LarsDencik 13 Antisemitisms in theTwenty-First Century

Sweden and Denmark as Forerunners?

Abstract: This article deals with in Europe and post-Holocaust Swe- den and Denmark specifically. The idea that it is always “the sameold antisem- itism” that pops up and “shows its ugly face” does not find support in this study. Instead, we distinguish between three different kindsofcontemporary antisem- itisms: Classic antisemitism, Aufklärungsantisemitismus,and -derived anti- semitism. Our findingssuggest that each of these antisemitisms is inspired by dif- ferent underlying “philosophies,” and thatthey are carriedbydifferent social groups and manifested in different ways. In the Scandinavian countries today, we find that there is less classic anti- semitism, much more Aufklärungsantisemitismus,and arelatively strongerpres- ence of Israel-derivedantisemitism. In our analysis this specificallyScandinavi- an pattern of antisemitisms is closelyrelated to the highlydevelopedprocesses of modernization in the Scandinavian countries on the one hand and the rela- tively large numbers of recentlyarrivedimmigrantsfrom the Middle East on the other. This appears to implythat antisemitism based on racial prejudices is losing ground, as is antisemitism basedonreligious convictions. However,ac- cording to the Agency ForFundamental Rights (FRA)inAnti- semitism: Overview of Data Available in the European Union2007–2017 (Luxem- bourg: LuxembourgPublications Office of the European Union, 2018), the incidence of violent antisemitic attacks seems to be on the rise. These typically emanate from small pockets of individuals in the population who share an image of all being accomplices to whatever the State of Israel does. Considering how the processes of modernization operate it is assumedthat other countries in Europe will follow asimilar trajectory.Rationalization, secu- larization, and individuation will also come to penetrate these societies and weaken notions of “race” and “religion” as springboards for antisemitism. Thus, tendencies towards Aufklärungsantisemitismus will be strengthened. If in- tegrating and getting rid of the marginalization and condescending treatment of its newlyarrived Muslim inhabitants does not succeed, Israel-derivedantisemit- ism can be expectedtothrive.The pattern of antisemitismsinDenmarkand Swe- den might be apreview of what antisemitisms in twenty-first-century Europe could come to look like.

OpenAccess. ©2020 Lars Dencik, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110634822-015 234 LarsDencik

Keywords: Antisemitism; Aufklärungsantisemitismus; brit milah;Denmark; Euro- pean Agencyfor Fundamental Rights; Holocaust;immigration; modernization; shechita;.

It is sometimes said thatJewsare likeany otherpersons – just more so.Whenit comes to modernantisemitism,the Scandinavian countriesare likewise just like anyother Europeancountry – just more so.Donot misunderstand!Itis not that thereismoreantisemitism in the Scandinavian countries todaythan in Europe in general – indeed,the oppositeappears to be thecase – butrather thatongoing transformationsinthe patterns of antisemitism, changes which have to do with deeper tendencies in social andpolitical developmentsinEu- rope – have gonefurther in the Scandinavian countries than they have in Eu- rope in general. Antisemitism is always amatter of prejudices aboutand animositytowards Jews. But antisemitism is still not acoherentand stable body of attitudes about Jews. Reviewingthe historyofantisemitism in Europe we findthat antisemit- isminsomeepochswas mainlybased on religious ideas,withJewsbeing seen as traitors whodid notbelieveinJesus of Nazarethasthe Messiah and whoshouldbeblamedfor having killedhim;inother epochsantisemitism wasinstead fedbypoliticalideas,withJewsbeingseen as strangerswho did not belongtothe people with abirthright in theirnation-state; we also have epochs when the idea of Jewsascontrollers, abusers,and exploitersofthe economy surfacedasthe predominant form of antisemitism; the Shoah that de- stroyed European Jewry in thefirst part of the twentieth century was, however, mainly based on racist biological ideasofJewsasadegeneratepeoplewhose veryexistenceconstitutedadisease within thehumanbody. Accordingly, this racist ideacommanded theJew be extinguished – both individually andasa people. Behind these diverse aspectsofantisemitism there usuallylies amental con- struction of aJewish conspiracy of some kind.Evenifitmay not be quite obvious to the antisemite what Jews are reallyupto, how they actuallykilled the Chris- tian Messiah, infiltrated the nations of the world, run the world economy, or are in fact araciallydegenerate people, etc. – just this, the very fact that this is ob- scure, makes the antisemite even more convincedthat somehow there must be some kind of asecret (world) conspiracy behind it all. So, what is the predominant imageofasecret Jewishworldconspiracy in the Scandinavian countries today? Hereare two background examples: 1. Late at night on 15 February 2015,abat mitzvah party took place in the Jew- ish culturalcentre wherethe main synagogue is also located in Copenhagen. 13 Antisemitisms in the Twenty-FirstCentury 235

About eighty people, most of them teenage girls, were celebrating that one of their friends had passed the symbolic threshold to become afullyindepend- ent and responsible memberofthe Jewish community.Aspart of what are now considered necessary regular security measures whenever aJewish event takes place, thirty-seven-year-old Dan Uzan was acting as avolunteer guard outside the buildingswherethe festivities took place. Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, atwenty-two-year-old Danish citizen with Palestinian pa- rents,suddenlyappearedand tried to getinto the Jewish culturalcentre be- hind the synagogue. Dan Uzan, unarmed but responsible for security at the entrance, blocked his path. The attacker,armed with loadedguns, shot him in the head at close range. Dan Uzan died. Afew hours later El-Hussein was shot dead by aDanishpolice tactical unit. It is thought thatthe attack might have been acopycat of the Paris attacks on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and akosher supermarket about a month before. El-Hussein might have learned of those Paris attackswhile in- side aDanishprison, wherehewas servingatwo-year sentence. He had been released from prison onlytwo weeks before his attacks. There was a suspicion that he mayhavebecome radicalizedinprison like the men be- hind the Paris attacks.¹ The headofDenmark’sprison and probation service reported that authoritieshad noticed changes in his behaviour in prison and had alerted the intelligenceservices. 2. On the evening of 9December 2017,inGothenburg, the second largest city in Sweden, aJewishyouth organization held a Chanukah party.About forty per- sons wereinabuilding adjacent to the synagogue whentwelve masked men threw Molotov cocktails into the synagogue courtyard and ranaway. By chance, the fire wasnoticed and put out before anyone was injured. Some time later the police succeeded in arrestingthreemen: atwenty-two-year- old Palestinian from Gaza; atwenty-four-year-old Palestinian, and anine- teen-year-old Syrian.They wereasylum seekers in Sweden: the latter two had been granted permanent residencystatus as refugees, while the man from Gaza had had his application for asylum rejected.Incourt they were all subsequentlyconvicted of comittingahate crime. Apparentlytheir attack on the synagogue had been provoked by the fact that President Trump had afew days previouslyannouncedthat he had ordered

 AngeliqueChrisafis, “CharlieHebdo Attackers:Born,Raisedand RadicalisedinParis,” The Guardian,12January 2015, ‹ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/12/-sp-charlie-hebdo-at tackers-kids-france-radicalised-paris ›. 236 Lars Dencik

that the US embassy be movedfrom TelAvivtoJerusalem, and thus by im- plication had alsoofficiallyrecognizedJerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Demographics

Before continuingweneed to clarify some demographic factors.One relevant fig- ure in this context is the absolute and relative numberofJews in the populations in question:²

Table13.1: Jewish Population in Some Scandinavian Countries.

Country Core Jewish Population Jews per , Population Greater Jewish Population

Denmark , . , Sweden , . ,

Thenumber of JewslivinginFinland, with apopulation of 5.5million, andin Norway,withapopulationof5.3 million,istodayconsiderably lowerthanin thetwo previouslymentioned countries.There areslightlymorethanathou- sand peopleineachofthese countries whocould be regarded as belonging to acoreJewishpopulation.Ascan be seen above,the proportion of Jewsas part of the population of theNordiccountries is verysmall.InDenmark and Sweden it is aboutthe same as in today’sGermany, lower than in France,Hun- gary,the UK,Belgium,and theNetherlands,but higher than in ,Spain, Italy, andAustria. TheScandinavian countries, although similar in some significant respects, nonetheless followed verydifferent trajectoriesthrough the Shoah. In Norway close to 40 per cent of the twothousand onehundredJewslivinginthe country at thetimeperished under theruleofthe Nazi-collaborator Vidkun Quisling. At theend of September 1943,the Danish Jewslearned that they toowould be per- secuted.Inanunprecedented anduniquerescue operation,almostall of them, slightlymorethanseven thousand, managed to escape to Swedenwhere they were then well received.Inthe 1930suntil the outbreak of theSecond World War, Sweden’simmigrationpolicywas veryrestrictive – just under threethou- sand Jewsout of the many hundredsofthousands tryingtoescapeNaziperse-

 Sergio DellaPergola, JewishPopulations in 13 European Union Countries Covered in the FRA Sur- veyofPerceptions and ExperiencesofAntisemitism among Jews 2018 (London: InstituteofJewish Policy Research, 2017). 13 Antisemitisms in the Twenty-FirstCentury 237 cution in Europe were permitted entry,mostofthemas“political refugees.” Afterthe war, about thirteen thousandJewswerebrought to Swedenfromcon- centrationcamps andother places in Europe. Thislay theground for thefact that Sweden is theonlycountry in Europe that todayharbours aconsiderably larger Jewishpopulationthanbeforethe Shoah. At the beginningofthe 1930s therewereslightlymorethansix thousand JewsinSweden – todaythere are more than threetimes as manyJewsinSweden compared to when theNazis took power in .³ Otherrelevantdemographic changes in thiscontexthavealsotaken place. Forinstance, Sweden with approximatelyten million inhabitants (2018)re- ceived well over onemillion immigrantsinthe decade 2007– 17,manyof them from Muslim and/orArabcountries.⁴ In 2017,accordingtoofficialstatis- tics, 544,828personslivinginSweden were born in or have twoparents who were both born in oneofthe followingfivecountries:Iran, Iraq,Lebanon, Mo- rocco,Palestine, or Syria. To this couldbeadded those46,032who by the same criteria originate from Arab countries such as Algeria,Egypt,Yemen,Jordan, Kuwait,Libya,SaudiArabia, Tunisia, or theUnited Arab Emirates.Ifyou also add those158,759 personswho themselves come from oneofthe Muslim countries of Afghanistan,Bangladesh, Pakistan,orTurkey, or whowerebornin Swedenoftwo parentswho both came from oneofthese countries,you realize thattoday in Sweden thereare aboutthree quartersofamillionpersons whoin some wayoranother arecharacterized by an upbringinginMuslimand/or Arab environments.⁵ Which in and of itself, of course, would notbeanything to focusoninthiscontext, were it notfor the factthat in morethan afew such environments antisemitic tropes circulate, sometimes supported anddis- seminatedbystate-sponsored antisemiticpropaganda. Asimilar patternofde- velopment, albeit to aconsiderably lesser degree,has taken placeinDenmark withits slightlylessthan5.8 million inhabitants. Accordingtoofficial statistics from October2018, 505,091 – i.e. just under 9per cent of theDanishpopulation – originate from non-Westerncountries,i.e.either born in such acountry or the

