Stone-throwers shatter window of synagogue in Sweden

Jewish community says incident on October 7 may be a hate crime targeting the congregation

By JTA 24 October 2017, 9:53 pm

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The synagogue in Malmo, Sweden. (Wikimedia Commons)

Unidentified perpetrators hurled stones and shattered the window of a synagogue in Malmo, a city in southern Sweden.

The incident occurred earlier this month but was only first reported in the Swedish media Tuesday after police arrived at the building a day earlier because of a separate incident, which turned out to be a false alarm, the Aftonbladet daily reported.

Fredrik Sieradzki, a spokesman for the local Jewish community, told the TT news agency that the earlier incident happened on October 7 and that it is not yet clear whether it was a hate crime targeting the congregation. There are no suspects.

Dozens of anti-Semitic incidents are recorded annually in Malmo, a city where first- and second- generation immigrants from the Middle East make up one-third of a population of roughly 300,000. Several hundred Jews live there.

Fred Kahn, a former leader of the local Jewish community, told JTA that most incidents are perpetrated by Muslims or Arabs.