discuss Human Rights issues".

Continue reading here

Dear Foreign Minister Bildt, David Harris

Diaspora Affairs Minister to virtually 'meet' with Swedish Jews

Source: article by Haviv Rettig Gur in TJP

Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein expects the diplomatic crisis over an incendiary Swedish newspaper report to take center stage next week when he meet s with Swedish Jewry in a video conference with community representative.

During the diplomatic crisis, which culminated with the cancellation of the upcoming visit to Israel of Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, many Swedish Jews said they felt trapped between the arguing parties.

"I'm sure no one in the community has any doubt that Israel is a free and democratic country that is not capable of doing the terrible things that have appeared [in the Swedish media] recently," Edelstein will tell the community leaders, referring to the Aftonbladet report alleging soldiers had harvested Palestinians' organs.

"Jews in Stockholm, and in every other community, should remember that IDF soldiers are not an abstract idea for us. They are our children, brothers, sisters, neighbors. They are not capable of doing the things unfortunately ascribed to them," he said.

But the meeting won't be an argument, he adds. "Any Jewish community should always remember Israel as a state is a partner and friend," he said.

The meeting is a joint initiative of Edelstein's ministry and the European Jewish Congress' leadel.NET project, an online initiative to foster European Jewish identity through online media. It is headed by Vladimir Kantor, son of EJC president Moshe Kantor.

Edelstein will hold an online conversation facilitated by leadel.NET's infrastructure with a different Jewish community each month. In October, he will speak with the community of Sofia, Bulgaria, and in October with Milan, Italy.

The "conversations" will focus not only on communal leaders, but will seek to attract young people to discuss Israel with Israeli public figures. Edelstein will invite such figures from academia, the media, government and the military to participate in the discussions.

"The congress is working hard to connect communities in Europe to Israel using modern technology. It's time to learn how to use the technology to build new bridges," said Tomer Marshall, managing director of leadel.NET, of the online gatherings.

- Aftonbladet: behind the banner 'freedom of press', by Lisa Abramowicz
- Sweden: Aftonbladet's accusations are anti-Semitic according to Council of Europe and OSCE classification

Aftonbladet: behind the banner 'freedom of press', by Lisa Abramowicz

"Is there any other country in the world that has been as demonized and delegitimized as Israel in Aftonbladet during the last 30 years?"

Source: article by Lisa Abramowicz, Secretary General of the Swedish Israel Information Center in Stockholm, in EJP

On August 17 Sweden's largest-circulation newspaper, Aftonbladet published an article on a two-page spread on its culture pages which included a disturbing photo of, among other things, a person who had been the subject of an autopsy, Bilal Ahmed Ghanem.

In the article the Israeli army is accused of stealing organs from dead Palestinians for use in Israel. Indeed, the article even insinuates that the Israeli army is killing Palestinians for the very purpose of using their organs for Israeli patients.

Israeli officials have commented on the picture of the dead man, a wanted Palestinian resistance fighter. According to the IDF, the photo is of an ordinary autopsy. The photo was taken in 1992 (!). Ghanem was killed in a firefight between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militia. The photograph is the same as the one found in Boström's book Insh'allah from 2001. No new evidence of organ theft has surfaced.

Donald Boström says that he doesn't know whether or not any organs where stolen, but that he was told by the family that they believe that to have been the case. According to Jerusalem Post reporter Khaled Abu Toameh on August 25, the Ghanem family hadn't spoken to any foreign journalist of their suspicions at the time of their son's death, only that a foreign journalist was taking pictures during the funeral and then disappeared. (Palestinian family: We never told ‘Aftonbladet’ organs were taken)

This is a very important detail in the context, as Boström has pointed out in interviews that he is not the one suspecting organ theft, but the family he has been speaking to. He assumes the role of mouthpiece for the family. Clearly Boström is lying when he says that the Ghanem family has spoken to him about this. No further autopsies have been performed on Ghanem or any of the other Palestinians allegedly killed. There are no witnesses. Nothing at all to indicate that any crime of organ theft has taken place.