 Together with Jews wholater escaped to Sweden in connection with the 1956 uprisinginHun- garyand the antisemitic policies of the communist regimes in Poland at the end of the 1960s.  Statiskacentralbyrån (SCB) Statistikdatabasen, Invandring till Sverige, ‹ https://www.scb.se/ hitta-statistik/sverige-i-siffror/manniskorna-i-sverige/invandring-till-sverige/ › (updated 6No- vember 2018).  SCB Statistikdatabasen, Befolkning efter födelseland 2017, ‹ https://www.scb.se/hitta-statistik/ sverige-i-siffror/manniskorna-i-sverige/invandring-till-sverige/ ›.Not since1930haveofficial sta- tistics registered religious affiliation; at that time therewerefifteen Muslims livinginSweden. 238 LarsDencik children of parents born in anon-Western country, mainlythe Muslim coun- tries Turkey,Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, andIran.⁶ At this pointitshould be stated veryclearly that theoverwhelming major- ityofthese immigrants in Scandinaviainnoway engage in anykind of anti- semitic acts.Thereisnoempirical foundation for thefar tooeasily andtoo often stated prejudice that Islamasareligion, or Muslimsingeneral,constitute athreattothe welfareofJewsinScandinavia.Nor thatpersonswithsuchback- groundsdonot integrateintothe modern Scandinavian welfarestates. Forex- ample, asurvey undertakenbyAls ResearchinDenmark showsthatmostso- called non-WesternimmigrantstoDenmark have no problemacceptingwom- en’sequality or homosexualsand reject theuse of violenceagainst others. Thesame study, however,also identifies acertain, albeit quite small, minority amongthese immigrants whostrongly disagree on these same points, andasa result approveofthe useofviolence.⁷ Amongsomeofthe younger generations of Muslimsinboth Denmarkand Sweden, in particularthoselivingasmargi- nalized inhabitantsinghetto-likeareas in some of thesuburbs of larger cities, thereare thosewho have developed intocriminaloutlaws andsomealsointo Salafist jihadists.⁸ Aconstitutive elementofthis ideology is “intolerance,dis- crimination, andhatredtowards othergroups, in particularJewsand ShiaMus- lims.”⁹ Accordingtothe Swedishsecurity police,the number of Islamist

 Det nationale integrationsbarometer accessedat‹https://integrationsbarometer.dk/ ›,and Danmarks Statistik, Statistikbanken, Befolkning og Valg,Indvandrere og efterkommereFOLK1C.  BjarkeFølner,Sofie Aggerbo Johansen, Silas Turner,and GustavEgede Hansen, “Under- søgelse af maskulinitetsopfattelser og holdningertil ligestillingsærligt blandtminoritetsetniske mænd” [report] (Copenhagen: Als Research, 2019), ‹ http://www.alsresearch.dk/uploads/Pub likationer/Resume_Maskulinitetsopfattelser_Als Research.pdf ›.Reported in SørenAstrup, “Un- dersøgelse: Synet på homoseksualitet og kvinders rettigheder støder mangeindvandrere,” Politi- ken,25February 2019, ‹ https://politiken.dk/indland/art7056107/Synet-på-homoseksualitet-og- kvinders-rettigheder-støder-mange-indvandrere ›.  In morethan afew cases they have become radicalized while in prison. There is aspectrum of different shades between Salafism and Salafist jihadism. In some cases, Salafism hasproved to be abreedingground forviolent jihadism. Notall Salafistsare jihadists, butall jihadists areSalafists.  Magnus Ranstorp, FilipAhlin,Peder Hyllengren,and Magnus Normark, Mellan salafism och salafistiskjihadism: Påverkanmot och utmaningar för det svenska samhället (: Försvarshögskolan, Centrum förtotalförsvar och samhällets säkerhet, 2018), 7, 102. One of the conspiracy theories believed by some Salafists is “that the Shi’ite faith was created by aJew whowas tryingtocorrupt Islam from the inside.” 13 Antisemitismsinthe Twenty-First Century 239 groups in Sweden whoapproveofviolencehas increased by afactor of tenin lessthanadecade.¹⁰ TheSwedishSecurity Service estimates that around three hundred people (mostlyyoung men, butthere arealsowomen amongthem) have travelledfrom Sweden to join jihadist groups in Iraq andSyria, especiallyDaesh/ISIS.¹¹ The leadingDanishdaily hasreportedthatatleast twenty womenfromDenmark have joined IslamistgroupsinSyria andIraq.¹² Some of these so-called Islamic State terrorists were killedinthe fightingthere,however todayatleast 150of them, nowexperienced in handlingweapons and familiar with exercisingbru- tality,are backinSweden.¹³ Again, thesamepatterngoesfor Denmark,how- ever withlower numbers.¹⁴

Antisemitisms

Before continuingwealso need to familiarize ourselveswith the fact,all too often overlooked, that thereare not onlydifferent degreesofantisemitism in dif- ferent countries and historical epochs, but alsothat we can and ought to speak of and analyse different qualities or kinds of antisemitism. In aprevious study, based on data collected in 2012 in several European countries,among them Sweden, we wereable to distinguish between three dif- ferent kinds of antisemitism: classic antisemitism, Aufklärungsantisemitismus, and Israel-derived antisemitism.

 Ranstorp andothers, Mellan salafism och salafistiskjihadism,7,15; Säkerhetspolisen, “Så mycket har extremistmiljöerna vuxit,” 3July2017, ‹ https://www.sakerhetspolisen.se/ovrigt/ pressrum/aktuellt/aktuellt/2017-07- 03-sa-mycket-har-extremistmiljoerna-vuxit.html ›.  In relation to its population,morepeople have travelled from Sweden to join these jihadist groups than from anyother country in Europe with the exception of Belgium. Ranstorp and others, Mellan salafism och salafistiskjihadism,109.  Jonas H. R. Moestrup, “Danskekvinder drager mot Syrien: Sådan lokker kalifatet,” TV2 Ny- heder,3March2019, ‹ http://nyheder.tv2.dk/2017-03-03-danske-kvinder-drager-mod-syrien-saa dan-lokker-kalifatet ›.  Ranstorp and others, Mellan salafism ochsalafistisk jihadism,210; SVTNyheter,18December 2018, ‹ https://www.svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/sa-dalig-koll-har-kommunerna-pa-is-atervandarna ›.  Morten Skjoldager, Truslen Indefra (Copenhagen: Lindhardt&Ringhof, 2009). 240 Lars Dencik

Classicantisemitism

This is basedonclassic antisemitic stereotypes such as “Jews have toomuch control over global affairs” and “Jews are responsible for most of the world’s wars.” The proportion of persons within the national populations who hold such attitudes to an extent thatwarrantslabellingthem “antisemites” is contin- uallybeing measured in manycountries around the world by the Anti-Defama- tion League (ADL). We refertothis as Classic antisemitism.¹⁵

Table13.2: Proportion of classic antisemites in Scandinavian countriesin2014.

DENMARK  %NORWAY  %SWEDEN  %

Male  %  %  % Female  %  %  %

AGE

–  %  %  % –  %  %  % +  %  %  %

The proportion of antisemiteswithin the general population accordingtothis measure is remarkablylower in Sweden than in virtuallyany othercountry in the world. The proportion of antisemites in the general population is abit higher in Denmark and Norwaythan in Sweden, although even there the number is lower than in all other European countries.Accordingtothis 2014 poll, the cor- respondingproportion of classic antisemites is in Hungary 41 per cent,France 32 per cent,Belgium and Germany27per cent,and Italy20per cent.¹⁶ Afollow-up poll conductedin2015 in aselect number of countries largely confirms this pic- ture. Among the countries surveyed at the time, the lowest proportion, 8per cent,was found in Denmark. Sweden was not among the countries included in this follow-up poll.¹⁷

 Anti-Defamation League, “ADL Global 100.AnIndex of Anti-Semitism,”‹https://www.adl. org/adl-global-100 ›.  Amongthe EU countries surveyed, onlythe UK, with 8per centofits population beinganti- semites as measured by this method, approaches the relatively low levels found in the Scandi- navian countries.  The ADL 2015 Update(“Poll Finds Dramatic Decline in Anti-Semitic Attitudes in France; Sig- nificant Drops in Germanyand Belgium,” 30 June 2015, ‹ https://www.adl.org/news/press-re leases/new-poll-anti-semitic-attitudes-19-countries ›), comprisingaselect number of countries, shows the followingpercentage of antisemites as defined by the ADL criteria: Hungary 40 per 13 Antisemitisms in the Twenty-First Century 241

However,evenifthe proportion of Swedes who accordingtothe ADL’scri- teria qualifyasantisemites is remarkablylow compared to other countries, there still exist small groups of politically organized Nazi-sympathisers in the country.Furthermore, in Denmarksince around the turn of the millennium there has been an active neo-Nazi group that runs alocal radiostation (Radio Oasen)and at times organizes publicdemonstrations flying the swastika. It has also formedapolitical party, Danmarks Nationalsocialistiske Bevægelse (DNSB, National Socialist Movement of Denmark), and has participatedin local elections in Greve, amunicipality southofCopenhagen. In the 2005 munic- ipal elections it received73votes, corresponding to 0.3per cent of votes cast, and in the elections to the regional council they received611 votes, corresponding to 0.1per cent of votes cast. It has been estimatedthat in the whole country there might be around 1,000 passiveand 150 active members of the DNSB.¹⁸ The largest and most active neo-Nazi organization in Scandinavia at present is the so-called Nordiska Motståndsrörelsen (NMR, Nordic Resistance Movement). It attemptstobeapan-Nordic neo-Nazi movement and in Sweden is alsoapo- litical party.Itwas established in Sweden and claims to be active in Norway, Fin- land, and Denmark, and also to have members in Iceland. The NMRhas been described as aterrorist organization due to their aim of abolishingdemocracy along with theirparamilitary activities and stockpiling of weapons. One of the NMR’sfavourite activities is to organize public marches and other kinds of collective demonstrations wearinguniform-style outfits, flying Nazi-in- spired flags, and so on in connection with various large public culturaland po- litical events. These have included the annual bookfair in and the all-inclusive political summer-rallyinAlmedalen on Gotland,wheremembers of the group assaulted two pro-Israel activists on 6July2018. On special occa- sions they managetobring out afew hundred sympathizers, but generally they seem unable to muster more than afew dozen. At times they appearthreat- ening and resort to violent forms of action. Someofthem have participated in general and local elections, but normallywithout gainingenough support to be represented in anygovernment body.¹⁹ In the 2018 general elections in Swe-

