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 says.
Sweden has promised a dazzling show on May 7-11, but it will take place amid demonstrations against Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, which began with the October 7 Hamas terror assault in southern Israel.
The 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, tells 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.”
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