A record number of complaints about hate crimes in the Swedish city of Malmo has not resulted in any convictions for such offenses in more than two years. The Swedish court system did not convict anyone of hate crimes in 2010 and 2011 despite 480 complaints, the local daily Sydsvenskan reported Monday. In total, only 16 cases formed the basis for an indictment, none of them for anti-Semitic behavior. Malmo Jewish community leaders say a few dozen anti-Semitic attacks occur annually in the city. Approximately …More

Prosecutors in Poland are investigating a Swedish artist's claim that he used ashes he collected at Majdanek to create a painting. The painting by artist Carl Michael von Hausswolff was on display for about a month in a gallery in Lund, Sweden, before it was pulled because of protests by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Jewish community of Malmo. Polish prosecutors opened the investigation based on media reports, according to The Associated Press, and will ask Swedish investigators for help. If it is found …More

Hours after the late-night explosion outside the Jewish community center in Malmo, Sweden, the scent of baking challah already was wafting from the center’s ovens into the chilly morning air, as it does every Friday morning. Later, the Jewish preschool at the site would open as usual. A smashed bulletproof glass window and two police officers standing watch were the only evidence of a September 28 attack in which assailants set off an explosive device and threw bricks at the center’s door, according …More

Some 70 demonstrators reportedly gathered in Malmo, Sweden, outside the local Jewish community center, to show solidarity with the Jewish community following an attack on its offices. Hundreds are expected to attend a similar event October 7 in Stockholm. According to the daily Varlden Idag, the Malmo gathering September 27 took place hours after two small charges exploded outside the building and bricks were hurled at its entrance. The building sustained some damage but no one was injured in the …More

A Jewish community building in Sweden was bombed last night. Two 18-year-old suspects have already been arrested in connection with the attack. The center, located in the small Swedish town of Malmo, came as the area faces rising anti-Semitic tensions against the 700-strong Jewish community. The Simon Wiesenthal Center has worked for months to draw attention to hate crimes in Malmo, including anti-Semitic rhetoric from the town’ mayor, Ilmar Reepalu. The bombing occurred in the early hours of Friday …More

A Jewish center in Malmo, Sweden, was bombed last night. [Fox] Argentina and Iran will hold talks until a conclusion to the 90's bombings on two Jewish centers in Buenos Aires is met. [Reuters] Police say claims by a Michigan student that he was physically attacked for being Jewish are false. Authorities say they will not file charges against the student, who had his gums stapled and was beaten unconscious at a party last month. [MLive] Celebrating Sukkot in a tiny apartment. [Haaretz] A Jewish judge and …More

Across Scandinavia, the kippah is becoming a symbol of Jewish defiance. On Sunday, about 70 Danish Jews took a double-decker bus from Copenhagen on a 10-mile bridge across the Strait of Øresund, on the Baltic Sea, to go to Malmo in a show of solidarity with the embattled Jews of that Swedish city. All the men on the bus wore kippahs, a rarity in Scandinavia. Last December, a small group of Malmo Jews violated security protocol by keeping on their kippahs on while out on the street after attending …More

Some 60 Danish Jews plan to travel to Malmö in solidarity with the Swedish city's Jewish community and in protest of anti-Semitic attacks there. The visitors will leave from Copenhagen September 23 aboard a bus and travel 16 miles to the center of Malmö. In Malmo, they will meet local Jewish leaders at Malmo's synagogue and attend a Holocaust memorial ceremony, Rabbi Yitzi Lowenthal of Copenhagen told JTA. Martin Stern from Jerusalem, who initiated and partly funded the solidarity visit, said he …More

Hundreds gathered in Stockholm Sunday to show support for Israel. The event, held at the country’s famed Sergels Torg, was part of a social media movement to promote and support the Jewish community in Sweden. Participants addressed the crowd, passed out pamphlets and sang “Hatikvah” en masse. Several local politicians attended, including Cecilia Wikstrom, of the Liberal People’s Party. In her remarks, Wikstrom quoted David Ben-Gurion, saying, "Those who don't believe in miracles are not …More

Kippah-wearing Jews and non-Jews are expected to march Saturday in Sweden as a sign of solidarity with Malmo’s Jews. “The idea is to show ourselves and others that we refuse to be afraid or hide our Jewish affiliation,” Fredrik Sieradzki, director of communications for the Jewish community of Malmo, told JTA. He said he expected at least 100 marchers. Earlier this year, a rabbi from Malmo was physically assaulted. In 2010, Malmo’s mayor, Ilmar Reepalu, said that a group of Jews in Malmo …More

The Simon Wiesenthal Center recently published a paper profiling the rise of extremism in Europe, and what that rise means for the Jewish community. In the document, written by the SWC’s Dr. Harold Brackman, a handful of anti-Semitic attacks are profiled, divided by region to give readers a comprehensive overview of anti-Jewish sentiment on the continent. In recent months, the number of incidents have piled up: shootings in Toulouse, France, the rise of Ilmar Reepalu in Malmo, Sweden, the popularity of the …More