cent,Poland37per cent,Spain 29 per cent,Italy29per cent,Belgium 21 per cent, France17per cent,Germany16per cent, the UK 12 per cent,and Denmark 8per cent. Sweden was not includ- ed in this update.  Wikipedia, ‹ https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danmarks_Nationalsocialistiske_Bevægelse ›.  Thereisone exception. In local elections in Grästorp in 2010,the neo-Nazi party, Svenskar- nas parti (SvP,Party of the Swedes), received102 votes(2.8 per cent) and asingle mandate. Sven- skarnas parti thus became the first Nazi party to sit in an elected assembly in Sweden since the 1940s.The party was disbanded in 2015. 242 Lars Dencik den, NMRreceivedatotal of 20,106 votes, which corresponds to 0.03 per cent of the votes cast in the country.²⁰ Even if the NMRand other similar groups are very small in terms of numbers, they are still quite visibleinthe public sphere. This fact in itself causes definite alarm among Jews in Sweden. Addtothis the fact thatsince the 2018 general elections the third largest party in the Swedish parliament (basedonslightlyless than 18 per cent of the vote in the national elections) is the Sverigedemokraterna (). This party has actuallygrown from the same ideological roots that nourish the aforementioned Nazi-affiliated groups.However,since its creation in 1988, in parallel with its rapidlygrowingpopularsupport – mainlydue to its strong anti-immigration and by implication also anti-Muslim positions – it has moder- ated these positions and now prefers to present itself as asociallyconservative and nationalist party.With its 2010 entry into the Swedishparliament,ithas tried to distance itself from its whitesupremacist and Nazi-influenced back- ground. As part of its attempt to pursue this transformation, several party offi- cials have been excluded because of theireither bluntlyracist or antisemitic statements.Nonetheless, this did not stop one of their representativesand for- mer second deputy speaker of the Swedish parliament,Björn Söder, from sug- gesting in a2014interview with the leading Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, that since Sámi and Jews (for example) have dual identities, they would have to adapt and be assimilated in order to be considered Swedish in the cultural sense. This was interpreted to mean that Jews cannot be Swedish – unless they abandon their Jewish identity.²¹ In 2016,another leading representative of Sverigedemokraterna,its then par- liamentary group leader and now economic-political spokesman, Oscar Sjöstedt, jokingly recounted how he and some colleagues, German slaughterhouse work- ers in Iceland,would kick sheep, pretending they wereJews, while shouting “die Juden!”²² The fact that the leadership of Sverigedemokraterna did not find this reason enough to sanction their representative might be an indication of the par- ty’stacit acceptance of antisemitism. To sum up on this point: There appears todaytobeasmaller proportion of the population in the Scandinavian countries who have classic stereotypes and

 Valmyndigheten, ‹ https://data.val.se/val/val2018/slutresultat/R/rike/index.html ›.  Niklas Orrenius, “Den leende nationalismen,” Dagens Nyheter,14December 2014, ‹ https:// www.dn.se/nyheter/politik/den-leende-nationalismen/ ›.In2018 Björn Söder reiteratedhis statement.  Filip Johansson, “Här skämtar Oscar Sjöstedt (SD) grovt om judar,” Expressen,6October 2016, ‹ https://www.expressen.se/nyheter/har-skamtar-sjostedt-sd-grovt-om-judar/ ›.The video from the party wherethis took placeisdated 2011. 13 Antisemitismsinthe Twenty-First Century 243 negative attitudes about Jews thanamong the general population in other com- parable countries in the world. In Sweden the proportion of classic antisemites in the general population is lower thananywhereinthe Western world. Still, there are neo-Nazi groups in the Scandinavian countries.Thisisparticularly so in Sweden where, although small in terms of membership and very weak in attracting popularsupport,they have succeeded in attracting attention through their public demonstrations and actions. They thereby also succeed in creating unease among thosewho are and feel targeted by them – todaymainlyrefugees and immigrants from Arab and Muslim countries and those who defend their right to stayinthe country,but also Jews. The feelingsofunease and discomfort among Jews at the presenceand pub- lic activities of these neo-Nazis is certainlyunderstandable. But do these groups in fact represent athreat to the Jewish populations in Sweden and Denmark?As it seems their messages do not attract popularsupport,rather the opposite is true, and their demonstrations, terrible as they appear,havesofar not involved violent physical attacks on individual Jews or Jewishinstitutions in the country. In fact,itappears thatparticipantsinthese activities, largely comprisingyoung men with criminalrecords involvingweapons and the use of violence,²³ are pri- marilyexcited by racist ideologies of Anno-dazumal and enjoy the theatrical provocation of carryingheraldicsymbols reminiscent of the Third Reich. Howev- er,one can never know – and this is preciselywhat these groups are counting on. Still, classic antisemitism is less present in Sweden and Scandinavia in gen- eral thanelsewhere.

Aufklärungsantisemitismus

Another kind of what might be perceivedasantisemitism are attempts at prohib- iting coreJewishpractices such as brit milah (the circumcision of newborn male babies) and shechitah (the slaughter of animals accordingtoritual prescriptions). The 2018 FRA survey²⁴ asked respondents about the extent to which they had heard it suggested that circumcision and/or slaughter accordingtotradition-

 Erik Wiman, Frida Sundkvist, and Frida Svensson, “Aftonbladet/SvD granskar:58avnazis- terna dömda för brott,” Aftonbladet,27September 2017, ‹ https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/ mOBe1/aftonbladet-svd-granskar-58-av-nazisterna-domda-for-brott ›.  The FRA survey refers to the European Union Agencyfor Fundamental Human Rights survey of Jewish people’sexperiences and perceptions of and hate crimes in European Union member states. The FRA survey was conducted in 2012 and 2018. In the references below, “FRA Report 2018” refers to Experiences and Perceptions of Antisemitism: Second SurveyonDis- 244 Lars Dencik al religious rules should be banned in their country.Almost all respondents in Denmark (98 per cent) said they had heard non-Jewishpersons suggesting that circumcision or slaughter accordingtoJewishtradition, or both, should be prohibited. In Sweden, 77 per cent of respondents werealso aware of non-Jew- ish people suggesting this for their country.Since slaughter accordingtoJewish tradition is alreadyforbidden – in Sweden since 1937 and Denmark since 2014 – the suggestions heard in both of these secular-Lutheran countries primarilycon- cern circumcision. In none of the other tenparticipatingEUcountries are Jews confronted by such suggestions to the sameextent.²⁵ Suggestions of this kind weremore rarelyheard in Catholic countries like Hungary,Spain, and Italy. In 2012,noEUmemberstate other thanSweden had alaw in effect prohib- iting shechitah. Since 2012,however,legal prohibition of shechitah has alsobeen introduced in the , in the provinceofWallonia in Belgium, and in Denmark. At the time that Denmark ratifiedthe lawinFebruary 2014, the min- ister of agriculture, Social Democrat Dan Jørgensen, proclaimed that “animal rights weigh heavier than respect for religious considerations.”²⁶ In this context it should be mentioned thatinrecent years there has ragedan intense and widespread public debate in Denmark on the circumcision of infant boys.ADanishmedical doctor,Morten Frisch, launched abranch of the Intact America organization, called it Intact Denmark, and succeeded in making it into apopular movement.Ajournalistic internet surveyindicated that slightly more than80per cent of the Danishpopulation would likecircumcision of infant boys to be prohibited in Denmark. Apetition to the sameend collected the fifty thousand signatures required to have the issue raised in the Danish Parlia-

crimination and Hate Crime against Jews in the EU (Luxembourg: Publications Officeofthe Euro- pean Union, 2018), ‹ https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2018/2nd-survey-discrimination-hate- crime-against-jews ›.  FRA Report 2018, 70,tab.8.The survey carried out in 2012 among Jews in eight EU states (Denmark was not included at the time) also showed that Jews in Sweden had been confronted with such suggestions moreoften than Jews in the other seven participating EU countries. At the time, 85 per cent of Jews in Sweden confirmed “In the last 12 months,havingpersonallyheard non-Jewish people suggest that circumcision and traditional Jewish slaughter should not be al- lowed to takeplaceintheir country.”  Reported by Danish Radio and RitzauNews Agency, 13 February 2014. See also Andrew Brown, “Denmark’sRitual Slaughter Ban Says More about Human Hypocrisy Than Animal Wel- fare,” TheGuardian,20February 2014, ‹ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/andrew brown/2014/feb/20/denmark-halal-kosha-slaughter-hypocrisy-animal-welfare ›. 13 Antisemitismsinthe Twenty-First Century 245 ment.²⁷ However,the government-appointed Ethics Council (Det Etiske Råd)had alreadybeen asked by parliament to examine the issue. On 28 June 2018, they recommended that religiouslymotivated ritual circumcision of boys in Denmark not be prohibited.²⁸ On the seventy-fifth anniversary of the rescue of the Danish Jews from Nazi-occupied Denmark to Sweden, 11 October 2018, in the fully packed Copenhagen synagogue, Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen stood in front of the Torahark and faced the assembled dignitaries and members of the Jewishcommunity,promisingnot to allow anyreligious rights or tradi- tions to be taken away from the DanishJews. In spite of the strongpopularmove- ment to legallyprohibit brit milah,this practice has not been banned in Den- mark, nor has it been in Iceland, whereasimilarlypopularinitiative to do so had been raised at the same time.²⁹ In Sweden, too, calls have recentlybeen made to prohibit brit milah. Forexample, in 2011 the formerchairman of the Lib- eral Party and minister of social affairs, Bengt Westerberg, headed amotion to legallyprohibit the circumcision of infant boys.³⁰ Still, in spite of strongpopular opposition to the practice,neither in Denmark nor in Sweden is brit milah legally prohibited – yet. The reason for this is probablythat amajority of parliamentary politicians in these countries recognize how,all thingsconsidered, it would tar- nish their country’simageand risk having them labelled “anti-Jewish” for being the first country in the world todaytoprohibit this coreJewish practice.³¹ It should be understood that behind the strongeffortsinthe Scandinavian countries todaytoban brit milah and shechitah are mainlyhumanitarian, En- lightenment-based concerns, liberal ideas about individual free choice,and ideas about what constitute “humane” animal rights. This corresponds to the pri- ority giventorationalist reasoningand the parallel secularist disrespect for reli-

