Corrupt Foreign Minister Also Hates Israel

Sweden: The Downfall of Wallström? by Ingrid Carlqvist January 24, 2016 at 4:00 am http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7292/wallstrom-downfall Translated by Maria Celander 92   Comment The National Anti-Corruption Unit has decided to open a preliminary investigation into the circumstances surrounding an apartment that Foreign Minister Margot Wallström obtained through the biggest labor union in Sweden, Kommunal. The prosecutor told Swedish public radio that, "it concerns suspicions on bribe-giving and bribe-taking." Member of Parliament Caroline Szyber said that the committee should investigate whether Wallström opened herself up to a situation where she could easily be influenced by signing the apartment contract. Margot Wallström has shown no remorse; whether her proud and unapologetic attitude will once more save her career remains to be seen. Sweden's Foreign Minister Margot Wallström is in trouble again. This time it has nothing to do with her hostile statements towards Israel. Rather, it concerns the apartment she rents in central Stockholm -- an arrangement that could lead to charges of bribery and standing trial. The National Anti-Corruption Unit has decided to open a preliminary investigation into the circumstances surrounding an apartment she obtained through the biggest labor union in Sweden, Kommunal. The story exploded in Swedish media on January 13 when the daily, Aftonbladet, revealed that Kommunal's management had speculated with hundreds of millions of kronor of union members' money on a prominent conference hall and a restaurant operation. So far this business venture has cost Kommunal over 320 million kronor ($35 million) in losses. The labor union owns a luxury restaurant, Metropol Palais, in central Stockholm, and the exclusive conference facility, Marholmen, in the Stockholm archipelago. Although these facilities are bleeding money, Kommunal has continued to pump funds into them. By running Metropol and Marholmen as general partnerships ("handelsbolag") instead of limited companies, the union avoided public transparency into the accounts. Board members of the union used to have their official dinners at Metropol Palais, where a bottle of wine can cost up to 32,000 kronor ($3,700 USD). A former head of Kommunal's conference company, told Aftonbladet: "I was shocked when I came into the organization. I have seen a lot in the entertainment world, but this was unbelievable, and it was all about other people's money." A lot has also been spent on the directors' luxury trips and alcohol consumption. Kommunal, with more than half a million members who work in municipalities, county councils and the private sector, is the biggest labor union in Sweden. The union calls itself "the engine of the welfare state." Around 80% of its members are women in low-income jobs such as assistant nurses, nannies, cleaners and bus drivers. Together, they pay over one billion kronor ($116 million USD) in membership fees per year. One of the details that has emerged, which upset Kommunal's members, was that on several occasions there had been a nude cabaret in the Metropol Palais. Kommunal has, for many years, campaigned against prostitution and pornography. In 2005, the union decided that all conference facilities it visits must be absolutely "porn-free." If a hotel had cable TV with pornography available, Kommunal would not stay there. "We want to safeguard human dignity," its decision stated, "and to show pornographic movies in hotels and conference centers is a humiliation of both women and men. It also creates a bad working environment for the employees." Meanwhile, in the union's own restaurant, Metropol Palais, naked women were dancing to loud music and flowing champagne. One of the attractions was the famous porn star Puma Swede. In the union's restaurant, she performed naked; to attract people to the show, she wrote on her company's website: "I will be at Bubbles & Brunch on Saturday to party and I will bring dildos,woo hoo. Good if you get horny while you are partying!" As part of its investigative report into Kommunal, Aftonbladet discovered that foreign minister Margot Wallström rents her apartment from Kommunal. The union owns a number of rental properties in central Stockholm and rewards managers, leading Social Democrats and union bosses with its upscale apartments. The rents are low, and several are snazzily refurbished. Other property owners in Stockholm are required to make 50% of their rental apartments available to the city's housing office -- but Kommunal has not released a single apartment in 16 years. When Wallström was appointed minister in 2014 and needed a place to live in Stockholm, Kommunal provided her with one. She told the media that she made sure she did not bypass anyone in line, even though everyone knows that it is almost impossible to get a rental apartment in central Stockholm quickly. Wallström indicated that Kommunal must have lied to her: "I told them I would never take their apartment if that meant bypassing anyone in line. But it seems as if there is no line." The union's president, Annelie Nordström, told the media that she did not want to talk about lies -- that Wallström must have misunderstood the message from Kommunal. Nordström's treasurer, Anders Bergström, who had been in charge of the apartments, resigned from all his posts in Kommunal the day after the scandal broke. Left: Sweden's Foreign Minister Margot Wallström. Right: One of the apartment buildings in central Stockholm owned by Sweden's Kommunal labor union. On January 17, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven told Swedish Television that as far as he knew, Wallström had not done anything illegal, but that he would have preferred her to have rented an apartment from someone other than Kommunal. Two days later, however, the National Anti-Corruption Unit decided to open a preliminary investigation into the circumstances surrounding Wallström's rented apartment. The prosecutortold Swedish public radio that, "it concerns suspicions on bribe-giving and bribe-taking." Wallström said that she welcomes any investigation into the matter: "Go ahead and investigate. I am completely at ease because I know exactly what has happened." Kommunal wrote in a statement that it welcomes the preliminary investigation and that it will fully support the prosecutor's work. Wallström has also been reported to the Parliamentary Committee on the Constitution. Christian Democrat MP Caroline Szyber told Swedish public television news that she thinks the committee should investigate whether Wallström opened herself up to a situation where she could easily be influenced by signing this contract, tied to her post as foreign minister. "I think her conduct is inappropriate," Szyber said, "and that it is important for the Committee to review if it has affected people's confidence in her." Ewa Thalén Finné, the conservative Moderate Party's housing policy spokesperson, also filed a complaint to the Constitutional Committee. She questioned if Wallström could act objectively in relation to another country's labor union if she had an apartment owned by Kommunal: "I want to know what the relationship is like between Kommunal and Wallström, seeing as the former is an interest group with a political agenda." The Kommunal scandals have led to a flight of union members. According to Aftonbladet,almost 10,000 members -- or 2% -- have left the union since the scandal broke. This led to Kommunal's President Annelie Nordström announcing on January 19 that she will leave her post at the union's next annual meeting, in May. "We welcome the Aftonbladet examination of Kommunal," she said. "The things that have emerged are not acceptable; they must be changed. We understand why our members are upset, and we are so sorry that we did not understand the extent of the problems before. From the bottom of my heart I say: I am so sorry." Margot Wallström has shown no such remorse; whether her proud and unapologetic attitude will once more save her career remains to be seen. Ingrid Carlqvist is a journalist and author based in Sweden, and a Distinguished Senior Fellow of Gatestone Institute. Follow Ingrid Carlqvist on Twitter © 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute

Sweden Becoming A Most Antisemitic Nation

A Smorgasbord of Swedish Anti-Semitism

by Nima Gholam Ali Pour
January 2, 2016 at 5:00 am

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7163/swedish-antisemitism

• 
  Sweden is a country where using the word "mass immigration" usually gets criticized just for sounding racist. Only anti-Semitism does not get criticized. In Sweden, all other forms of racism -- even things that some say could be classified as racism -- are criticized, and ruthlessly.
• TV4, one of the most important Swedish media outlets, in 2015 described anti-Semitism as simply a "different opinion."
• "What is history for us is not the history of others. ... When we have other students who have studied other history books, there is no point in discussing facts against facts." — The administration of an adult-education school, in a reprimand to a teacher who said the Holocaust actually took place.
• "The Jews are campaigning against me." — Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström.
• There are fewer than 20,000 Jews in Sweden; more than 20,000 Syrians received asylum in 2014 alone. That is why so few politicians -- who are eager to win the votes of immigrants -- talk about Arab anti-Semitism.

On November 9, an anti-racism demonstration was going to be held in Umeå, Sweden, in commemoration of Kristallnacht (the night in 1938 in which 400 Jews were murdered in Germany, and 30,000 Jewish men arrested and sent to concentration camps). There was just one catch: the Jews in Umeå were not invited to the demonstration. The reason given,according to one of the organizers, Jan Hägglund, was that the demonstration would be "perceived as an unwelcoming or unsafe situation for them."
The path to this surreal situation, in which an anti-racism demonstration in Sweden in commemoration of Kristallnacht could be perceived by Jews as a threat, has long been in the making. This demonstration was of some significance. The people behind it were not extremists. Four of the Swedish Parliament's eight parties were involved in organizing it.
This anti-racist demonstration and the strange events surrounding it represent a process that, sadly, has been going on in Sweden for a long time. A new kind of Swedish anti-Semitism has been growing strong; the city of Malmö has been its flagship.
In January 2009, a pro-Israel demonstration in Malmö was attacked by Arabs who were shouting "f-cking Jews." The police could not protect the pro-Israel demonstrators from the eggs and the bottles being thrown at them. The event had to be temporarily stopped when the Arabs began to shoot fireworks at the pro-Israel demonstrators.

In January 2009, an Arab mob in Malmö pelted a peaceful Jewish demonstration with bottles, eggs and smoke bombs. The police pushed the Jews, who had a permit for their gathering, into an alley.

