Sweden runs for cover as foreign ministry refuses to condemn anti-Semitic outrage
One suspects that there would have been a different reaction if this had been about racism against blacks. But Sweden has now made it clear that it will not condemn the country’s best selling newspaper for running a two-page spread earlier this week which alleged that Israeli soldiers kidnap Palestinian children to cut out their bodily organs for sale.
This website contacted the Swedish foreign ministry in Sweden asking for clarification. A ministry spokesman, Anders Jorle, said that the Swedish government had “no position on the allegations” and quoted from the blog of foreign minister Carl Bildt where he said that “freedom of expression and press freedom are very strong in our constitution by tradition.”
The story, which ran in the Aftonbladet newspaper, also sought to link the wholly unsubstantiated allegations with the recent arrest in the United States of an American Jew on suspicion of planning to trade a human kidney on the black market. A modernised form of the ancient blood libel against the Jewish people was thus compounded with the inference of collective guilt.
It is strange to say the least that Sweden should invoke freedom of expression as a reason for its silence. If free speech is given such a premium why does the foreign ministry not exercise its own right to free expression by stating a position?
Moreover, if free expression is so sacrosanct why was the Swedish ambassador to Israel forced by the foreign ministry to remove her initial remarks from the embassy’s website in which she said the article was “shocking and appalling”?
Sweden is not being asked to engage in political censorship. It is being asked to do what it does all the time, not least in its frequent criticisms of Israel. It is being asked to make a statement of its political values.
Consider how easy it would have been for the foreign ministry to do the following: to condemn anti-Semitic blood libels, to denounce collective guilt, and to say that it finds baseless allegations about organ theft in Israel deplorable. It would not even have had to make direct reference to the paper in question. But they could not even bring themselves to do that.
To invoke the free speech argument in this case looks more like hiding behind a principle than standing up for one. I think we all know what’s at work.
Postscript: On the basis of an alert reader of this site (see first comment below), I am updating this post to reveal the following.
The Swedish government has not in fact defended free speech with the vigour that is now claimed. On February 10, 2006 the BBC reported that the website of a far-Right political party’s newspaper had been closed down in relation to the Danish cartoon controversy during which cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad caused mass protests by Muslim groups in Europe and around the world.
The Swedish government had been instrumental, the BBC reported, in pushing the website’s host to pull the plug. The newspaper called Kuriren — the paper of the Swedish Democrats — had called on readers to submit their own cartoons of Mohammad in solidarity with the Danish originators of the controversy who were in hiding in fear for their lives.
Showing none of the high-minded support for the complete independence of the press now being claimed, then foreign minister Laila Freivalds called the paper’s move “a provocation”.
“I will defend freedom of the press no matter what the circumstances, but I strongly condemn the provocation by SD-Kuriren. It displays a complete lack of respect,” the BBC quoted her as saying.
It appears that the paper managed to get its site back up. But the difference between the reaction of the Swedish foreign ministry to the feelings of Muslims and the feelings of Jews is plain for all to see.
To read the BBC article, click here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4700414.stm
To read the latest on the current saga, click here:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249418665710&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Tags: Israel
August 22nd, 2009 at 10:59 am
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4700414.stm
It seems there are limits to the Swedish government’s support for Press freedom …
Robin Shepherd says: Many thanks for pointing this out. It represents something of a killer blow against Sweden’s arguments.
August 22nd, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Incidentally, over at the Jewish Chronicle, Miriam Shaviv came out in support of the Swedish government. This was the reaction of one of her readers:
“Dear Miriam
If I didn’t live in Sweden I would agree with you. I would be thinking of the free press first. I would be making judgements based on rationality. That I am a citizen who happens to be Jewish – and let my citizenship take the upper hand.
However since my journey to work on Monday morning, when I saw the headlines of Aftonbladet in the commuter railway station “Israelis stole our organs – Kultur” I wasn’t able to think rationally and start to calm down until I read the message from the Swedish government last night. I am very releived to read this message and see it as a kind of “letter of protection” from the swedish government. Because if we live in a country of middle aged blood libels, we also need such protection.
So last night I slept peacefully in my bed and din’t have to think about moving back to the UK as soon as possible, despite the fact that I’m settled here, love my job, my friends etc.
Only if are familiar with what Aftonbladet publishes about Israel day after day, and the casual context in which they publish it ( next to articles on how to lose weight and the royal family) can you understand that what they have printed was not a mistake, the paper knew exactly what it was doing.
When my relatives in the UK criticise the Guardian or the BBC for being anti-Israel I have tried to explain that, from a Swedish persective, one tunes into the BBC to get a more pro-Israel perspective, and we have a paper which is like The Guardian in its views. But it is nothing compared to Aftonbladet. How would British Jews feel if Gordon Brown marched under a Hamas flag? Because that is what the leader of the Swedish social democratic party did a few months ago.
So, today I can go back to being a normal citizen again, under the protection of the government’s statement.”
http://tinyurl.com/mygwpj
August 23rd, 2009 at 2:08 am
When will Jews understand that Europe remains true to its two millennia of cowardly and incorrigible anti-Semitism?
There is no future for Jews in Europe. Never has been.
Especially now that Europe’s ingrained anti-Semitism is being exacerbated by contact with Islam.
August 23rd, 2009 at 8:28 am
Update: Israel refuses to grant entry permits to Gaza to Swedish Aftonbladet reporter.
“Daniel Seaman, head of the GPO, said cynically that “we may have to examine their blood type to check if they are eligible for organ donation.” ”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3765531,00.html
August 23rd, 2009 at 10:28 am
Many Arabs still believe that “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” is a truthful book. The Palestinians are brainwashed from infanthood and
incapable of distinguishing truth from fiction.
The Swedes, on the other hand, should know far better than to use an old antisemitic myth in pursuance of their anti-Israel struggle.