 Anne Sofie Allarp, “Venstrefløjens sværmen for et omskæringsforbud er dybt bekymrende,” Berlingske,20November 2018, ‹ https://www.berlingske.dk/kommentatorer/venstrefloejens- svaermen-for-et-omskaeringsforbud-er-dybt-bekymrende ›.  Det EtiskeRåd, “Udtalelse om rituel omskæring af drenge(2018),”‹http://www.etiskraad. dk/etiske-temaer/sundhedsvaesenet/publikationer/udtalelse-om-rituel-omskaering-af-drenge- 2018 ›.Aminority within the Ethics Council did not agreewith this conclusion.  See, for example,the chapter about antisemitism in Iceland by Vilhjálmur Örn Vilhjálmsson in this volume.  StaffanBergström and others, “DN Debatt: ‘Därför måsteregeringenstoppa omskärelse av poj- kar,’” Dagens Nyheter, 18 November2011, ‹ https://www.dn.se/debatt/darfor-maste-regeringen- stoppa-omskarelse-av-pojkar/ ›.  Circumcision is also acustomamong Muslims,amongst whom it is however practised differ- ently(the subjects are usuallypre-pubescent boys, not babies) and is not as fundamentallyroot- ed in the core scriptures as it is for Jews. 246 Lars Dencik giously-based convictions thatcharacterize much of modernScandinavia.³² In relation to what we are discussing here we use the term Aufklärungsantisemitis- mus – anotion coined by the French-Italian historian Diana Pinto – to refer to this phenomenon. However,the remarkable support for the IntactDenmarkmovement and manyofthe other rather aggressive effortstostop the practices discussed here, cannot be attributed solelytoapreference for rationalist attitudes and hu- manitarian concerns. Rather,much of the support for these attempts also – and this is particularlysoinDenmark³³ – stems from mainlyblatant anti-Muslim but also (albeit not so outspokenly) anti-Jewish sentiments. Even if it is true that the campaigns against brit milah in Denmark and Swe- den build upon strongEnlightenment-based convictions (however oftenmixed up with misunderstood and wildlyexaggerated notions about how circumcision actuallyaffects the baby boy), and even if it is also true that this form of anti- semitism – to the extent that it should even be labelled antisemitism – is not life-threatening to individual Jews, several Jewish community leaders and mem- bers do regard it as threatening the future of Jewish life in the country.³⁴

Israel-derived antisemitism

Athird form antisemitism consists in accusing and attacking Jews and Jewishin- stitutions in the country,referring in one’sactionstowhat one thinks the State of Israel has or is supposedtohavedone. We label this kind of antisemitism Israel- derived antisemitism.

 See Figure 13.1:The Inglehart-Welzel Cultural Map of the World (2008 Version).  Consider the history of radical anti-Muslim politicsand the politicalatmosphereinthe country.  SørenPloug Lilmoes, “Jøder: Forbud modomskæring vilsluttejødiskliv iDanmark,” Berling- ske,4February2015, ‹ https://www.berlingske.dk/samfund/joeder-forbud-mod-omskaering-vil- slutte-joedisk-liv-i-danmark ›.Bent Melchior, “Kronik. Overrabbiner om omskæringsdebat:Viafviser med foragt påstandenom, at vi lemlæster voresdrengebørn,” Politiken,25February2018, ‹ https:// politiken.dk/debat/kroniken/art6354779/Vi-afviser-med-foragt-påstanden-om-at-vi-lemlæster-vores- drengebørn ›.See Anne CecilieRatschauKvium andothers, “Mereend jøde: En antropologisk un- dersøgelseafomskæringsdebattenskonsekvenser for danskejøder,” Rapport/Eksamen ianvendtan- tropologi (UniversityofCopenhagen, Institut forMenneskerretigheder/Institut for antropologi, 2015), ‹ https://beggesider.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/mere-end-jc3b8de.pdf ›.See also Nikolaj Bøgh, “Hvadlærte vi af omskæringsdebatten,” pov.International,10October 2018, ‹ https://pov.interna tional/hvad-vi-laerte-af-omskaeringsdebatten/ ›. 13 Antisemitismsinthe Twenty-FirstCentury 247

Ameasure of Israel-derived antisemitismmight be the degree to which Jews in Europe feel safe or unsafe because they are Jewish, due to the impact of the Arab–Israeli conflict.Tothe question “To what extent does the Israeli-Arab con- flict impact on how safe youfeel as aJewish person in your country?” we re- ceivedthe following answers:

Table13.3: The impact of the Israeli-Arab conflict on Jews’ perceptions of safetyinDenmark and Sweden (2018)

Sweden Denmark

Agreat deal  %  % Afairamount  %  % Alittle  %  % Not at all  %  %

This table shows thatapproximatelytwo thirds of the Jewish respondents in both Sweden and Denmark appear to perceive their security in their respective coun- tries as being stronglyaffected by the ongoing Arab–Israeli conflict.³⁵ Among the twelve EU states investigated, the Jews in Belgium, France, Spain, and Germany – those countries hit most severelybyterrorism – perceivedthe impact of the Arab–Israeli conflict on their sense of security as Jews even more strongly, whereas Jews in the former communist and currentlyimmigrant-rejecting coun- tries Poland and Hungarydid so to aconsiderablylesser extent.³⁶ Another indication of Israel-derived antisemitism might be found in the an- swers to the question “How often do youfeelthat people in your country accuse or blame youfor anything done by the Israeli government becauseyou are Jew- ish?” To this question we receivedthe following answers:

Table13.4: Jews’ perceptions of being held accountablefor the actions of the Israeligovern- ment, in Denmark and Sweden (2018)

Sweden Denmark

Allthe time  %  % Frequently  %  %

 In the 2012 FRA survey the proportion whofelt so in Sweden was alittle lower – 61 per cent. See Lars Dencik and Karl Marosi, Different Antisemitisms: Perceptions and Experiences of Anti- semitism among Jews in Sweden and across Europe (London: InstituteofJewish Policy Research, 2017), 18. The entirereport is available online at ‹ https://www.jpr.org.uk/publication?id=4841 ›.  FRA Report 2018, 43,fig 16. 248 Lars Dencik

Table .: Jews’ perceptions of being held accountablefor the actions of the Israeli govern- ment, in Denmark and Sweden () (Continued)

Sweden Denmark

Occasionally  %  % Never  %  %

Heretoo, Jews living in Poland and Hungary,whereaccordingtothe ADL index there is aconsiderablyhigher proportion of antisemites in the population than in the other twelve countries included in the FRA survey,³⁷ experience being blamed for what the Israeli government is doing to aconsiderably lesser extent than do Jews in Sweden, with its remarkablysmaller number of classic antisem- ites in the general population.³⁸ Meanwhile, in 2018, Jews in all other participating countries except for the UK felt blamed as Jews for what the Israeli government was doing to alargerex- tent than Jews in the Scandinavian countries.³⁹ To explorethe animosity against Israel further and, if possible, also to getan idea of the extent to which such attitudes spill over onto Jews living in each of these countries,wealso asked to what extent the Jewishrespondents had heard non-Jewishpersons in the country state, “The world would be abetter place without Israel.” Thisisreported to have been heard within the lasttwelve months by about one third of the respondents in all countries involved;⁴⁰ in Den- mark, 34 per cent report having heard it,inSweden the number is 26 per cent. Another indirect measure might be how often aJew in each country hears the statement, “Israelis behave like Nazis against the .” In Denmark 55 per cent of Jewishrespondents saythatinthe lasttwelve months they have heard this “all the time” or “frequently.” In Sweden the corresponding number is 43 per cent.⁴¹ Onlyinthe UK is this statement reported to have been heard

 See note 16 in this chapter.  The answers to the same question in the 2012 FRA survey show the proportion of Jews in Sweden whofelt blamed “all the time” or “frequently” because of what Israel is doing was high- er in 2012 (49 per cent) than in 2018 (34 per cent). See Dencik and Marosi, Different Antisemit- isms,19.  In the 2012 FRA survey,Jews in Belgium, Italy, and France also reportedbeingblamed more often than Jews in Sweden did. See Dencik and Marosi, Different Antisemitisms,19, fig.20.  OnlyinHungary did the answers deviateslightlyfromthis. There, “just” 19 per cent of re- spondents claim to have heard such astatement,whereas at the other end of the spectrum 40 per cent of respondents in Spain saythey have come across such assertions.FRA Report 2018, 26,tab.3.  FRA Report 2018, 26,tab.3. 13 Antisemitisms in theTwenty-FirstCentury 249 just slightlyless oftenthaninSweden, in all othercountries it has been heard more often. The figure for Denmark is surpassed by higher numbers in Belgium, Germany, Spain, Hungary,and Poland. Could it be thatJews in Scandinavia for some reason are more (or less) sen- sitive thanJews in other European countries in perceiving statements to be “anti- semitic”?For instance, criticism of Israel?19per cent of DanishJews claim they perceive non-Jews’“criticism of Israel” as beingantisemitic. In Sweden, 28 per cent of Jewishrespondents saythis is the case. In other words, the vast majority of Jews in these two countries do not perceive criticism of Israel to be in and of itself “antisemitic.” Jews in Denmark are less likelythan Jews in anyofthe other countries included in the studytoregardcriticism of Israel as antisemitic. Aside from Danish Jews, onlyJews in the Netherlands and Poland scorelowerthan Jews in Sweden do – in all other countries Jews are more prone to perceive criti- cism of Israel as antisemitic. Denmark and Sweden are also the twocountries surveyed whereJews are the least likelytoregard supportingboycotts of Israel or Israelis as “antisemitic.”⁴² Do the answers to the questions posed about Israel-related issues indicate the degreeofIsrael-derivedantisemitism in the countries in question?The pic- ture is not clear.Itwould be misleading to assumethat attacksorthreats against Jews and Jewish institutions in aEuropean country due to what Israel is doing emanate from attitudes towards Israel in the general population of that country – even if thereare instances wherethis has also been the case. What is relevant in this context is how certain elements and specific pockets within the popula- tion react. As one might have noticed, all the perpetrators mentioned in the two exam- ples at the beginning of this article originatefrom aregion of the world where antisemitism has long been part of state propaganda – not rarelymodelled on Nazi-German templates.Not surprisingly then, the police investigatingthe two attacksdescribed discovering agreat deal of antisemitic propaganda on the per- petrators’ telephones and in their social media histories. Anot-too-farfetched as- sumption is that these perpetrators shared the view promoted in this propagan- da, that thereisasemi-secret US–Israel political alliance and thatJews as such, includingJews outside of Israel and the US,are tacitagents pursuing the sup- posed political ambition of this alliance, both to control and destroy the world. In asimilar vein, it was probablynot just aslip of the tonguewhen one of the leadingSalafist preachers in Sweden, Anas Khalifa (also known as

 However,amajority of Jews in both Denmark (63per cent) and Sweden (66 per cent) do per- ceive supportingboycotts of Israel as antisemitism. FRA Report 2018, 29,tab.5. 250 LarsDencik

AbuMalik),⁴³ in anote on the Israel–Palestine conflict posted on Instagram, in- stead of naming Israel, stated “Jews murder children, the elderly, blow up hos- pitals, etc.”⁴⁴ This is just in congruence with the widelyheld conspiracy theory in these circles – but not onlyinthese circles – that all Jews are in fact party to the atrocities the State of Israel is blamed for.This conspiratorial imageis, if not the most widespread, then certainlythe most murderous of the different anti- semitic images that todaycirculateincertain segments of European societies, not least in the Scandinavian countries.Thus, antisemitism in the general pop- ulationisten times morewidespread in Hungary thaninSweden,⁴⁵ whereas the proportion of Jews who report having been physicallyattacked because they are Jews, or having witnessed others being physicallyattacked, is higher in Sweden than in Hungary.⁴⁶ In this context one needstobeparticularlycareful not to generalize these facts to targetArabs or Muslims in general. There are,unfortunately, strongpo- liticallymotivated forces, in particular in today’sDenmark, that intentionallyat- tempt to collectively stigmatize alreadymarginalized groups of immigrants and children of immigrants from the Middle East living in the country.Some of these do indeedhavestronglynegative,not to sayhostile, feelingsand attitudes to- wards Israel. These are basicallyrelated to the ongoing Arab–Israeli conflict, and do not emanate from traditionalantisemitism – although, as we have seen, they are sometimes also amplified by propaganda they have consumed.