In 2010, for the first time -- but not the last -- the synagogue in Malmö was attacked. The same year, the Simon Wiesenthal Center began warning Jews to not visit Malmö, "due to harassment of Jewish citizens,".
Today, Malmö is a city well known for anti-Semitism and characterized by it. Jews in Malmö cannot publicly show that they are Jews without being subjected to harassment. Many Jewish families, there for centuries, have fled. In October 2015, two members of the Swedish parliament were involved in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Malmö, in which people shouted anti-Semitic slogans and praised the current Palestinian knife attacks against Israeli Jews.
The reason a country such as Sweden has suddenly become struck by extreme anti-Semitism is largely due to immigration from the Middle East. The Arab and Muslim world -- and, since 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has repeatedly threatened genocide -- continues in its state-run media to demonize the Jews. The Arab and Muslim world probably wants, in part, to justify its conflict with Israel. Also in part, many members of the establishment and citizens in those countries probably believe these anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, calumnies repeated every day in their media and mosques.
Many newcomers keep their Middle East background even after they have settled in Sweden. Many, especially in immigrant areas such as Rosengård in Malmö, regularly watch the Arabic media, which convey anti-Semitic messages non-stop.
At the same time, members of this population are welcome to vote in Swedish elections, so Swedish parties focus on the Arab vote. This courtship is merely a matter of demographics. There are fewer than 20,000 Jews in Sweden; more than 20,000 Syrians received asylum in 2014 alone.
In addition, to vote in the important municipal elections, you do not even need to be a citizen of Sweden. This peculiarity is why so few politicians in Sweden even talk about the Arab anti-Semitism, despite several Swedish reports and documentaries showing that the growing anti-Semitism in Sweden has been largely imported from the Middle East.
That is also why most anti-racism organizations in Sweden would rather discuss "Islamophobia." Almost all Swedish anti-racism organizations are funded by taxpayers or are somehow connected to political parties -- meaning there is an all-too-businesslike "understanding" between political parties and anti-racism organizations. Most of the political parties do not exactly favor anti-racism organizations that talk about Arab anti-Semitism. Such organizations will have trouble getting funds, or are defunded, or else see their board members start to resign.
Despite more Muslims coming to Sweden and more Jews fleeing Sweden -- or perhaps because of it -- the majority of the anti-racism activists in Sweden consider "Islamophobia" the more serious problem. The influential anti-racism organization, Expo, has done several mappings of "Islamophobia," but, despite the bigotry, not a single mapping of anti-Semitism.
If you do a mapping of anti-Semitism in Sweden, you see, you also have to discuss immigration from the Middle East. Not many people in Sweden want to do that: those who discuss Arab anti-Semitism are called racists.
Instead of a discussion about the new Swedish anti-Semitism, you get mind-numbing op-ed columns appearing with the message that people should talk less about the Holocaust in Swedish schools, so that Arab youths will not be offended. In criticizing a government proposal to combat anti-Semitism by increasing Holocaust education, Helena Mechlaoui, a high school teacher of history, religion and philosophy, wrote:

"If we talk about students from the Middle East, it may be because many of them bear the traumatic experiences that are related to either Israeli or American policies. And the two states are often seen as one, which is not entirely wrong. They may have lost one or more siblings, cousins, parents or peers in an Israeli or American bombing. A large proportion are here in Sweden because they have been forced to leave their homes because of occupation, war or the misery in some refugee camp. They may have injured parents who cannot really cope with life, and they may still have family in conflict areas. It is likely that they have encountered hostility in Sweden. In this context, it is perhaps not desirable to start talking about the Holocaust."

Immigration from Arab countries has thoroughly affected the way the majority of Swedes view anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is no longer something Swedish society condemns. Several Swedish celebrities have recently made anti-Semitic statements, and their careers have not suffered at all. The Swedish rapper Dani M spreads anti-Semitic conspiracy theories both on social media and in his songs. After several media outlets in Sweden, at the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015, reported in detail how Dani M spreads anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, he appeared on a reality TV show in September on one of the biggest and most established Swedish channels, TV4. When TV4 was criticized, the show's executive producer, Christer Andersson, responded:

"TV4's core values are Zero Racism and has always been, as long as I can remember, but we cannot cut off people who do not feel the same way. TV4 is a portal where people with different opinions pass and we must have a broad level of acceptance."

