Sweden’s Jewish community anxious ahead of anti-Israel protests at Eurovision
Representative expresses concern local Malmo synagogue could be targeted amid planned demonstrations against Israeli participation in annual music event due to Gaza war
MALMO, Sweden — Planned protests against Israel taking part in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest have made members of the Jewish community in Swedish host city Malmo anxious, a representative of the community said.
Sweden has promised a dazzling show May 7-11, but it will take place amid demonstrations over Israel’s military offensive against the Palestinian terror group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, triggered by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
There has been a sharp jump in global antisemitism against a background of pro-Palestinian activism since the war started.
The Malmo Jewish community of around 1,200 people is worried it could become a target of large protests planned for May 9, when Israel will take part in the second semifinal, and again on the day of the final, May 11.
“There’s a certain feeling of apprehension, of tension. I can’t say that I’m not worried,” Felix Krausz Sjögren, a guide at the synagogue in Malmo, told Reuters.
“With Israel being in the Eurovision, the emotions will be even more heightened, and maybe the synagogue will be a target of protests. It’s not unthinkable.”
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the contest, resisted calls for Israel and its contestant, Eden Golan, to be excluded.
Malmo, Sweden’s third-largest city, has a large Muslim community, with the biggest groups originating from Iraq and Syria.
Gang crime has flourished in Malmo and other large Swedish cities for years, fueled by the drug trade and linked to poor integration of the immigrant community.
The Jewish community often invites school classes to the synagogue.
“If we have a class with many Muslim kids visiting, we often find that we have a lot in common. We have seen very positive encounters here,” said Fredrik Sieradzki, who heads the Jewish Learning Centre in Malmo.
“Eurovision will, of course, not be of help in that sense, but it will pass and then we’ll continue with our lives.”
Israel was permitted to compete after it agreed to modify the lyrics of its original song “October Rain” which the EBU said made reference to the October 7 Hamas attack.
While members of the Jewish community in Malmo have not been subject to physical violence, Sjögren says he is nervous about wearing his kippah in public.
“I probably wouldn’t do that during Eurovision week. I would be on the safe side and make sure to have something to cover it with.”
War erupted on October 7 when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a massive cross-border attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, amid numerous atrocities. The roughly 3,000 attackers who burst into southern Israel also abducted 253 people of all ages who were taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip.
Vowing to stamp out Hamas and topple its regime in Gaza, Israel launched a military campaign that also aims to free the hostages, of whom 129 remain in captivity, some believed no longer alive.
At least 34,400 Palestinians have been killed and over 77,600 injured in Gaza since the start of the war, the Hamas-run health ministry in the Strip says. The figures cannot be independently verified and include some 13,000 Hamas gunmen Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