Perpetrators

Who, then, are the perpetratorsofthese different antisemitisms today? The FRA surveysof2012 and 2018 ask: “Thinking about the incident wheresomebodyat- tacked or threatened youinawaythatfrightened youbecause youare Jewish –

 At present residing in asuburb of the city of Gothenburg.  Quoted from Ranstorp andothers, Mellan salafismoch salafistiskjihadism,135.Myem- phasis.  ADL 2014.See note 15 in this chapter.  Dencik and Marosi, Different Antisemitisms,14–15,figs15and 16.The FRA Report 2018 does not give figuresonexperiences of physical attacks country by country.However,itreports, “Overall, across the 12 countries surveyed, 3%ofthe respondents personallyexperienced a physical attack because they are Jewish in the five years before the survey.” FRA Report 2018, 51.Atable on the same page however givesfiguresfor the proportion of respondents who say they experienced antisemitic offensive or threatening comments in person. The proportion whodid so in 2018 is higher in Sweden (19 per cent) than in Hungary (17per cent). The propor- tion in Denmark is equal to that in Sweden. See FRA Report 2018, 50,fig.50. 13 Antisemitisms in the Twenty-FirstCentury 251 who did this to you?” The respondents weregiven an opportunity to choose be- tween different kindsofpossibleperpetrators,⁴⁷ among them: “Someone with right-wing political views,”“Someone with left-wingpolitical views,”“Someone with Muslim extremist views,” and “Someone with Christian extremistviews.” The answers we receivedare distributed as follows:

Table13.5: Jews’ perceptions of who attacked or threatened them in incidents in Denmark and Sweden (2012, 2018)

Someone with   Sweden Denmark Sweden

Muslim extremist views  %  %  % Left-wing political views  %  %  % Right-wingpolitical views  %  %  % Christian extremistviews  %  %  %

As shown, the answers to the 2012 surveyinSweden (Denmark was not included in that survey) show asimilar pattern as in both countries in 2018 but with some- what sharper differences. Of the twelve EU countries,onlyinGermany is the proportion of supposed Muslim extremist perpetrators slightlyhigher than in Sweden. OnlyinItaly and Spain is the proportion of supposed left-wing political perpetrators slightly higher than in Sweden and Denmark. The 2018 FRA reportstates: “While the category ‘someonewith Muslim ex- tremist views’ is reported often, respondents frequentlyselected it in combina- tion with another category.Inone third of the cases of antisemitic harassment, respondents chose it together with ‘someone with aleft-wingpolitical view.’”⁴⁸ In no country is the proportion of supposedChristian extremist perpetrators as low as in Denmark and Sweden. With respect to supposed right-wingpolitical perpetrators,the figures for Poland (53 per cent) and Hungary (46 per cent) differ considerablyfrom what is the case in the other countries.Herethe two Scandi- navian countries occupy the middle rangewithin the field of nations.

 The list of options to choose fromread likethis:1)Family/household member;2)Neighbour; 3) Colleague, boss or supervisor at work; 4) Someonefromschool, college or university;5)Acus- tomer,client or patient; 6) Someonewith right-wing political views;7)Someone with left-wing political views;8)Teenagerorgroupofteenagers; 9) Doctor,healthcareworker; 10) Police officer or border guard; 11) Public official (e.g. acivil servant); 12) Private security guard;13) Someone with Christian extremist views;14) Someone with Muslim extremist views.  FRA Report 2018, 53. 252 Lars Dencik

The 2018 FRA reportdoes not differentiatebetween those who are identified as utteringantisemitic comments and those who are identified as perpetrators of physical antisemitic violence and threats. However,wewereable to use the data- base of the 2012 survey to investigate this. There it appears that the proportion who report having personally been physically attacked because they are Jewish was higher in Sweden than in all other countries except for France. Regarding antisemitic comments,the category of people with left-wing views and the cate- gory of people with Muslim extremistviews are “blamed” for being the sourceof such comments to more or less the samedegree. However,when it comes to physical violence and threats,they are much more oftenattributed to those with Muslim extremistviews thantoany of the other groups we focus on.⁴⁹ Acomparison between the proportion of respondents who saythey have ex- perienced antisemitic harassment in 2012 and 2018 conveys that this has on the whole remained the same over the years. However,with respect to having expe- rienced offensiveorthreatening comments in person, this is reported to have in- creased in two of the countries,Germanyand Sweden.⁵⁰ Even if it is truethat onlyasmall proportion of the persons who participated in the surveyreport having been the victim of a violent physical attack because they are Jewish, and even if such attacks and threats do not occur frequently, the fact that they occur at all maycause ahigher and morelonglasting level of fear among Jews, for instance of being identified as such because of carrying or wear- ing something that might help people recognize them as being aJew.This sense of fear mayreach even beyond the localities wherethe violent antisemitic at- tacks have occurred, and then have agreater impact than even frequent occur- rences of antisemitic comments and widespread antisemitic attitudes about Jews living in the country do. The fact that this kind of attack is todaymostlyattributed to Muslim extrem- ists and the fact that the reasons the perpetrators give for carryingout these ac- tions are related somehow to Israel, makes Israel-derivedantisemitism amajor factor in contemporary antisemitism – and this is especiallysoinScandinavia.

MarkersofJewishidentity

Both the 2012 and the 2018 surveyasked the respondents, “Do youeveravoid wearing, carrying or displaying thingsthatmight help people recognize youas

 Dencik and Marosi, Different Antisemitisms,28.  FRA Report 2018, 51. 13 Antisemitisms in the Twenty-FirstCentury 253 aJew in public, for example wearing akippah/yarmulke, magen David/Star of David or specific clothing or displaying a mezuzah?” In 2012 we found the level of avoidance of carryinganything that might iden- tify one as aJew to be higher in Sweden thaninthe other participating EU coun- ties.⁵¹ In the 2018 survey this question was put onlytothose respondents who in their answer to apreceding question had indicatedthatthey at least sometimes wear,carry,ordisplaysuch items.The resultwith that screeningstill shows avoidance in the Scandinavian countries to be higher than in most of the twelve participatingEUcountries.The country with the highest percentagetoreport avoiding displaying Jewish symbols “all the time” and “frequently,” among those who describe themselvesassometimes carrying such symbols, is Denmark (41per cent). The corresponding figure in Sweden is 35 per cent.InFrance and Germanyitisalmostthe same, 36 per cent,whereas the feelingofneeding to hide one’sJewishsymbols is lowerinall other countries. Noteworthyinthis context are the figures for Hungary.Hungary is the coun- try with the highestproportion of antisemites in the general population,⁵² and yetitisthe country wherethe fewest respondents who sometimescarry Jewish symbols feel the need to avoid doing so always or frequently(16 per cent). Is thereaparadoxinthis?Sweden and Denmark are the countries with the lowest,and Hungary is the country with highest proportion of classic antisem- ites in the general population. Hungary is also the country with the lowest pro- portion of Jews who feelthey always or frequentlyfor securityreasons need to avoid carryinganything that might make themrecognizable as Jews, whereas Denmark and Sweden have the highest proportion of Jews who avoid carrying symbols that might make them recognizable as Jews. Our analysis concludes that this is not aparadox. The popularidea that it is always “the sameold antisemitism” that again and again pops up and “shows its ugly face” does not find support in our study.⁵³ Of course, thereare persons who at the sametime, for example, holdclassic antisemitic stereotypes, are very hos- tile towards Israel, and favour prohibitingcoreJewishcustoms such as the cir- cumcision of baby boys and the manufacture of kosher meat products. Our data, however,does not suggest that thereshould be asignificant correlation be- tween these – rather,itpointstoeach formofantisemitism being inspired by different underlying “philosophies,” being carried by different social groups, and being manifested in different ways.Hence, instead of just lumpingall

 Dencik and Marosi, Different Antisemitisms,16, fig.18.  Anti-Defamation League, “Global 100,” 2014 and Update 2015.See notes15and 17 in this chapter.  Dencik and Marosi, Different Antisemitisms,32. 254 Lars Dencik kinds of hostile remarks or actions against Jews under the label “antisemitism,” we would do better,both for analyticalpurposes and especiallyinorder to find remedies,tospeak of three distinct antisemitisms.

Aspecific pattern of antisemitisminScandinavia

AboveIhave presented to what extent these distinct antisemitisms are manifest- ed todayinthe Scandinavian welfarestates,i.e.Denmark and Sweden. Based on this we mayask: is thereaspecificallyScandinavian pattern of antisemitisms? If so, is this pattern just aspecial case among other special cases, or is the pattern instead somehow inherentlyrelated to the fact that Sweden and Denmark are probablyamong the most advanced social welfarestates and most modernized societies in the world today? Let us summarize some main features of contempo- rary antisemitism in Scandinavia: 1. By European and international standards there are todayoutstandingly low levels of classic antisemitism in the population. Propositions like “Jews have too much power in the country,”“the interests of Jews in the country differ from the rest of the population,”“Jews are not capable of integrating into society,” and the likeare less often heard in either Denmark or Sweden than in anyofthe other EU states.⁵⁴ 2. By European and international standards there is an outstandingly high level of Aufklärungsantisemitismus,i.e.attacks on and attempts at prohibit- ing the practice of coreJewishcustoms.Virtuallyall Jews in Denmarkand more thanthreequarters in Sweden have recentlybeen confronted with such proposals,inparticularabout ritual circumcision (brit milah). In other EU memberstates such propositions are heardtoaconsiderably lesser extent.⁵⁵ Religious slaughter (shechitah)has alreadybeen prohibited in these two countries,unlike most of the other participating EU memberstates. 3. Israel-derived antisemitism, i.e. attacksonJews and Jewishinstitutions in the country which refer to what the State of Israel is doing,appears to be amajor sourceofunease among Jews in Denmark and Sweden. Twothirds of respondents in these countries report thatthe Arab–Israeli conflict im- pacts “agreat deal” or “afair amount” on their feelingofsafety in the coun-

 FRA Report 2018, 26,tab.3.  FRA Report 2018, 70,tab.8. 13 Antisemitisms in theTwenty-FirstCentury 255

try.⁵⁶ This is the case even though the extent to which they are blamed for what Israel is doing,orconfronted with statements such as “the world would be abetter place without Israel,” is not anygreater than in the other EU memberstates – rather the opposite in fact.⁵⁷ Is there another para- doxinthis?No, an explanation is to be found in the clear discrepancy that exists in Denmark and Sweden between the general population on the one hand and pockets of individuals on the other.The population on the whole is “politicallycorrect” and quite capable of distinguishing theiroccasionally very harsh criticism of Israel from their behaviour towardsJews in general and from rejecting Israel’sright to exist,but in the sametwo countries there are individuals and small groups who share an impression of Jews in general being accomplices to whatever the State of Israeldoes. Moreover, they are alsonot adverse to viewing Jews as party to an imagined evil Israel/ US plot to exploit,oppress,and destroy the world.