Here you have one of the most important Swedish media outlets describing anti-Semitism as simply a "different opinion." During the same period, another of TV4's employees used the "N-word" in a YouTube clip, and she was fired within two months. So, anti-Semitism is acceptable, but not racism against Afro-Swedes.
In another example, the Swedish TV celebrity Gina Dirawi, of Palestinian origin, wrote in her blog in 2010 that Israel's actions could be compared to Hitler's. Then, in 2012, she advised people, again on her blog, to read a book that questioned the Holocaust. The book's message was that when the Nazis persecuted the Jews, they were acting in self-defense. These were just two of the many anti-Semitic statements she made on her blog. Today, Gina Dirawi hosts several shows on SVT -- the Swedish public broadcasting company -- and she hosted SVT's Christmas show in 2015. As Dirawi is a Muslim, this choice has raised some eyebrows. She is also going to host the 2016 Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen, one of Sweden's most popular music events.
It is, unfortunately, clear that in Sweden, anti-Semitism is not something that harms one's career. The Swedish media, like the government, also is not so interested in Sweden's problems with anti-Semitism. When the Swedish think tank Perspektiv På Israel presented evidence in May 2015 that Islamic Relief's country director in Sweden was spreading anti-Semitic posts on Facebook, no one in the media was interested in writing about it, despite the fact that Islamic Relief is supported by Sida, the Swedish government agency responsible for Sweden's official aid to developing countries.
The Swedish media did not even allow an opinion piece from Perspektiv På Israel to be published on the subject. Nyheter24, one of the Swedish media outlets that did not publishPerspektiv På Israel's information about this scandal, wrote in an email to Perspektiv På Israelthat their "readers are, to say the least, not interested in this particular issue."
As a columnist for the newspaper Samtiden, I mentioned Islamic Relief's racist statements in anop-ed, and the information was also presented in The Jewish Press. Swedish media showed no interest, even though there was evidence that an organization receiving Swedish tax funds was publishing anti-Semitic statements in social media.
It is important to note that all these incidents happened in a country where using the word "mass immigration" usually gets criticized just for sounding racist. It is only anti-Semitism that does not get criticized in Sweden. All other forms of racism -- even things that some say couldbe classified as racism -- are criticized, and ruthlessly.
Although the new anti-Semitism in Sweden has its origin in Arab or Islamic anti-Semitism, to think that anti-Semitism in Sweden today is only Middle Eastern in its nature is a simplification. Anti-Semitism in Sweden has become a smorgasbord consisting of several factors that reinforce each other. Some of these are:

• Large-scale immigration from countries where anti-Semitism is normalized.
• A strong pro-Palestinian engagement among Swedish politicians that has resulted in a totally surreal debate about the Israel-Palestine debate, in which Israel is unjustly demonized.
• A desire among political parties in Sweden to win the votes of immigrants.
• A Swedish multiculturalism that is so uncritical of foreign cultures that it cannot differentiate between culture and racism.
• A fear of sounding critical of immigration.
• Important Swedish institutions, such as the Church of Sweden, legitimizing anti-Semitism by endorsing Kairos Palestine document.

A combination of these factors creates a situation in which anti-Semitism can grow without meeting any real resistance or criticism. The following happened at Komvux, an education program for adults in Sweden, in the city of Helsingborg: A substitute teacher was defending facts surrounding the Holocaust during a class, after a student questioned if the Holocaust had actually happened. The school administration criticized the substitute teacher with the followingarguments: "What is history for us is not the history of others. ... When we have other students who have studied other history books, there is no point in discussing facts against facts."
This is an event that occurred in February 2015, in a major Swedish city. It could have happened in any Swedish city where the new Swedish anti-Semitism is rising. A Swedish school no longer knows if the fact that Holocaust actually happened is a fact worth defending. The anti-Semitic smorgasbord normalizes anti-Semitism in Sweden.
When it was reported in mid-November that the Swedish Foreign Minister, Margot Wallström,said "the Jews are campaigning against me," it did not become major news in Sweden. It was not the first time a famous Swedish politician made anti-Semitic statements and got away with it, and it will not be the last.
So, we return to November 9, 2015 in Umeå, and the anti-racism march for the commemoration of Kristallnacht, to which the Jews were not invited, and to this year's Muslim Christmas hostess, who has several times expressed anti-Semitic views, and to the schools that are not sure whether to say that the Holocaust actually happened or not, and to a country where in general it is business-as-usual not to invite the Jews.
The media does not report it. The politicians do not care. And everyone knows that in Sweden, the anti-Semites get away with anything they like.

Nima Gholam Ali Pour is a member of the board of education in the Swedish city of Malmö and is engaged in several Swedish think tanks concerned with the Middle East. Gholam Ali Pour is also editor for the social conservative website Situation Malmö.

