Swedish Jewish politician’s house burned in suspected hate crime

The house of a Swedish politician who has been the target of anti-Semitic harassment is set on fire in what his community is calling a hate crime.

The incident occurred on Tuesday night in the southern city of Lund, the Council of Swedish Jewish Communities writes in a statement. It does not name the person believed to have been targeted, describing him only as a lay politician with Jewish roots. The alleged victim was able to extinguish the flames before they spread to other homes.

Police have no suspects in custody in connection with the incident, which resulted in extensive damage to the property.

The incident Tuesday, in which no one was hurt, follows an earlier arson attack in the summer, Aron Verstandig, the council’s president, writes. In the earlier attack, the victim’s home also was targeted. Both homeowners have been “active on Jewish issues” over the past few years, and both wish to remain anonymous, Verstandig adds.

“There is strong suspicion that these attacks are targeted against these people because they are Jews. The latest incident has the extra dimension of an attempt to intimidate a politician into silence,” he says, calling the arson “an attack on Swedish democracy.”

In December, several men, some of them Arab, participated in riots during which a firebomb was hurled at the synagogue of Gothenburg in southern Sweden. Three of the culprits who were tried for the attack said it was payback for the United States’ recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

In addition to Muslim extremist violence, which is common across Western Europe, Swedish Jews are exposed to violence and intimidation by far-right groups on a scale that is rare in that part of the world.

— JTA