Sweden may ban ‘racist organizations’ after neo-Nazi Yom Kippur campaign
The Nordic Resistance Movement, a neo-Nazi group, targeted Jews in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland with antisemitic harassment during the week before Yom Kippur.
By LAHAV HARKOV, TZVI JOFFRESupporters of the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement hold their banners during a demonstration at the Kungsholmstorg square in Stockholm, Sweden August 25, 2018(photo credit: TT NEWS AGENCY/PONTUS LUNDAHL VIA REUTERS)
Sweden is considering banning racist groups and making active membership of one a criminal offense, after neo-Nazis launched a hate campaign against Jews across Scandinavia on Yom Kippur, Swedish Justice Minister Morgan Johansson told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.“Racist organizations pose a threat to society that must be taken very seriously,” Johnasson said. “These organizations spread racist expressions. They also pose a threat to individuals… [and] are capable of committing serious, violent crimes and terrorism. Racist organizations are, therefore, a threat that needs special attention.”The Swedish government has established an all-party committee to propose legislation to outlaw racist organizations and to make it a criminal offense to participate in activity instigated by such groups.The Nordic Resistance Movement, a neo-Nazi group, targeted Jews in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland with antisemitic harassment during the week before Yom Kippur.The group reported that its members confronted Jewish worshipers and stood outside synagogues, hung antisemitic posters and distributed hateful flyers to “make the Nordic people aware of foreign customs and Zionist ruling plans throughout the Nordic region.”Johansson said these actions “show once again the need to nationally and internationally combat antisemitism."“The Swedish government condemns all acts of antisemitism and any other expression of racism. Such acts are threats not only to individuals but to us all and to our open and democratic societies,” he stated.Sweden has also provided funding for security of religious institutions and other civil society organizations threatened with “intimidation, violence and harassment.”In January, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven invited representatives from some 50 countries to participate in the Malmö International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism. It was supposed to take place later this month, but it has been postponed until next October because of the coronavirus pandemic. The forum’s aim is to promote concrete steps towards Holocaust remembrance and the fight against antisemitism.Malmö, the planned host city for the forum, is known as a hotbed of antisemitism. In a recent incident, in September, Muslims chanted at a demonstration about massacring Jews.
The Nordic Resistance Movement’s pre-Yom Kippur campaign led the Supreme Court of Finland to issue a cease-and-desist order to the group, the first such order issued since the 1970s, according to the Helsinki Times. The court determined that the objectives of the organization were in violation of the foundations of a democratic society.Dr. Shimon Samuels, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s director for international relations, contacted the prime ministers of Sweden, Denmark and Norway after the antisemitic campaigns were reported and called for the group to be banned.In his letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Samuels wrote that his organization was “shocked to learn that an Oslo police magistrate, reportedly, had the temerity to call ‘freedom of expression’ the posters accusing the Jews of ‘cruelty against animals, abuse of women and pedophilia’... This is a direct threat to the Jewish communities of, so far, three Nordic countries... Clearly Oslo police require education on controlling hate.”
