In September I linked to an antisemitic cartoon published in Sweden’s largest morning daily.
Now comes this from an interview with Mikeal Tossavainen, a young Swedish Jew attending a conference on European antisemitism in Strasbourg:
In the small town of Lulea, where he grew up, anti-Semitism was not a problem, he said. But when he moved to Malmo to go to school at the nearby University of Lund in 2002, the situation was different. Initially he resisted the advice to take off his kippa [skullcap]. Then he was verbally and physically attacked. Once someone threw a bottle at him and yelled out “Jew”; another time he was chased down the street. He quickly decided it was safer to wear a hat.
Tossavainen said he understood how much these experiences had impacted him when he visited Jerusalem a year ago. He was walking down King George Street and heard some teens screaming. Instinctively, he reached up and grabbed the kippa off of his head without even thinking about it.
“Then I realized, no, these kids are probably Jewish too. They might mug me, but not because I’m Jewish,” he said.
