Islamiseringen har den ulempe at det tiltrekker seg oppmerksomhet, spesielt når det går ut over jødene. I det minste i amerikanske aviser. Wall Street-journalisten Daniel Schwammenthal er “editorial writer for Europe”. Han har intervjuet ordfører Ilmar Reepalu, som har trodd han har kunnet snakke fritt, dvs. at ordene kun ble vurdert i hans eget miljø og der er det ok å si at sionisme er like ille som antisemittisme.
Når han plutselig får internasjonal oppmerksomhet rettet mot seg, får uttalelsene en litt annen klang og Reepalu må skylde på journalistene.
Men det store bildet er vanskelig å snakke seg bort fra: jødene i Malmø og Skåne får det stadig vanskeligere, likevel velger Reepalu å snakke om at jødene selv skaper problemer ved å støtte Israel.
In this city—just across a narrow stretch of water that separates Sweden from Denmark—what has been called “Eurabia” is slowly becoming reality. Roughly 20% of Malmö’s 290,000 residents are of Muslim, mostly Arab, origin. Their widespread hatred of Israel together with traditional Swedish anti-Zionism—the result of the left’s ideological supremacy here—form an explosive cocktail.
Screaming “Sieg Heil” and “Hitler, Hitler,” a mostly Muslim mob threw bottles and stones at a small group of Jews peacefully demonstrating for Israel at this town’s central square last year. Worshipers on their way to synagogue and Jewish kids in schools are routinely accosted as “Dirty Jews.” Last year’s Davis Cup tennis match against Israel, which pro-Palestinian activists had sought to cancel, was held behind closed doors. The official reason was to avoid disruption by anti-Israeli protesters. But roughly 6,000 of them clashed with the police during the event anyway. Notwithstanding the official explanation, the closed-door match left the impression that Israel is a pariah state that needs to be quarantined. Not surprisingly, Malmö’s small Jewish community of roughly 700 is getting smaller as families leave town.
Faced with these attacks on the city’s Jewish population, Malmö’s mayor, Ilmar Reepalu, seems curiously unperturbed by, if not sympathetic to, the attackers. Asked to condemn anti-Semitism in his city, the Social Democrat suggested in a January interview to Skånska Dagbladet—published on International Holocaust Memorial Day, no less—that it’s partly the Jews’ own fault. Their crime? They didn’t “distance” themselves from Israel and the Gaza war. “The community chose to hold a pro-Israel demonstration,” Mr. Reepalu said, a move that “may convey the wrong message.” Besides, Zionism is just as bad as anti-Semitism, the mayor added. Both are “extremists who want to set themselves over other groups.”
Schwammenthal har nok av sitater som viser at disse holdningene ikke er enestående. Det er nok å lese Jan Guillous kommentarer i Aftonbladet. Uttalelser som sammenligner Gaza med Warszawa-ghettoen er ikke dagligdagse, men de blir heller ikke fordømt. De befinner seg i ytterkanten av den alminnelige samtalen, men innenfor det akseptable.
Det er fastslått at feilen er Israels, og da skjer det påfallende, skriver Schwammental: overalt hvor kritikken av Israel får utfolde seg hemningsløst, kommer de lokale jødene i klem. Det samme har vi sett i Oslo.
Hva er løsningen: jødene kan unngå problemene ved å ta avstand fra Israel. Denne tendensen har vi også sett i Norge. Da får de “grid”, amnesti, og kan leve blant Det nye Vi. Da blir de tålt. Det er allerede en form for annenrangs status. Man kan også si at de er en slags gisler: hvis Israel foretar seg noe som den muslimske verden og deres venner sterkt misliker, kan det komme til å gå ut over jøder som lever i Eurabia. Den trusselen ligger hele tiden latent.
This sort of demonization of Israel and Israelis—which meets the European Union’s own definition of anti-Semitism—is increasingly common across the Continent. Wherever Israel is delegitimized as a pariah state, local Jews are inevitably condemned to pariah status as well. In the streets of Malmö, one can hear “Kill the Jews,” while at “peace” rallies in Amsterdam and Berlin, the chanted instructions are somewhat more specific: “Hamas, Hamas, Jews into the Gas.”
These are not idle words. Anti-Semitic attacks in Malmö doubled last year to 79, while in London they hit a record of 924. And as some Swedish Jews are contemplating emigration, thousands of their French co-religionists have already moved to Israel to escape harassment.
Mr. Reepalu’s suggested solution for Europe’s Jews is a sort of post-Christian baptism. If conversion to Christianity was the ticket out of the ghetto in earlier times, conversion to Israel-bashing may do the trick today. If Jews “distance” themselves from the Jewish state, they will be safe, maybe even accepted in polite company. This would truly be a Eurabian night falling on the Continent.
Eurabia Is a Place in Sweden
The Continent’s post-Christian baptism of Jews: Convert to Israel-bashing and you’ll be safe.
By DANIEL SCHWAMMENTHAL
Malmö, Sweden, 4. of Marcch 2010.
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