Scandinavia as aforerunner

When asked in a2018 survey to assess various social and political issues,⁵⁸ 82 per cent of Swedish respondents rated antisemitismasa“very big” or a “fairly big” problem. Only “” was rated as aserious problem by aslightlylarger proportion (83per cent) of respondents. In Denmark56per cent rate antisemit- ism a “very big” or “fairlybig” problem – aslightlylargerproportion of Jewish respondents rated “intolerance towards Muslims” and “immigration” as serious problems in the country.Considerably fewer respondents in Denmarkthan in all of the otherparticipatingcountries assess antisemitism as a “very big” or “fairly big” problem. The respondents in Sweden do not distinguish themselvesgreatly from the averagerespondents from other countries in this respect.Compared to the results of the 2012 survey,three countries stand out with increased propor- tions of respondents who saythat antisemitism is “avery big” or “fairlybig”

 FRA Report 2018, 43,fig.16. An even largerproportion of respondents in Belgium, France, Spain, and Germany – all beingcountries where murderousattacks on Jews that made reference to “Israel” have taken place – indicatethis to be the case.  FRA Report 2018, 44,fig.17.  The issues the respondents wereasked to assess are: Antisemitism, Racism, Crime level, Un- employment, Immigration, Intolerancetowards Muslims,Governmentcorruption. Antisemitism is regarded as beingamongthe threemost serious issues by respondents in all of the participat- ing countries except for Italyand Spain. In both of these countries “Unemployment” and “Gov- ernment corruption” areassessed to be moreofaproblem. FRA Report 2018, 16,tab.1. 256 Lars Dencik problem – the UK, Germany, and Sweden (increased by 27,23, and 22 percentage points, respectively).⁵⁹ Can these results be understood as somehow reflectingthe social and polit- ical conditions in each of these countries?First of all, we can establish thatre- spondentsinDenmark and Sweden differ in their assessments of antisemitism as aproblem in theirrespective countries.About twice as large aproportion of respondents in Sweden than in Denmark perceive antisemitism to be “avery big problem.”⁶⁰ Historical national self-images probablyplayarole here. In Den- mark one proudlyrecalls the rescue of the country’sJews in October 1943. Den- mark in the eyes of the Danes, and also in the eyes of the Jews living in Denmark, was never an antisemitic country – quite the opposite!⁶¹ In Sweden, on the con- trary,there is acertain self-blame for having endorsed a “J” being stamped in the passportsofJews trying to escape , whereby they could more easily be refused entry into Sweden. Thisself-blame also results from the fact thatSwe- den, although neutral duringthe Second World War, allowed the German Wehr- macht to use its territory for troop transports. But besides historical facts, more contemporary factors also distinguish the countries.InSweden, clearlyneo-Nazi movementshaveinrecent years been very active and visible on the publicscene. This is not the case in Denmark. In Swe- den apopulist political party with obvious neo-Nazi roots, Sverigedemokraterna, is stronglyrepresented in the Parliament.Members of this party have repeatedly been caught making antisemitic remarks and gestures.InDenmark, axenopho- bic populist party, DanskFolkeparti (Danish People’sParty), has asimilarlyvery strongstandinginthe parliament,however it is not stained by similar Nazi ten- dencies. Addtothis huge differences between the countries with respect to im- migrationand immigrationpolicies. Whereas in recent years Denmark, largely under the influenceofDanskFolkeparti,has pursued avery restrictive line re- garding immigrants and refugees from the Middle East being able to settle in the country,Sweden has been much more open and generous in this respect. As shown in the first section of this article, the number of immigrants and refu- gees from the Arab and the Muslim world in general receivedinSweden is much higher than in Denmark. Even if this in itself is not related to acts of antisemit- ism, the presenceinthe country of members of these groups may, rightlyor wrongly, be perceivedasalatent threat to Jews in the country.The magnitude of such aperception mayvery wellberelated to the relative size of the groups

 FRA Report 2018, 18.  FRA Report 2018, 17,fig.1.  See the chapter by Sofie Lene Bakinthis volume. 13 Antisemitisms in theTwenty-FirstCentury 257 in question, in particularofyoung marginalized Arabs and Muslims, living in one’sneighbourhood or the country in general. Theinfamous events that have taken place in the city of Malmö in recent decades mayserveasacasein point illustrating this.⁶²

The Shoah and itsconsequences for antisemitism in Scandinavia

This article deals with , specificallyScandinavia, after the -de “ , וח בר אן רײ ָא פּ ע) calamity”)orKhurbn Eyrope “ , שה האו ) Holocaust – the Shoah struction of Europe”)asJews themselvesprefer to call the murder of millions of Jews in Europe in the years 1939–45.The first thing to observeinthis context is how the Shoah itself, and experiencesand knowledge about it,havefundamen- tallychanged the position of, and attitude towards, antisemitisminEurope. The next thing to observe is the changes brought about by the general processes of modernization that in the decades since the Second World Warhaveradically transformed European societies. One effect of the collapseofthe Third Reich has been the total discrediting of its fundamental ideas in the eyes of the postwar populations in Europe. “Race” is no longer asociallyacceptable concept when it comes to describing and ana- lysingsocial issues and societies. Theradicallyincreasedmobility between na- tions and peoples thathas taken place in recent decades in Europe has also made most European societies much more ethnicallymixed and cosmopolitan than they used to be. After the Shoah ideas of “human rights” and “the equal value of every human being” have become codified in international conventions and are alsohegemonic in manycountries – todaythis is particularlysoinSwe- den. On the whole, both “race” as aconcept and “racism” as an ideologyand perspective have largely lost their explanatory power and by thatalso the place they previouslyheld in public affairs. Even if antisemitismbased on racist ideas and assumptions is still alive and kicking as asignificant aspect of fringe

 By Swedish standards,arelatively large number of immigrants from the Middle East live in social housinginMalmö in areas such as Rosengård, from where several of the manyantisemitic incidents in the city arethoughttohaveemanated. Brottsförebyggande rådet (BRÅ), “Hatbrott 2016:Statistik över polisanmälningar med identifierade hatbrottsmotivoch självrapporterad ut- satthet för hatbrott,” Rapport 11 (2017), ‹ https://www.bra.se/download/18.4c494ddd15e9438f8a- da9786/1513175214923/2017_11_Hatbrott_2016.pdf ›.See also “Antisemitism in Sweden, section 1.6. Situation in Malmö since2009,” Wikipedia, ‹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism_ in_Sweden ›. 258 Lars Dencik neo-Nazi groups in some European countries,includingSweden, the political and social roles playedby“race” in social affairs seem to be fading out,especial- ly in Scandinavia. Jews throughout history have – though not everywhereand not always – been identifiedbyrace, as they were in Nazi Germany.Inseveral countries,in- cludingScandinavia, traditionallyJews have officiallyonlybeen identified by re- ligion. Since about the mid-nineteenthcentury,here they have formedwhat they called “communities of Mosaic believers” (Det Mosaiske Troessamfund in Den- mark and Mosaiska Församlingen in Sweden) – so-named as akind of counter- part to the “communities of Christian believers” into which all othercitizens in the country at thattime were born and had to belong.⁶³ Todaythe ethnic and cul- tural aspects of Jewishness have become more central and the former “commun- ities of Mosaic believers” in both countries have adopted the term “Jewish com- munities.” However,there is asignificant difference. Since the year 2000,Jews are one of five groups⁶⁴ officiallyacknowledgedasbeing a “national minority” in Sweden. In Denmark they are still officiallyregarded as mainly areligious mi- nority. Fuelled by the emergence of several privateMuslim schools, in recent years voices have been raised to prohibit schools based on religion. In Denmark this has focussedentirelyonMuslim schools. In Sweden the Left,Social Democratic, and Liberal political parties have proposed atotal prohibition of all religious schools, aproposal subsequentlymodified to applyonlytothe establishment of new religious schools. In Denmark there is just one Jewishschool, Carolineskolen. Attendanceat this school requires thatatleast one parent be apaying memberofarecognized Jewishcongregation in Denmark. In Sweden thereisalso just one Jewish school, Hillelskolan. This is aJewish school however it is not defined as a “religious” school. Since the Jews in Sweden have “nationalminority” status, the Jewish school in Sweden is regarded as anational minority school. This means the school respects Jewishholidays,teaches about Jewishhistory and culture, etc. but is not permittedtoincludeJewish religious practices in the school curricu- lum. In principle, admittancetothis school is open to anyone who wants to studythere.