• Follow Nima Gholam Ali Pour on Twitter and Facebook

© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute
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Sweden: Rapes, Acquittals and Severed Heads One Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Sweden: November 2015 by Ingrid Carlqvist December 29, 2015 at 6:00 am http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7133/sweden-rapes-acquittals-severed-heads Translated by Maria Celander 14   Comment Some 30 Muslim men thought that the woman was in violation of Islamic sharia law, by being in Sweden unaccompanied by a man. They thought that she should therefore be raped and her teenage son killed. Two Swedish citizens were convicted by a Gothenburg Court of joining an Islamist terror group in Syria and murdering two captives. Video evidence showed one victim being beheaded. "Every night when I have gone to bed, I have seen a head hanging in the air." — Court Chairman Ralf G. Larsson. Sometime during the night, the victim was awakened by the Iraqi as he raped her. The woman managed to break free and locate a train attendant. At first, the woman did not want to call the police. "She felt sorry for him [the rapist] ... and was afraid he would be deported back to Iraq." One week after Sweden raised its terror alert level to the highest ever, the police raised another alarm -- saying their weapons are simply not good enough to prevent a potential terror attack. November 4: The Swedish Immigration Service sent out a press release, saying that it had hired close to a thousand additional employees since June. The Immigration Service now has over 7,000 employees, including hourly workers and consultants -- double the 3,350 employees who worked there in 2012. Most of the new recruits work with the legal processing of asylum applications, but the units dealing with receiving migrants and filing their initial applications have also expanded considerably. As if the record influx of migrants this autumn were not crushing enough, the Immigration Service also had trouble retaining its staff. Employees complain about being badly treated: they are always expected to be on call, and possibly even work Christmas Eve. November 4: Bobel Barqasho, a 31-year-old Syrian, was sentenced by Sweden's Supreme Court to 14 years in prison. Before his case reached the Supreme Court, Barqasho had been sentenced by a lower court to 9 years in prison, then acquitted by the Court of Appeals. In February 2013, Barqasho threw his wife off a sixth-floor balcony. Against all odds, the woman survived the 13-meter (about 43 feet) fall, but was badly injured. When she woke up after five weeks in a coma, her head was held together by a helmet, her face felt loose, and her teeth were gone. In the Court of Appeals, the defense managed to plant reasonable doubt about the man's guilt by claiming the woman was depressed and had jumped of her own free will] so the Court of Appeals set him free. By the time the Supreme Court pronounced its sentence of 14 years, Barqasho had disappeared. He is now being sought by Interpol. November 6: The Grönkulla School in Alvesta closed after reports of a rape at the facility spread on social media. A Somali boy had apparently been sexually harassing a 12-year-old girl for some time. On October 17, he allegedly took his attentions a step farther, pulled the girl behind a bush and raped her. The girl's father had been unsuccessful in trying to get the school to address the problem earlier, but even after the reported rape, the school's management did not act. The boy was allowed to continue going to the school – just on a schedule different from the girl's. Her distraught parents told the news website Fria Tider: "We are being spat on because we are Swedish." In protest against the school's management, many parents, viewing the school as having sided with the perpetrator, moved their children to other schools. November 9: Social commentator and whistleblower Merit Wager revealed on her blog that administrators at the Immigration Service had all been ordered to "accept the claim that an applicant is a child, if he does not look as if he is over 40." A staggering 32,180"unaccompanied refugee children" had arrived during 2015 by December 1 -- since then another 1,130 have come -- and the government finally decided to take action. If its proposition is approved by Parliament, everyone who looks adult-aged will be forced to go through a medical age-determination procedure. One of the reasons Sweden stopped doing these in the first place, was that pediatricians refused to take part in them. They said the procedures were "unreliable." November 10: A 28-year-old Iraqi man was prosecuted for raping a woman on a night train between Finland and Sweden. The man had originally planned to seek asylum in Finland, but had found the living conditions there too harsh. He had therefore taken a train back to Sweden. In a couchette (sleeping car where men and women are together), the rapist and two other asylum seekers met one of the many Swedish women whose hearts go out to "new arrivals." The woman bought sandwiches for the men; they drank vodka. When two of the men started groping the woman, she told them to stop, yet chose to lie down and go to sleep. Sometime during the night, she was awakened by the Iraqi as he raped her. The woman managed to break free and locate a train attendant. To the attendant's surprise, the woman did not immediately want to press charges. The court documents state: "The train attendant asked if he should call the police. At first, the woman did not want him to do so, because she did not want to put N.N., an asylum seeker, in a tough spot. She felt sorry for him... and was afraid he would be deported back to Iraq." The man was given a sentence of one year in prison, payment of 85,000 kronor (about $10,000) in damages, and deportation -- but will be allowed to come back to Sweden after five years. November 10: An Algerian and a Syrian asylum seeker were indicted for raping a Swedish woman in Strängnäs. The men, 39-year-old from Algeria and 31-year-old from Syria, met the woman in a bar one night in August. When the woman left, one of the men followed her, pulled her to