Following a near doubling in antisemitic crimes in Sweden, police in Stockholm moved a weekly anti-Israel rally to a Holocaust memorial monument bordering the city\u2019s main synagogue, despite protests by the local Jewish community, its leader told JNS on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Saturday, \u201cthe rally was moved to the Raoul Wallenberg memorial, which is really offensive,\u201d the president of the Council of Swedish Jewish Communities, Aron Verst\u00e4ndig, told JNS. The new location, situated 50 yards from the Great Synagogue of Stockholm, makes \u201cpeople feel threatened,\u201d Verst\u00e4ndig added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last month, a report <\/a>by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Br\u00e5) counted 217 reported antisemitic hate crimes in 2024\u2014a 95% increase over the previous report\u2019s tally. Anti-Jewish crimes were the most prevalent of any crimes targeting a religious minority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat who rescued thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust and then disappeared after the Red Army took over Hungary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The anti-Israel protests have been held for the past two years at Odenplan Square, situated more than a mile away from the synagogue, and Sergels Torg Square, located about half a mile from the synagogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Police designated the change of venue for the anti-Israel protests, according to Verst\u00e4ndig. \u201cThe only explanation we got is that the place where the pro-Palestinian events usually happened, the Iranians have taken that place and they need the space,\u201d he told JNS, referring to protesters against the Iranian regime\u2019s brutal crackdown on internal dissent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In its reply to a JNS query, the Stockholm police did not specify its reasons for switching the venue, saying only that \u201cthe goal is to facilitate and create the conditions for meetings to be held and for everyone to feel safe.\u201d A spokesperson added: \u201cAny disruptions to order at previous meetings caused by counter-protesters are not the fault of the organizer and do not affect the assessment in most cases.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Separately, in Gothenburg, south of Stockholm, protesters were filmed on Saturday chanting \u201cZios out\u201d at the entrance to the city\u2019s main university. Police were present at the rally, which was not authorized, but did not intervene, Swedish media reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Br\u00e5report showed that the sharp rise in antisemitic hate crimes occurred amid a milder increase in hate crimes against religious minorities, from 451 in 2022 <\/a>to 504 in 2024 (an 11% bump). Br\u00e5 publishes its hate crime reports every other year. The report for 2024 was published on Jan. 26, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In that report, antisemitic crimes accounted for 43% of all reported incidents deemed to have been a hate crime targeting a religious minority. Crimes against Muslims dropped both in absolute numbers and in their share of the total: From 234 in 2022 (52% of the total) to 199 incidents in 2024 (39%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Estimates of the number of Muslims in Sweden vary from 2% of the population to roughly 8% (200,000-800,000). Sweden has about 15,000 Jews, according to the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, constituting about 0.15% of the population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing war prompted an increase in antisemitic incidents worldwide, and Sweden was no exception, according to Verst\u00e4ndig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The level of antisemitic hate crimes against individuals have decreased since then, he said, \u201cbut we\u2019re still seeing an elevated level compared to the period before 2023, and the level of hate crimes and the threats against Jewish institutions, I would say, is the same,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last year, Swedish police\u00a0arrested\u00a0three men near the Israeli embassy in Stockholm on suspicion of planning an attack. The arrests were made close to the embassy, but not inside the compound itself, spokesperson Susanna Rinaldo told\u00a0Reuters<\/em>\u00a0at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In October, Jewish community activists in Malmo, in southern Sweden, said<\/a> they had to cancel a Jewish film festival because all of the city\u2019s movie theaters declined to host the event, some citing security reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n