Then why was Ghanem autopsied by Israel when the cause of death was clear, Boström asks? Certainly to determine the cause of death and whether he had been killed by Israeli or Palestinian fire. Something which isn't always completely obvious. A lot of people are in fact killed by so-called "friendly fire" in the war between Israelis and Palestinians. (Most of the Israeli soldiers killed during the Gaza war this winter fell to friendly fire.)

The accusations are unreasonable for medical reasons since the organs of people who have been injured or killed by gunshots are unsuitable for transplantations. Per Gahrton, president of the Palestine Solidarity Association of Sweden, told Expressen that he chose not to include the rumors of organ theft in his book "Palestinas frihetskamp", which was released last year: "There isn't enough support? But if the Palestinians are to continue with spreading rumors of the Israelis gathering organs they'll have to show a body that is missing organs", Gahrton says.

The head of human rights organization Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, Bassem Eid, is one of the foremost human rights activists in Israel and the Palestinian territories. He, too learned of the rumors of organ theft. Eid could find nothing to support the information. "I have never seen an article like this in any Arab newspaper. No one has reported on this subject - because it is just a rumor", Bassem Eid says.

Boström writing and Aftonbladet publishing is certainly due to them their feeling that this is an opportune moment, after the Gaza war and with Israel’s new right-wing government.

A corruption scandal has erupted in New Jersey, in which, among many other things, an American rabbi is charged with being involved in the transporting of Israelis to the US in order to sell and donate their organs there. Ergo, it is likely that the state of Israel is party to this foul affair and that these matters are somehow interconnected. Hence the publication value, apparently.

Boström and Aftonbladet want a legal investigation into the matter of organ theft. But in a society where rule of law reigns, something both Israel and Sweden are, a prosecutor will only press charges if he/she has enough evidence to convict the accused. Anything else would be a waste of society resources. A court - including the International Criminal Court in The Hague - is not supposed to investigate rumors in a propaganda war. As for the cases invoked by Boström, it's not a matter of "insufficient evidence"; but of "absolutely no evidence".

Jesper Svartvik, president of the Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism, comments that "the text is an example of criticism of Israel alluding to and mixing in ancient anti-Semitic myths, in this case the medieval myths of ritual murder. Shakespeare’s Shylock can also be sensed in the background, wanting his pound of flesh at any price." Therefore, it is not so strange that Jews in Sweden, Israel and all over the world have taken offence at the article in Aftonbladet.

Åsa Linderborg, chief cultural editor, admits that she has never heard of the historical anti-Semitic myths of ritual murder, despite holding a Ph. D. in history ! Now, editor-in-chief Jan Helin would prefer discussing the matter of freedom of speech and the press as well as the forceful Israeli reaction to discussing the veracity of the article or how appropriate it was to publish it. I can understand that, as it enables him to portray Aftonbladet as a victim of Israel's "aggression".

Ref. Aftonbladet August 28, with the war headline "Israel attackerar Aftonbladet (Israel attacks Aftonbladet)" at page 1 and references to pages 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Did anyone say "Exaggerated backlash"?

The freedom of information legislation is part of the constitution. No preliminary censoring is to be used. But if you publish a text that is of a dubious nature, you will have to suffer being criticized and questioned. Freedom of speech is not absolute. There is also a law against hate speech, and incitement, although judicial tolerance is extremely lenient. For chief cultural editors and editors-in-chief there is also something called press ethics and standards. The heads of Aftonbladet do not seem to take those very seriously.

It is worth studying the publication policy of Aftonbladet regarding Israel over a period of time, and that goes for all of its pages. Is there any other country in the world that has been as demonized and delegitimized as Israel in Aftonbladet during the last 30 years? It is clear that Aftonbladet’s policy regarding freedom of speech and of the press has been completely different concerning, for example, the Danish Muhammad cartoons or Lars Vilks' roundabout dogs (which weren't published in Aftonbladet) a few years ago. AB declined because they didn't want to offend Muslims. But offending Jews and Israelis is apparently fine.

I don't think that either Linderborg or Helin were unaware of the ruckus that would be caused by publishing this lousy and poorly substantiated article. I think that they were consciously attempting to push the boundaries of what can be written about Israel and Jews and hide behind the banner - freedom of the press.