the ground, and assaulted her. Afterwards, the woman kept walking, and ran into two other men -- the Syrian and another unidentified man -- and was raped again. The Syrian reportedly also spit her in face and said, "I'm going to f--k you, little Swedish girl." The men, who lived at the same asylum house, denied knowing each other when questioned by the police. The verdict was announced on December 1. Rapist number one was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison, 117,000 kronor (about $14,000) in damages, and deportation to Algeria. Rapist number two was convicted of aggravated rape and sentenced to four years in prison. He cannot be deported, however, because "there are currently hindrances towards enforcing deportations to Syria." He was also ordered to pay the woman 167,000 kronor (about $20,000) in damages. November 13: A trial began against eight Eritrean men, between the ages of 19 and 26, who according to the District Court, "crudely and ruthlessly" gang-raped a 45-year-old woman. She had been waiting in a stairwell for a friend when the men invited her into an apartment. Inside, she was thrown on the floor, held down, beaten and brutally raped. When questioned by the police, she said, "It felt as if there were hands and fingers everyplace. Fingers penetrated me, vaginally, anally. It hurt very much. I could feel the fingernails." She said she could also hear the Eritreans laughing and speaking in their own language while they raped her. "They seemed to be enjoying themselves," she said. When two of the men started fighting over who should rape her next, she tried to flee, but one of the men hit her over the head; she fell unconscious. After coming to, she escaped out a window and was able to reach a neighbor. The District Court of Falun established that several men had taken part in the attack, but the District Attorney was unable to prove who had done what. Therefore, only one man was convicted of aggravated rape, and sentenced to five years in prison. The others were sentenced to only 10 months in prison for helping to conceal a serious criminal offense. After serving their time, the men will be allowed to stay in Sweden. November 14: The Swedish Security Service, Säpo, warned again of Muslim terrorists hiding among migrants. The number of individuals listed as potential security threats has tripled this year, and includes several hundred who may be ready to carry out "Paris-style" attacks. As the Immigration Service has a huge backlog in trying to register all 150,000 asylum seekers who have come to Sweden so far in 2015, there are probably also many migrants that would be considered potential security threats. November 14: Sweden's Foreign Minister, Margot Wallström, made yet another strange statement with diplomatic consequences. The day after the Paris attacks, in an interview with Swedish Public Television, Wallström was asked, "How worried are you about the radicalization of young people in Sweden who choose to fight for ISIS?" Wallström replied: "Yes, of course we have a reason to be worried not only here in Sweden but around the world, because there are so many who are being radicalized. Here again, you come back to situations like that in the Middle East, where not least the Palestinians see that there isn't any future for us [the Palestinians], we either have to accept a desperate situation or resort to violence." Two days later, the Swedish ambassador to Israel, Carl Magnus Nesser, was called to a meeting at the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Its spokesman, Emmanuel Nahshon, later told Reuters, "The Swedish Foreign Minister's statements are appallingly impudent... [She] demonstrates genuine hostility when she points to a connection of any kind between the terror attacks in Paris and the complex situation between Israel and the Palestinians." In a formal statement, the Swedish Foreign Ministry denied that Margot Wallström's remark had connected the Paris attacks with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A Swedish Conservative (Moderaterna) Member of Parliament, Hanif Bali, sarcastically tweeted that it seemed the Foreign Minister is suffering from an "obvious case of Israel-Tourette's." November 18: The Authority for Civil Protection and Contingency Planning (MSB) warned that the asylum situation was not only "very strained," but that things keep getting worse -- and that in some parts of Sweden, the authorities can only function until the end of December. Meanwhile, the Immigration Service calculated that another 13,000 beds are needed in so-called evacuation accommodations. "The problem cannot be fully solved even if the Armed Forces help provide more housing or if the MSB could arrange more tent accommodations," the authority wrote. The massive influx of asylum seekers has also led to native Swedes "being crowded out of the health care and social services systems," according to the MSB. "It [the MSB] is so busy handling unaccompanied children and asylum seekers, that there simply is not enough time to tend to the everyday functions, such as healthcare and social services," said Alexandra Nordlander, Chief of Operative Analysis at the MSB, to the daily tabloid, Aftonbladet. November 19: A fire broke out at Lundsbrunn Spa, a few weeks after plans were announced to convert the historic building into the biggest asylum-seekers' home in Sweden. According to the police, the fire was not an arson, but started in a wood-pellet stove. Many hotels and spas have transforming themselves into asylum-seekers' housing, in order to profit from lucrative deals offered by the Immigration Service. Lundsbrunn Spa, near a mineral spring, dates back to 1890; in 1817, a hospital was established on the grounds. The nearby village is home to fewer than 1,000 people, so when Lundsbrunn Spa decided to accept an offer from the Immigration Service, the village faced a doubling of its population. The owners of Lundsbrunn wrote on the Spa's website that they see the transformation from spa to asylum-seekers' home as a temporary measure. November 20: Norwegian businessman Petter Stordalen, the billionaire owner of Nordic Choice Hotels, announced that the chain's many properties in Scandinavia