SWEDEN: ANTI-SEMITISM IS ALIVE AND WELL

David Harris Blog: Dear Foreign Minister Bildt
Date: Monday, August 24, 2009, 11:53 AM

Dear Foreign Minister Bildt

David Harris
Executive Director, AJC
August 24, 2009

Dear Minister Bildt,

As you know well, a leading newspaper in your country, Sweden, earlier this month published an article alleging that Israeli soldiers killed Palestinians to harvest their organs.

This wasn't just any newspaper. Aftonbladet is the largest-circulation newspaper in Scandinavia. An estimated 15 percent of your fellow Swedes read the paper, which is owned by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation.

And this wasn't just another article in the paper. It was given pride of place in the Culture section. Indeed, two pages were devoted to it under the radioactive headline, "They plunder the organs of our sons."

Mr. Minister, despite many requests, you have chosen not to comment on the article's unfounded, indeed ludicrous, allegations.

In explanation, you wrote, "Freedom of expression and press freedom are very strong in our constitution by tradition. And that strong protection has served our democracy and our country well. If I were engaged in editing all strange debate contributions in different media, I probably wouldn't have time to do much else."

And you went further still. When your ambassador in Israel, Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier, laudably condemned the article, rather than stand with her, your ministry distanced itself from her position, stating that it was "designed for an Israeli audience."

Mr. Minister, this is not an issue of freedom of expression or freedom of the press.

What the newspaper did was repugnant. It published an incendiary screed.

Regrettably, it's a fact of life that some media outlets act irresponsibly, whether driven by blind ideology, poor editing, or the financial bottom line. Depending on national libel laws and media guidelines, there may be recourse in the courts or oversight bodies. In the case of Aftonbladet, we shall see.

Mr. Minister, frankly speaking, this matter has become an issue of political leadership – or the lack thereof.

Assuming you disagreed with the article, all you had to say was that you found the report odious and welcomed the reaction of Ambassador Bonnier. That would have been the right thing to do in a case that has garnered global attention. And, by the way, it would have taken less time and space than explaining why you didn't do so.

Instead, you dug in your heels and have now made yourself, more than the paper's editors and the article's author, the central issue, turning this into a diplomatic face-off with understandably angry – and perplexed – Israeli officials.

Mr. Minister, you are the foreign minister of a respected member of the European Union and the international community.

Your country currently holds the rotating EU Presidency.

Speaking of the EU, its Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia has adopted a working definition of antisemitism. Among other applicable references in this case, it says that contemporary acts of antisemitism include, "Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis."

Commendably, your country took the lead a decade ago in launching a process that created the International Task Force on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research.

Is it not painfully obvious that one of the contributing factors to the Holocaust was the widespread use of defamatory speech to demonize, and ultimately dehumanize, the Jewish people?

You are the former prime minister of Sweden and a member of one of Sweden's most renowned families, and you have proudly referred to Sweden's rejection of all forms of antisemitism.

You have served in key EU and UN positions to bring stability and security to the war-torn Balkans, earning you a reputation as an admired statesman.

You are known to speak your mind, even when it ruffles feathers in other capitals, as it has more than once.

So your silence in this matter becomes all the more troubling.

Aftonbladet decided to abuse the cherished right of freedom of speech to publish brazen lies. Your response, seemingly, is to muzzle your own right to challenge what it printed.

That would be disturbing at any time, but even more so today.

Mr. Minister, a blood libel against the State of Israel was published by a popular Swedish paper. Yes, a blood libel.

The charge that Israeli soldiers deliberately kill Palestinians for their organs is just that – a mendacious allegation that has shattering historical echoes and caused such harm to the Jewish people throughout the ages, as Jews were repeatedly accused of poisoning wells, spreading infectious diseases, and killing Christian children to drain their blood for the baking of Passover matzah.

More recently, it is Israel that has borne the brunt of such canards. With seeming abandon, Palestinians have leveled the most bizarre claims against Israel.

They have ranged from a mass fainting epidemic allegedly due to Israeli "poisoning," to Israel's supposed distribution of aphrodisiac bubble gum to "destroy" young women in Gaza; from wholesale "massacres" in Jenin (or "Jeningrad"), to an attempt by the Israeli army to "wage war" against the Church of the Nativity – and, by extension, all of Christianity.

Subsequent investigation proved that each of these was totally unfounded, but not before irreparable damage to Israel's reputation was done.

What appeared in Aftonbladet, therefore, cannot be seen in isolation. There is a context for it – and that context should cause concern.

Yes, Mr. Minister, it is late in the day to clarify your position. At this point, you may not wish to appear to succumb to "external pressure" to do so. And even if you do speak out, there will be those who wonder why it took so long and question your sincerity.

