MALMO (Dispatches) – In 2016, Sweden distinguished itself among European states by affirming that the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign is a legitimate political movement that should be protected from repression.
But now, the government of Prime Minister Stefan Löfven is moving towards criminalizing criticism of the Zionist regime and its racist ideology Zionism under the guise of combating ‘anti-Jewish bigotry’.
This week, Sweden is hosting the Malmö International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism.
It is being attended by Zionist lobbyists and EU officials committed to muzzling criticism of the occupying regime’s violations of Palestinian rights.
High-profile speakers include UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Isaac Herzog, the occupying regime’s new president who has long dehumanized Palestinians and Muslims and promoted violence against them.
Herzog was also involved in the ongoing defamation campaign to paint Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters in the UK Labour Party as anti-Jewish because of their support for Palestinian rights.
One of the Malmö gathering’s main purposes is to further entrench the so-called IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, a document heavily promoted by the Zionist reime and its lobby.
This definition notoriously conflates criticism of the Zionist regime and Zionism, on the one hand, with anti-Jewish bigotry, on the other.
As host, Sweden has pledged to introduce its own “action program” against anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry.
This will include “enhanced efforts by the police to counter racism and hate crime” as well as assigning a “research agency” working under Sweden’s defense ministry to “continuously monitor anti-Semitism and other forms of racism.”
“Organized racism and support for organized racism will be criminalized,” the Swedish government asserts.
What should raise particular alarm about these pledges is that Sweden’s approach to anti-Semitism will be based on the IHRA definition – opening the way to criminalization of support for Palestinian rights by falsely defining it as “hate.”
While that may sound extreme, dozens of international anti-Semitism scholars, many of them Jewish, have issued what they call a “stark warning against the political instrumentalization of the fight against anti-Semitism.”
They are calling on leaders attending the Malmö meeting to “reject and counter this instrumentalization.”
“We notice coordination with and reliance on lobby organizations shielding the Israeli regime,” the scholars state.