 The rationale behind this goes: as the Christians have their Christ,Jews have their Moses – otherwise all belongtothe same Swedish/Danish nation. The differencebetween Jews and other Danes or Swedes should be attributed solelytoreligion.  The other groups are the Sámi, Roma, Swedish-Finnish, and the regionallydefined Torneda- lians. Along with this, Yiddish is also an officiallyacknowledgedminority languageinSweden, implyingsupport and fundingfromthe state. 13 Antisemitismsinthe Twenty-FirstCentury 259

Lookingatthe social role of religion in ahistoricalperspective,itisclear that in the wake of modernization religion has lost much of its social signifi- cance in Europe, and this is especiallysoinScandinavia. Onlyinrecent years, fuelled in part by the immigration of large numbers of Muslims, has religion once again become an issue of public concern and debate. In surveyscarried out around the turn of the millennium, when affiliatedmembers of the Jewish communities in Sweden were asked “How do youregardthe Jewishgroup in Sweden?” not even 5per cent chose the option “primarilyasareligious group,” whereasjustover65per cent chose the option “primarily as apart of the Jewishpeople.”⁶⁵ When asked about their relationship to practising the Jew- ish religion, just 3per cent of the affiliated members of the Jewish communities in Sweden describe themselvesas“orthodox,” whereas 44 per cent characterize themselvesas“traditional but not orthodox,” 26 per cent saythey are “liberally Jewish,” 28 per cent saythey are “justJewish,” and just over 9per cent saythey “do not practise religion at all.”⁶⁶ (In Denmark no equivalent studyhas been car- ried out as of yet.) On the whole, Jews in Sweden and Denmark are very well integratedinso- ciety and quite assimilated into the modern Western lifestyle. Religion today plays asubordinate role in the two Scandinavian societies and it would seem this is also largely the case among their Jewish populations. Based on the rela- tive social unimportance of religion in these societies, one would expectanti- semitismemanatingfrom concern with religious matters – as it has historically when Jews have been accused of beingmurderers of Christ,deniers of the Mes- siah, worshippers of an evil God, etc. – would have faded out.InSweden and Denmark today, rationalityand secularism are preferred values guiding public affairs and colouringwhat is valued in public debate. In fact,inthese countries there is not onlyacertain hostility towards bringingreligion into the public sphere, but also towards religion as such. Yetparadoxicallyenough,this condescending view of religion has led to an increased preoccupation with certain of the coreJewishreligious practices.Ina previous section of this article we introduced the notion of Aufklärungsantisemi- tismus. This particular category of anti-Jewishattitudes – objecting to and deny- ing Jews the right to practise some of their coreJewish customs such as brit milah and shechitah – is, it would seem, mainlydrivenbyliberal Enlightenment-based ideas about each individual’sright to choose for themself and ideas about what

 Dencik and Marosi, Different Antisemitisms,36, tab. 4.3. Close to 25 per cent chose the option “both aspects to the same extent,” and slightlyless than 6per cent did not know how to answer the question.  Dencik and Marosi, Different Antisemitisms,26, tab. 3.1. 260 Lars Dencik is “humane” for animals. But the energy put into these effortscertainlyalso em- anates to aconsiderable extent from adesire to counter anything “Muslim”– and this is especiallysoinDenmark. The remarkablysuccessful Intact Denmark movement – the idea being that the male’spenis should be kept “intact”–also builds to some extent upon suppressed but still clearlysexual obsessions and classic antisemitic energies, nourished by alonghistory of antisemitic prejudi- ces. After all, “race” is no longer aconcept underlying the antisemitism of Den- mark or Sweden, nor are Jews todayonthe whole regarded in these countries as being particularlydeviant, “strange,” or “foreign.” Combining three different in- dices of how “strange” Jews are perceivedtobeintheir respective countries, showed that Jews in Sweden on all three indices are seen as “strange” in their country to alesser extent than they are in anyofthe other seven countries in- volved in the 2012 FRA survey.⁶⁷

Israel and antisemitisminScandinavia

In the increasinglymulticultural⁶⁸ and highlymodernized welfare societies of Sweden and Denmark, neither “race” nor “religion” are socially significant today, nor do they constituteamajor basis for the antisemitic attitudes,remarks, or actions thatstill occur in these countries.Yet accordingto91per cent of Swed- ish and 85 per cent of Danish respondents, such attitudes, remarks,and actions have in fact increased over the past five years in their respectivecountries⁶⁹ – what then is the sourceofthis antisemitism, and what is it that lends energy to the ways in which it manifests itself? The answer is: Israel. Or rather,the reactions of certain groups to how they perceive Israel, and what they perceive the State of Israel is doing.Israel is in- volved in international conflicts and manycontroversies. People,including

 Dencik and Marosi, Different Antisemitisms,13, fig.14. Jews areseen to be most “strange” in Hungary,followed by Latvia, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and the UK (in that order).  See the migration figuresinthe introduction to this text. In Denmark “multiculturalism” is officiallydeemed to be somethingthe country should avoid, whereas in Sweden it is officially acknowledgedthat the country is todayamulticultural society.Evenifthere aredifferent eval- uations of multiculturalism and cosmopolitismasideologies,the social reality “on the ground” is that in both of these countries thereliveincreasingnumbers of people from different nations and cultural, linguistic, and religious backgrounds. In that sense they areasamatter of fact todayboth multicultural and cosmopolitan countries.  See FRA Report 2018, 19–20,fig.2. 13 Antisemitisms in theTwenty-FirstCentury 261

Jews, can sometimes be very critical of actions undertaken by the Israeli state, of the politics its government pursues, of what goes on within and around the country,and so forth. There are several institutions and groups who todayspeak of a, or even the, .⁷⁰ By this concept one attemptstoidentify anew form of anti- semitismthathas developed in the late twentieth and earlytwenty-first centu- ries. The “new antisemitism” is supposedtomanifest itself mainlyasopposi- tion to Zionism as an ideologyand as criticism of the State of Israel. Those who employ the concept “the new antisemitism” generallypositthatmuch of what various individuals and groups todaypurport is criticism of Israel and Zionism, is in fact antisemitism hiding behind the cover of anti-Zionism. “Anti-Zionismis the new antisemitism” reads the proposition.⁷¹ However,itappears the proposi- tion thatthe old antisemitism nowadays “hidesbehindanti-Zionism” reverses what is actuallygoing on.⁷² Accordingtoour observations anti-Zionismisthe pri- mary reaction. Most of the violent attacks on individual Jews and Jewish institu- tions in Europe carried out by different groups of terrorists is aconsequence of their conspiratorial imagethat Jews as such are tacit agents of, or accomplices to, Israel’spolitical actions and ambitions, and as such are legitimate targets in their fight against “Zionism.” This in effect is akind of adopted or derivedantisemitism, todayflourishing in certain quarters in Europe, not least in some rather well-defined circles in Denmark and Sweden. Todayits presenceinthese societies in and of itself is per-

 See Brian Klug, “The Myth of the New Anti-Semitism,” TheNation,15January 2004;Brian Klug, “Interrogating ‘New Anti-Semitism,’” Ethnic and Racial Studies 36,no. 3(2013): 468–82; Michael Lerner, “ThereIsNoNew Antisemitism,” TheBaltimoreChronicle,2February 2007; and AntonyLerman, “Jews AttackingJews,” Ha’aretz,12September 2008.  Writingin1973inthe publicationofthe American Jewish Congress, CongressBi-Weekly,the Foreign Minister of Israel, Abba Eban, identified “the new anti-Semitism,” saying: “[R]ecentlywe have witnessed the rise of the new left which identifies Israel with the establishment,with ac- quisition, with smugsatisfaction,with, in fact,all the basic enemies … Lettherebenomistake: the new left is the author and the progenitor of the new anti-Semitism. One of the chief tasks of anydialoguewith the Gentile world is to provethat the distinctionbetween anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism is not adistinction at all. Anti-Zionism is merely the new anti-Semitism. The old classic anti-Semitism declared that equal rights belongtoall individuals within the society,ex- cept the Jews.The new anti-Semitism says that the right to establish and maintain an independ- ent national sovereign state is the prerogative of all nations,solong as they happen not to be Jewish.”  On this point see also Peter Beinart, “Debunkingthe Myth that Anti-Zionism is Antisemitic,” TheGuardian,9March2019, ‹ https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/mar/07/debunking- myth-that-anti-zionism-is-antisemitic ›. 262 Lars Dencik ceivedas, and does in fact constitute, more of athreat to Jews wherever they live than anyofthe othercontemporary antisemitisms we have described. Critical stands on what Israel is doing mayvery well be both warranted and legitimate.Often they are. As has been observedall toooften in recent years, friv- olous use of the notion of antisemitism ultimatelyhollows out its usefulnessin describingand pinpointing what reallyconstitutes adanger to Jews as well as to the idea of human rights in general. Antisemitism is tooserious amatter to be misused for narrow political purposes, for instance by spokespersons for Israel or Zionist interests. However,what does make oppositionto“Israel” asourceofantisemitism is the propensity to presuppose an inherent link between Israel and individual Jews and Jewishinstitutions in Europe. Of course, most people in Sweden and Denmark can distinguish very well between “Israel” and individual Jews and Jewishinstitutions in the country.Statistics show,however,that when Israel, as is often the case, comes to the fore in the news, antisemitic attacksonJews and Jewishinstitutions, regardless of their personal stands on the events in Is- rael, increase. “In the past two decades,antisemitic attacks in Europe have gen- erallypeaked in line with tensions in the Middle East. ‘They wereessentiallythe Israeli-Palestinian conflict,imported,’ said Marc Knobel, ahistorian at the Crif umbrella group for France’sJewish organizations. ‘Rather than attacking Isra- elis, people went for Jews.’”⁷³ The propensity to construct and believeinthe link that leads certain individuals and groups to attack Jews because of how they perceive the State of Israel and what Israelisdoing,normallylies with onlyafew groups,albeit specific ones: Muslim extremists with jihadist orienta- tions, and some leftists, mainlyextremistultra-left action groups.⁷⁴ In both of these groups,asisthe case also among right-wingextremists,there prevails an ambition to “explain” what goes on in the world by identifying an “ultimate” actor or forcethat can be blamed for being the agent behind it all. However,when heated situations come to ahead, or just become very com- plex and ambiguous, people who normallyare perfectlyabletothink clearlyand make distinctions also tend to regress to oversimplified and more or less con- spiracy-likethoughtstructures.This is whyattimes we mayalsoencounter per- sons who are normallynot at all antisemiticallyinclined, and at times even wider sectors of public opinion, resortingtowhat we have described as Israel-de-

 John Henley, “Antisemitism risingsharplyacross Europe, latestfiguresshow,” TheGuardian, 15 February 2019, ‹ https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/feb/15/antisemitism-rising-sharply- across-europe-latest-figures-show ›.See also Svenskakommittén mot antisemitism (SKMA), “What is antisemitism?”‹https://skma.se/about-antisemitism/ ›.  FRA Report 2018, 53. 13 Antisemitisms in theTwenty-FirstCentury 263 rivedantisemitism, even if in much milder and far more tame forms than the ex- tremist groups do.⁷⁵ The Swedish historians Stephane Bruchfeld, Mikael Byström, and,inpartic- ular,Karin Kvist Geverts have each elaborated on the concept “the antisemitic background noise” (det antisemitiska bakgrundsbruset)todescribe how akind of unsharply articulated or latent antisemitism rattles in the background of po- litical processes and debates.Bruchfeldt introduced the concept in an article as earlyas1996⁷⁶ and referred back to it in his dissertation published in 2006.⁷⁷ KvistGevert made it akey concept in her dissertationofthe sameyear⁷⁸ and drew aparallel to the notion of “whitenoise” as used in e.g. statistics, psychol- ogy, and audiologytodescribe what is constantlyinthe background but in a pitch that tends to escape the untrained human ear. Another Swedish historian, Lena Berggren, has made the following reflec- tions:⁷⁹

In my thesis⁸⁰ on whatantisemitism articulated in the border area of Swedish ultra-nation- alism looked likeIcould show that antisemitism was not of one single kind – even in this ideological environment – and that the most crude antisemitism was expressed by persons whowere in fact not organized fascists.Icould also demonstrate that in my material there werestrongindicators that it was not national socialism that was the gatewaytoantisem- itic attitudes,but rather the cultural and neo-romantic currents that had been strong in Sweden sincethe latenineteenth century,currents that werealso present in the earlyphases of the Swedish race biology.

