Anti-Semitic attacks rising in Scandinavia

Jewish communities across Scandinavia have lodged complaints about attacks by Muslim extremists and the lack of official intervention, according to a report in Die Presse, an Austrian Internet publication, published on March 16.

In Norway, Die Presse reported, pupils have had yellow stars pasted to their backs by bullying classmates, some of whom have said that “all Jews should be shot,” and teachers often don’t react. In Copenhagen, Jewish pupils hide their Stars of David and remove their yarmulkes on the way home from school, particularly if they pass through neighborhoods with many Muslim residents, according to Die Presse.

The Swedish newspaper Skånska Dagblade reported that attacks on Jews in Malmö totaled 79 in 2009, about twice as many as the previous year, according to police statistics. Some 30 Jewish families have emigrated from Malmö to Israel in the past year, specifically to escape from harassment, according to Die Presse. — jta