and the Baltic states would no longer serve their guests sausage and bacon for breakfast. The breakfast buffet of the Nordic Choice's Clarion Hotel Post in Gothenburg was named earlier this year the best hotel breakfast in the world by the British newspaper, The Mirror. But apparently, this award did not matter. The cause for the hotel's decision was cited as "health reasons." The internet, however, was soon abuzz with speculation that the real reason was adaptation to Islamic dietary laws (halal). One week later, Stordalen backtracked. The reaction from hotel guests had been too strong. Many people vented their anger over the withheld bacon on Stordalen's Facebook page. Stordalen commented: "The guests have spoken. Comfort Hotels are bringing back bacon." November 23: Hassan Mostafa Al-Mandlawi, 32, and Al Amin Sultan, 30, were indicted in the Gothenburg Municipal Court, suspected of having traveled to Syria in 2013 and murdering at least two people there. The charge was terrorist crimes, (alternatively crimes against international law) and murder. Chief Prosecutor Agnetha Hilding Qvarnström, of the National Unit for Security Cases, said: "The act [was] committed with the intent to harm the state of Syria and intimidate the people, thus the classification: terrorist crimes. The hard part is to clarify fully whether these men have been part of an armed group, and acted within the frames of the armed conflict, or not." The accused men came to Sweden, one from Iraq and one from Syria, as children, but grew up in Sweden and are Swedish citizens. They traveled to Syria in 2013, and joined one of the many Islamist terror groups there. According to the prosecution, they murdered two captured workers in an industrial area of Aleppo by slitting their throats. The prosecutor wrote that, "Al-Mandlawi and Sultan have both expressed delight at the deeds." During the trial, films of the executions were shown, but both men still denied having committed the crimes. Those present in court agreed that the films were among the most disturbing ever displayed in a Swedish court. First, they show a man having his throat slit, the blood gushing before he dies. Then, the other victim's head is severed from his body, and the killer holds up the severed head to loud cheers from the others. The court's chairman, Ralf G. Larsson, toldthe news agency, TT: "Every night when I have gone to bed, I have seen a head hanging in the air." The verdict was announced December 14: Both men were convicted of terrorist crimes and sentenced to life in prison. The verdict will be appealed, the defense lawyers said. Two Swedish citizens were convicted by a Gothenburg Court of joining an Islamist terror group in Syria and murdering two captives. Video evidence (left) showed one victim being beheaded. When asked if she is worried about the radicalization of young people in Sweden who choose to fight for ISIS, Sweden's Foreign Minister, Margot Wallström (right), blamed Israel's treatment of Palestinians. November 25: The municipality of Ängelholm proudly announced that it had managed to hire a world-famous star to sing at the 500-year anniversary of the city of Ängelholm. Mezzo-soprano Susanne Resmark, of La Scala in Milan and the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, would now, for the first time, sing in her hometown. The denizens of Ängelholm would get to enjoy the Resmark, considered by many one of the best Mezzo-sopranos, in a free performance. Two days later, however, the local paper, Helsingborgs Dagblad, ran a story on how Resmark had posted on her Facebook page comments critical of Islam. This apparently sent representatives of the municipality into a panic; they cancelled the star's performance. The journalist behind the story, Jan Andersson, admitted in an interview with Dispatch International that the paper's reporters had gone over Resmark's statements with a microscope, in an effort to force the municipality to cancel her appearance. "We did a damn fine job!" Andersson said. November 27: One week after Sweden raised its terror alert level to the highest ever in the country (four on a five-point scale), the police raised another alarm -- saying their weapons are simply not good enough to prevent a potential terror attack. "We are sent out without adequate weapons, only a nine millimeter service pistol. We are also told that there may not be enough protective vests and ballistic helmets. It feels like being sent out on a lion hunt with a pea-shooter and a jumpsuit made out of zebra meat," wrote a police officer called "Christian," in an internal incident report reviewed by the news agency, Siren. His colleague, "Niklas," wrote that he had to patrol, without a protective helmet, a location considered at risk of terror attacks, because none of the available helmets fit his head: "Without the right equipment, and with inadequate training in tactics and shooting, we still had to work as live targets without any kind of chance to defend ourselves or our [locations] against a potential attack." The police say they want to be able to use more powerful weapons, such as the HK MP5, a submachine gun that is popular with law enforcement agencies around the world. Few, however, have had the required training for it. Also, the existing MP5s are kept at police stations -- not in patrol cars. Martin Lundin, of the Department of National Operations,conceded there was some merit to the criticism: "We will probably need more people who are able to handle that weapon in the future." November 28: A large mob at an asylum house in Nora tried to break into a room where a woman had barricaded herself along with her son. Some 30 Muslim men apparently thought the woman was in violation of Islamic sharia law, by being in Sweden unaccompanied by a man. They thought that she should therefore be raped and her teenage son killed. Asylum house staff called the police, who averted the plan. Ingrid Carlqvist is a journalist and author based in Sweden, and a Distinguished Senior Fellow of Gatestone Institute. Follow Ingrid Carlqvist on Twitter © 2015 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Sweden Apparently Does Not Believe In Its Criticism Of Muslim Attitude Toward Women

