“Sweden ever so quickly has gone from so-called anti-Zionism to open anti-Semitism”
Swedish Jew visiting Israel told by friend: “Don’t come back here, you have no idea how bad it has become since you left.”
Less than a week ago we wrote about how The anti-Semitic shame of Malmö, Sweden continues with attack on Rabbi.
It’s part of an outburst of open, unabashed anti-Semitism throughout Europe and the world, but particularly Europe, under the mask of opposition to Israel’s Gaza war.
This trend did not start with the Gaza war. We covered almost exactly a year ago how many parts of Europe were becoming unlivable for Jews due mostly to anti-Semitic violence from Muslim communities, tolerated and egged on by anti-Zionist leftists, Jews in Europe past their expiration date.
Anti-Semitism masquerading as anti-Zionism is so open now that even The Guardian in Britain issued an Editorial denouncing the practice. The Editors of The Guardian likely did not consider how their own biased anti-Israel coverage contributes to this atmosphere.
Annika Hernroth-Rothstein, a Swedish Jewish writer and political commentator, writes in The Jerusalem Post about how Sweden has become unlivable for Jews, so she is leaving for Israel permanently, Hold on, I’m coming home:
My friend tells me that Sweden ever so quickly has gone from so-called anti-Zionism to open anti-Semitism, and that no one seems to care.
“Don’t come back.”
That’s what he said to me; “Don’t come back here, you have no idea how bad it has become since you left.”
I went to Israel on July 23….
I arrived in Tel Aviv at 7 pm the next day and went directly to the beach to meet my friend Ruthie. The sun was setting in the sea as we ordered drinks and sat there, in silence. I heard booms in the distance, and I thought to myself that I have never felt safer than I do at this very moment. Because I was home; finally, I had arrived.
I get the call a few days later. That tension I always have from looking over my shoulder has started to release, I’m on the beach sipping coffee and reading some book I was sure to forget the minute I put it down. The voice on the other end is damp with resignation. My friend tells me that Sweden ever so quickly has gone from so-called anti-Zionism to open anti-Semitism, and that no one seems to care. Every day it gets worse, every minute the tone shifts and the shadows grow more ominous.
“Just don’t come back. It’s too late for me. You, you can still change your life for the better.”
Maybe that was when I decided, I don’t know. Maybe it was there, at the beach, or during that late night walk through Jerusalem with my friends after dinner, or when a beautiful man held my hand on the sun-drenched shores of Caesarea. Or maybe, just maybe, I had known all along.
I just can’t live like this any longer. I can’t accept that life consists of long periods of fear and despair, interrupted by the short bursts of happiness I get when I come back to Israel. I can’t raise my kids to hide who they are, I can’t usher them into a society that teaches them they are the other and that being less of who they are is the key to survival.
I just can’t, not anymore.
I got back to Sweden yesterday and something has changed, the shift is so tangible. Within me, yes, but also in the world around me. I take down my Israeli flag that I so proudly hung from my balcony. I’m told it is no longer safe, and I have to make a choice between being open and keeping my children safe. The Palestinian flag hanging from my neighbor’s window is still visible across the courtyard. I notice the injustice, but the outrage is replaced with sadness and fatigue.
I called this my home for 33 years. Yet, I realize now that it isn’t, and it never really was.
I lost my bag on this trip, but through that ordeal I finally found my way….
I think that it’s time to come home.
[Featured Image: Broken window in Malmö, Sweden, Drago Prvulovic / TT]
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Comments
No doubt, 90% of the attacks are committed by ‘immigrants’ (aka Moslems) and 5% radical leftists same percentage as the US State Department list of terror organizations – and Boko Haram and a few other deserving Islamist groups are not yet listed.
PS – Europeans are quickly regretting their open arms to diversity, inviting Islamists into their countries, when 40% remain on benefits and cause the majority of the crimes and 90% of the violent hate crimes.
There’s nothing wrong with “diversity” but we in the West don’t make clear what we mean by “diversity.” In making “diversity” a virtue in and of itself, we’ve communicated that “anything goes.”