Put those concerns aside and do the right thing.

There is a wonderful Swedish book, Tell Ye Your Children, which has been translated into many languages. Its aim is to teach about the Holocaust and the lessons to be learned from it.

The first lesson is the obligation of people of good will to unmask raw hatred and confront it. Silence is never an option, nor is denial a strategy.

Mr. Minister, people of conscience need to hear your voice. Will we?

Sweden Funded Anti-Israel Allegations

by Hillel Fendel
Follow Israel news on Twitter and Facebook.

(IsraelNN.com) Antagonism between Israel and Sweden over Swedish media accusation that IDF soldiers sold Arab body parts is heating up, in light of evidence that Sweden’s government funded the “research” for the story. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is expected to demand a Swedish government condemnation of the accusations.

News of the funding was broken Sunday morning by Maariv/NRG. Maariv’s correspondent in Sweden, Liran Lotker, reports that most of the material in last week’s controversial article is old, having appeared in a book written in 2001 by the author of the article. The book, entitled Inshallah, was funded by various bodies, including the Foreign Ministry of Sweden, Swedish labor unions, and some organizations based in the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas.

Interior Minister Eli Yishai said he would not grant work visas to Aftonbladet reporters in Israel, and the Government Press Office (GPO) says it will not, at this stage, grant press cards to Aftonbladet journalists. GPO Director Danny Seaman said newspapers such as Aftonbladet employ leftists in the guise of journalists, who later enter the country to participate in international protests against Israel.

The current controversy began last Tuesday, when Donald Bostrom authored an article in Sweden’s most popular newspaper, the Aftonbladet tabloid, accusing IDF soldiers of murdering Arabs and harvesting their organs. Bostrom based the story on testimony by several Arabs identified only by their first names, and told Voice of Israel Radio on Wednesday that he does not know for sure if their accounts are true.

When Israel immediately protested, Sweden’s Ambassador to Israel, Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier, responded with a strong condemnation of the article – which the Swedish Foreign Ministry countered the next day by saying it does not represent the government’s position.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt later wrote on his blog that the government cannot get involved in “correcting all the strange claims in the media.” He compared the issue to a recent controversy over Muslim accusations that Swedish media articles had smeared Islam and Mohammed, and concluded, “I think we reached the understanding that it is through transparency that we best achieve the tolerance and understanding that are so important in our society. I believe that it is the same in this case.”

However, though the Swedish Foreign Ministry expressed a mild form of apology at the time, it has not done the same in this case vis-à-vis Israel. In addition, Sweden once closed an internet site that had been accused of offending Moslem sensibilities.

Blidt told reporters on Saturday, “There are very few bodies like the Swedish parliament in which opinion against pre-conceived notions and anti-Semitism is so strong, and therefore I don’t want to relate to that specific article.”

Others in Sweden, however, have reacted much more strongly against Israel. Aftonbladet itself headlined its Saturday edition with, “Israel fighting against Swedish freedom of the press,” and called for public support.

Popular Israeli journalist Ayala Hasson told Army Radio that freedom of the press has nothing to do with altering facts: “Freedom of the press means that one may comment as one sees fit – but it does not give license to report made-up ‘facts."

Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the article a “disgrace to Swedish journalism” and compared it to “dark blood libels from the Middle Ages.” Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said, “The Jewish State cannot ignore manifestations of anti-Semitism, even if they appear in a respectable newspaper. Whoever is not willing to distance himself from such blood libels, may very well not be welcome here in Israel.”

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that the article was a “natural continuation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” and said that Sweden’s refusal to disassociate itself from it was reminiscent of its “neutral” stance during the Holocaust. Minister Limor Livnat demanded that the “Swedish government apologize for the blood libel against Israel.” Welfare Minister Yitzchak Herzog said that this was not a one-time incident, but rather a “media campaign that has been going on for years.”

Six months ago, Israelis had another unpleasant experience with Swedish journalism. Islamists fired rockets and threw pipe-bombs at pro-Israel demonstrators in the Swedish city of Malmö, injuring no one. At least one attacker was arrested, yet southern Sweden’s largest newspaper, Sydsvenskan, headlined its report, “Several arrested during Israel demonstration” and reported that "the anticipated violence did not occur."
///////////////////////////////////////
Anti-Semitism

Photo: AFP
Charges against IDF troops reminiscent of age-old blood libels

Swedes revive oldest hate

Swedish organ harvesting report revives age-old blood libel against Jews

Abraham Cooper, Harold Brackman
Published: 08.23.09, 14:59 / Israel Opinion
This month marks the birth date of perhaps the greatest Swede who ever lived. Raoul Wallenberg. He helped save 100,000 Hungarian Jews from the Nazis before being swallowed up by Stalin's gulags. Jews consider Wallenberg's name a blessing, and young Swedes should be inspired by his peerless courage and compassion.

