The Simon Wiesenthal Center called on the Swedish government to assume the cost of protecting the Jewish community.
Senior officials of the organization, who visited Stockholm and Malmö during a weeklong fact-finding mission earlier this month, accused the government of making the Jewish community pay the equivalent of a “Jewish tax,” requiring it to pay for most security measures, including barriers against attacks in front of synagogues during services.
The Jewish community is in danger in Sweden, the center says.
Some 400 anti-Semitic acts were registered in Malmö in 2009 — more than half the total number of hate crimes in the city.
“Sweden intelligence has identified over 400 Islamist radicals and neo-Nazis,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the center’s associate dean, in a statement issued from Stockholm. “Coupled with global threats from ‘lone wolf’ operatives, Jews are a primary target for hate crimes and terrorists.”
Approximately 800 Jews live in Malmö among a total population of 300,000, which includes a large, mainly Muslim, immigrant community. — jta