When we say “diversity” we think we are talking about diversity in culture, religious belief, art, music, food, fashion, language, literature, etc.
We are not (and should not) be offering “diversity” in which set of laws to comply with – we all have to live within (at least) one set of laws in whatever country we reside. If honour killings are legal and acceptable in a country, those who immigrate from there to the West have to give up that “diversity.” On the other hand people may live by a larger superset of rules above and beyond the law of the land (e.g. Jewish and Muslim dietary rules) – perfectly acceptable “diversity.”
“Diversity” in the modern West means less white people. When you get enough “diversity”, the remaining white people will be driven out.
This story contrasts the difference between Israel and its enemies:
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/08/10/one-soldiers-faith-saves-hamas-female-suicide-bomber/
As Prime Minister Netanyahu said to Sean Hannity last week…coming soon to a theater near you.
Mark Steyn has been writing about this and the driving out of Jews from all parts of Africa and Europe. progressive immigration policies and desire for cheap labor ( sound familiar) have brought a critical mass of fervent. Muslims into Europe. … with no assimilation… although I doubt “assimilation” means much when one deeply believes and reads in the Koran, that Jews need to be killed. Until the leaders understand that seeing the world as plain vanilla when there are major differences in religions is only asking for trouble. With the world becoming more homogenized through travel and relocation, we can only expect more problems. Driving the Jews out only leaves the wrong people in place.
It’s ironic that Islam, in an effort to drag humanity back to the middle ages, is taking Europe back to its own middle ages.
I was fascinated by a story a few days ago about a pro-Israel rally in Norway that was met with a violent counter-protest.
The Norwegian police ordered the pro-Israeli people to stand down and disburse in the name of preserving the peace.
While I totally understand the utility of that act…asking peaceful demonstrators to go home to defuse a potentially violent situation…I deplore it.
It gave the thugs their veto.
Had I been in charge, the police would have faced the thugs, and given them the beatings of their lives if they became violent. “Screw THAT…!!!” (Which nicely explains why I am not in command of a police department…)
When you do become department chief I want to live in your neighborhood.
The Nordic nations, to their own detriment, are stereotypical bleeding heart liberals. They fell for the line that these third world Islamic refugees would somehow come to embrace tolerance and diversity by virtue of living and growing up in liberal democratic societies. They are failing to heed the moral of the Aesop’s fable wherein the frog gives a scorpion a ride across the river. The Nordic nations, and Europe in general, has a Muslim scorpion on their backs, believing the lie that Islam is a religion of peace and would never repay goodness with evil. The question is whether they will wake up before they are fatally stung ~
We are told not to confuse “anti-Zionism” with “anti-Semitism.” Perhaps a fair point. But surely if the protesters were truly “anti-Zionists” they’d be welcoming Jews to stay, or come back to Sweden. Or am I missing something here?
Nope. I think you’ve got it, by George.
It’s like having people mount protective rings around synagogs everywhere in Europe while carrying pro-Pally banners.
You won’t see it, because it isn’t real. They tell you who they are.
It’s not surprising this is happening in Malmö. It’s the rape capital of Europe due to its Muslim residents.
Maybe open borders isn’t such a good idea after all?
That is the irony with this woman’s statement. What are the odds she promoted those open border ideals? Who invited those palestinian flag wavers?
Odds are this woman would call me a racist for not liking some “immigrant workers” waving Mexican flags at a workers rights rally in my state capital a few years ago.
Well as a patriotic American Jewish person, I had two thoughts. First is: if Sweden is her home, where is the Swedish flag? Second, I’m assuming that she was an ardent supporter of the left-wing, pro-immigration, pro-welfare-state Swedish policies for the last 33 years. I wonder if she has reflected on the fact that those very policies she supported now make Sweden so inhospitable to her.
She’s absolutely correct. Sweden wasn’t her home. It isn’t her home. If it was, she would have been flying a Swedish flag from her balcony, not an Israeli one.
Not surprising from Sweden, despite their so-called neutrality, unlike their Scandinavian
cousins, Norway and Denmark, they supported Nazi Germany to the hilt!
Well put nordic_prince!