Yet instead of celebrating this national hero, now comes from Sweden's largest newspaper, Aftonbladet, a revival of the age-old blood libel against the Jews that would have caused Wallenberg to lead a national protest. "They plunder the organs of our sons," reads the quote from a Palestinian that serves as the headline across a double spread in the Swedish equivalent of "The Style Section" of the New York Times or the Washington Post.

Outrageous Report

Swedish foreign minister: We're not anti-Semitic / Associated Press

Carl Bildt rejects calls to condemn unsubstantiated story accusing Israeli troops of plundering Palestinian organs, draws parallel to Muhammad cartoon outrage; 'Freedom of expression very strong in our constitution,' he says
Full Story

Reporter Donald Boström charges that, since the first Intifada in the early 1990s, the Israeli Army has been kidnapping and murdering Palestinian young men "who disappeared for a few days and returned by night, dead and autopsied." It's important to note that these outlandish charges did not appear out of thin air. They are not only a staple of Palestinian hate mythology, but extend to Iran where a few years ago Sahar, the government TV channel, aired a weekly drama, titled "Zahra's Blue Eyes," which portrayed "Zionist" doctors kidnapping little Palestinian children to harvest their organs.

Boström's major contribution is not just to popularize this anti-Semitic libel in Scandinavia but to update it by accusing New Jersey rabbis, arrested for money laundering, as somehow involved with Israeli soldiers in an international Jewish organ harvesting ring - accusations that make The Protocols of the Elders of Zion seem tame by comparison. If there were an Ignoble Prize for the world's most odious anti-Semitic journalist, Boström would be this year's winner.

The truth is that Iran's vicious regime is guilty of some of the very crimes it accuses Israel of. Hence, while the Israelis are alleged to be returning mutilated corpses to their Palestinian families for burial, Tehran's jailers are actually returning the bloodied corpses of young protesters tortured to death in prison to Iranian families - and charging them for the coffins!

'Israel the Jew among nations'

The real scandal is not the Israeli military's nonexistent harvest of Palestinian organs, but the ideology of extremists like Hamas' Khalid Mashaal. Their culture of death is transforming societies across the Middle East into an assembly line turning young people into suicide bombers and "human shields" in the name of martyrdom "Child martyrs" are harvested and deployed against Israelis, Westerners, and increasingly, other Muslims.

The international seal of approval for open season on Israel came at the UN Anti-Racism Conference in Durban South Africa in 2001 that was hijacked by Arab and Muslim countries and their international NGO allies. Durban I revived 1975 UN Resolution equating "Zionism with racism" in order to delegitimize Israel as a pariah state. Since then, Israel, as Alan Dershowitz has said, became "the Jew among nations."

Now an influential Scandinavian newspaper has shamefully become the conduit for Mideast ideological exports with roots in horrific medieval accusations that Jews harvested non-Jewish children for their blood. Like a patient with a compromised immune system, Scandinavian countries too often are failing to resist the plague of classic Jew hatred.

Norway's government, with the royal family's blessing, is currently rehabilitating with a national celebration and museum in his honor Knut Hamsen, the Hitler groupie who in 1943 gave his Nobel Prize to Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels. While Sweden, where a few years ago a third of young people doubted there was a Holocaust, has enabled Moroccan expatriate Ahmed Rami - whose Radio Islam is a 22-language flagship of Holocaust denial, Jew-hatred, and demonization of Israel - to poison the well of non-Muslim as well as Muslim public opinion.

Far from being "free speech in action," Sweden's anti-Israel hatred is too often subsidized by the government. A recent report by the respected NGO Monitor shows that the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Diakonia, the multi-national NGO Development Center (NDC), and the Swedish Mission Council (SMR) fund 20 major NGOs that "routinely accuse Israel of 'genocide', 'ethnic cleansing', and 'apartheid', and some compare Israeli military and political officials to Nazis." As Professor Gerald Steinberg puts it, "The path from this demonization to the blood libels of Aftonbladet is short and direct."

Kudos to the few Swedish voices who have spoken out fiercely against the blood libel promoted by Aftonbladet. The Swedish Foreign Ministry initially "distanced" itself from the libel - but then backed away when criticized by the pro-Palestinian Swedish Left. Raoul Wallenberg would be ashamed by the absence of outrage from Sweden's political elite and vaunted human rights group. Maybe the memory of his courage and humanity will inspire the silent Swedish majority and decent people everywhere to vanquish the newest toxic incarnation of the world's oldest hatred.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper is associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Dr. Harold Brickman, a historian, is a consultant to the Simon Wiesenthal Center