 The idea that Jews in general areinfact related to and supporters of the StateofIsrael, and thus also aretobeblamed for atrocities carried out by that state, is apparent in statements and actions takenbythe former Social Democratic chairman of the Malmö city council, Ilmar Ree- palu. See the interview in “Reepalu: Israel har skapat en ‘varböld,’” Skånska dagbladet,27Jan- uary 2010, ‹ https://www.skd.se/2010/01/27/reepalu-israel-har-skapat-en-varbold/ ›.  Stéphane Bruchfeld, “Löjliga anklagelser – om den skhistorierevisionismen,” HistoriskTid- skrift 1(1996): 120‒47.  Mikael Byström, En broder,gästoch parasit: Uppfattningar och föreställningar om utlänningar, flyktingar och flyktingpolitik isvenskoffentligdebatt (Stockholm: Universitet,2006).  Karin Kvist Geverts, Ett frä mmande element inationen: svenskflyktingpolitik och de judiska flyktingarna 1938–1944,Studia historica Upsaliensia 233, Uppsala University Holocaust and Genocide Studies Publications 2(Uppsala: Acta universitatis Upsaliensis,2008).  Lena Berggren, “Om antisemitismen och forskarens ansvar,”‹https://www.blogg.umu.se/ forskarbloggen/2017/04/om-antisemitism-och-forskarens-ansvar/ ›.  Lena Berggren, Blodets renhet: En historiskstudie av svenskantisemitism (Malmö:Arx Förlag, 2014). 264 Lars Dencik

Parallel to this thesis twoothers on Swedish antisemitism werepublished. In his thesis En jude är en jude är en jude…,⁸¹ Lars M. Andersson convincingly showed how prominent,tosay the least,antisemitism was in the Swedish comic press duringthe first decades of the twentieth century.Henrik Bachner demonstrated in razor sharp clarity in his thesis Återkomsten⁸² that antisemitism in Sweden survived1945. Later works by Håkan Blomqvist⁸³ and several others have further increased our knowledge about Swedish antisemitism and contributed to docu- menting empiricallythat antisemitism was far from onlyoriginatingwithin na- tional socialist discourse but was also broadlyrepresented among the political left. “The antisemitic background noise” is still there in Denmark and Sweden. But this “noise” is todaynot just “white.” Rather,ithas become inked with the blue stripesand star of the Israeli flag.

Conclusion

So here we are: antisemitism basedonracial prejudices is losing ground, and so is antisemitism based on religious convictions. Classic antisemitic prejudices no longer have astrongpopular resonanceinDenmarkand Sweden. Yetantisemitic attacksstill occur,and they mayevenbeonthe rise. Within the Jewish popula- tion in the two countries there is asense of increasing insecurity.Fear of possible Israel-derived attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions is the main cause of this sense of insecurity,and such attacks are also the overall dominant factor behind contemporaryantisemitism in these two modern Scandinavian welfarestates. In order to understand the position and character of antisemitisminthese countries,itisnecessary to recognize that the social reality of Jews living in the Western world has undergone afundamental and rapid transformationin the lastcentury,not onlybecause of major events in Jewishhistory itself – such as the Shoah and the establishment of the State of Israel – but also, and mainly, because of the impact of ongoing sociological modernization processes, with all the associated implications in terms of the rationalization, seculariza- tion, and individuation of social life.

 Lars M. Andersson, En jude är en jude är en jude…:Representationer av “juden” isvensk skämtpress omkring 1900–1930 (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2012).  Henrik Bachner, Återkomsten: Antisemitism iSverige efter 1945 (Stockholm: Natur och Kultur, 2004).  Håkan Blomqvist, Myten om judebolsjevismen: Antisemitism och kontrarevolution (Stock- holm: Carlssons, 2013). 13 Antisemitisms in theTwenty-FirstCentury 265

Rationalization implies that efficiency,utility, profitability,and rational jus- tification of attitudes and actions become superior considerations in all spheres of life. Secularization implies that anything,not least established values and reli- gious traditions,can and should be subjected to critical questioning as to why these customs,rules, and traditions should prevail. Individuation means that individuals have become singled out socially, “dis- embedded” from their social backgrounds,asthe leading British sociologist An- thonyGiddens puts it,⁸⁴ and are nowadays – ideally – treated onlyasanindivid- ual person, not as aperson belongingtoorrepresenting anyascribed collectivity,beitvia kinship, ethnic belonging, religious affiliation, or anything else of the kind. The idea of equal rights for all, regardless of race, sex, or social background, has become widelyaccepted as anew and fundamental value in the Western world – especiallysointhe modern Scandinavian welfarestates.⁸⁵ In the wake of the breakthrough of Enlightenment ideas in Europe in the eighteenthcentury,the processes of rationalization, secularization, and individ- uation have been operatinginWestern societies and have brought about dramat- ic changes penetratingvirtuallyall aspectsoflife. Scientific thinking,technolog- ical innovations, economic growth, ideas of democracy, the rule of law, human, individual, and equal rights, increasingrespect for “the other”–all of this and much moreofwhat todayisusuallydescribed as “progress” has bothcaused and characterized what is meant by the modernization of societies. The Scandinavian welfare states are accordingtovarious criteria probably the most thoroughlymodernized countries in the world. The very comprehensive global research project World Values Survey (WVS)explores people’svalues and beliefs. Issues such as support for democracy,tolerance of foreignersand ethnic minorities, support for gender equality, the role of religion and changinglevels of religiosity,the impact of globalization, attitudes towardsthe environment, work, family, politics, national identity,culture, diversity,insecurity,and subjec- tive well-being are being monitored.⁸⁶ Based on these and other measures and indicators, and further analysis of WVSdata, two leadingpolitical scientists, Ro-

 AnthonyGiddens, TheConsequences of Modernity (Cambridge:Polity,1990), 21–29.  Lars Dencik, “‘Homo Zappiens’:AEuropean-Jewish WayofLife in the Era of Globalisation,” in Turning the Kaleidoscope: Perspectives on European Jewry,ed. Sandra Lustig and Ian Leveson (New York: Berghahn Books,2006), 79 – 105.  The World Values Survey is aglobal network of social scientists studyingchangingvalues and their impact on social and political life. It is led by an international team of scholars, with the WVSAssociation and WVSA Secretariat headquartered in Vienna, Austria, ‹ http:// www.worldvaluessurvey.org/ ›. 266 Lars Dencik nald Inglehart and Christian Welzel, found that there are two major dimensions of cross-culturalvariation in the world. Based on this they produceda“cultural map” of the world wherecountries are plotted along twoorthogonal axes. The vertical (y) axisplots countries accordingtotheir relative positions with respect to TraditionalvsSecular-RationalistValues,the horizontal (x) axis plots coun- tries’ relative position with respect to Survival vs Self-expression Values.⁸⁷ The map looks like this: As can be seen, Sweden is to be found in the upperright corner of this map, which means it is the most secular-rational country in the world, but alsothe country wherethe most spaceisgiven to self-expression values.Inother words, it is simultaneouslythe most modern and also the most individualistic of all countries in the world. Furthermore,ascan be seen, the two other Scandi- navian welfarestates,Denmark and Norway, follow suit. As we have noted throughout this article, the pattern of antisemitismsin Sweden and Denmarkdiffers from how antisemitismmanifests itself elsewhere in Europe. In the Scandinavian countries thereistodayless classic antisemitism, more Aufklärungsantisemitismus,and arelatively stronger presenceofIsrael-de- rivedantisemitism. One mayconclude thatthis is just one exceptional case among other pat- terns of antisemitism.However,inour analysis this Scandinavian pattern of anti- semitisms is rather closelyrelated to the relatively highlydeveloped processes of modernization in the Scandinavian countries on the one hand and the relatively strongpresenceofrecentlyarrivedimmigrants from the Middle East on the other. There is no waytopredict how the world will develop. However,considering the waythe processes of modernization operate it is not afar-fetched assump- tion that in duetime other countries in Europe will follow asimilar trajectory. Rationalization, secularization,and individuation will also penetrate these soci- eties and weaken notions of “race” and “religion” as springboards for antisem- itism. At the same time, the very samevalues will strengthen tendencies to what has here been termed Aufklärungsantisemitismus. And if societies are not willing or not able to integrate their immigrants, if for instance marginalization and con- descendingtreatment of Muslim inhabitants continues or even grows,asinDen- mark today, Israel-derivedantisemitism can also be expected to continue or grow. An apparentlystrangephenomenadiscussed in places – also in this volume – refers to the concept of “antisemitismwithout Jews.” Thishas been observed in

 The Inglehart-Welzel Cultural Map recreated by Koyos – Own work, CC BY-SA3.0, ‹ https:// commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5459884 ›. 13 Antisemitisms in theTwenty-FirstCentury 267

Figure 13.1: The Inglehart-Welzel Cultural Map of the World (2008 Version). Wikipedia Commons (public domain). countries wherevirtuallynoJews have ever lived, e.g. Japan, and in countries wherevirtuallynoJews live anymore, e.g. Poland. In the Nordic countries,as demonstratedatthe beginning of this article (seethe section on Demographics) the presenceofJews in the population has historicallybeen very marginal, al- though it should be kept in mind that in Sweden, in contrast to all other Euro- pean states,the Jewish population has actuallyalmost tripled as aconsequence of the Shoah. However,evenif, in Sweden at least,antisemitism cannot as such be regarded as being “without Jews,” one element of our analysis makes for “an- tisemitism without Jews” being ahighlyviable phenomenon for as long as we can foresee: Israel. 268 Lars Dencik

One could think that without living Jews around, the sociological moderni- zation processes would make classic antisemitism obsolete and make Aufklä- rungsantisemitismus irrelevant.But as long as the State of Israel prevails and acts on the political scene there will stillremainone sourcefor continued and threatening antisemitism: Israel-derivedantisemitism. Paradoxical as it may seem, this kind of antisemitism can thrive even if the targets can no longer be local living Jews. In such cases someone else can just be singled out as an “ob- jective agent” of Israeli and by implication even “Jewish” interests. In this perspective,what we in this article have been able to note about the patterns of antisemitism in Denmark and Sweden, might not just be one excep- tional case, but rather apreview of what antisemitismsintwenty-first century Europe might come to looklike.