Sweden Surrenders to Saudi Arabia

by Ingrid Carlqvist and Lars Hedegaard
April 9, 2015 at 5:00 am

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5503/sweden-saudi-arabia

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The Swedish Prime Minister added that Sweden has no intention of ever criticizing Islam. As is customary, Expressen refrained from asking the PM if his comments should be taken as an indication that Sweden would stop criticizing such Islamic practices as torturing bloggers, executing infidels and oppressing women.
It is hard to say what concessions Sweden may have given King Salman in exchange for normalizing relations. Sweden may even have agreed to further the cause of Islam back home by, for example, promising to build new mega-mosques and giving greater influence to local imams.
Sweden's Minister for Culture and Democracy, Alice Bah Kuhnke, has already promised to initiate a "national strategy against Islamophobia" -- meaning any criticism of Islam or mass immigration.
If the Swedish-Saudi deal is as conjectured, Saudi Arabia will have obtained de facto veto power over Sweden's foreign policy -- and perhaps its domestic policies.
From now on, it will be hard to take seriously Sweden's claims to be a humanitarian and feminist superpower.

After weeks of diplomatic wrangling and recrimination, the Saudi government on March 27 announced that it would reinstate its ambassador, Ibrahim bin Saad bin Ibrahim al-Brahim, to Stockholm. The ambassador had been recalled on March 11 as a protest against Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström's criticism of Saudi Arabia's legal practices and treatment of women. In February, she had described conditions in the desert kingdom as "medieval".
The recall of the ambassador came a day after the Swedish government announced that it would discontinue its weapons exports to Saudi Arabia.
The Arab reaction to what they saw as a deliberate denigration of Saudi Arabia and Islam was fury. In a statement, the foreign ministers of The Arab League said: "Arab countries totally reject Wallström's statement as irresponsible and unacceptable. ... Saudi Arabia's Constitution is based on the Shariah that protects the right of people and safeguards their blood, wealth and honor."
Similarly, on March 9, the Saudi cabinet, chaired by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman, rejected any denunciation of the Saudi judiciary, whose decisions, it noted, are based on Islamic law and "implemented impartially to maintain the country's stability and security."

Sweden makes amends

It is not exactly clear what motivated the Saudi king to resume diplomatic relations with Sweden. What is known is that Foreign Minister Wallström and Prime Minister Stefan Löfven have been quick to stress that is had never been their intention to slight Islam, which they now claim has made great contributions to human civilization, nor the Saudi kingdom.
Three letters to King Salman -- one from Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and two from Prime Minister Löfven – were hand-delivered in Riyadh by Björn von Sydow, a high-ranking emissary of the Swedish government. Their contents are unknown, following a decision by the Swedish foreign office to classify them as secret. This decision came after the foreign office claimed it could not find the letters.
Prime Minister Löfven and Foreign Minister Wallström have said repeatedly that the letters do not contain any apology to Saudi Arabia. According to the daily Expressen, however, Saudi Arabia demanded a number of concessions from Sweden --­ one of them, an apology. It is clearly the impression in the Arab world that Sweden has in fact apologized.

An apology, or not an apology? Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Löfven (right) and King Carl XVI Gustaf sent personal letters to Saudi Arabia's King Salman (left). Löfven claims that the letters did not contain the apology demanded by Saudi Arabia.

Löfven has a somewhat different, if convoluted, explanation.
On March 28, Expressen quoted Löfven as saying: "We have explained [to the Saudis, ed.] that we regret if there is something that has been perceived as if we have criticized Islam, which we have never done." The Prime Minister added that Sweden has no intention of ever criticizing Islam. He continued: "We have the greatest respect for Islam as a religion."
Löfven was keen to emphasize that "Sweden still stands for human rights. It is immensely important for us to do that. At the same time we also wish to develop cooperation with Saudi Arabia."
As is customary in the Swedish media, Expressen refrained from asking the Prime Minister if his comments should be taken as an indication that Sweden would stop criticizing such Islamic practices as torturing bloggers, executing infidels and oppressing women.

A possible deal

It is hard to say, therefore, what concessions Sweden may have given King Salman in exchange for normalizing relations between the two countries.
The following, however, stands to reason:

• Saudi Arabia is free to say that Sweden has apologized and Sweden is free to say that it has not.
• Sweden may continue to claim that it is a champion of human rights in general, but promises to tone down its criticism of abuses in Islamic countries.
• Sweden will never again criticize sharia practices and never associate such practices with Islam.
• Sweden may even have agreed to further the cause of Islam back home by, for example, promising to build new mega-mosques and giving greater influence to local imams and representatives of Islamic missionary establishments.

If the latter concession has in fact been made, it will not be hard for the Swedish government to implement it. The Minister for Culture and Democracy, Alice Bah Kuhnke, has already promised to initiate a "national strategy against Islamophobia." In Sweden, "Islamophobia" is interpreted as any criticism of Islam and mass immigration.
If the Swedish-Saudi deal is as conjectured, Saudi Arabia will have obtained de facto veto power over parts of Sweden's foreign policy -- and perhaps its domestic policies.
However one interprets the outcome of the recent diplomatic row, Sweden has suffered an immense loss of credibility. From now on, it will be hard to take seriously Sweden's claims to be a humanitarian and feminist superpower.

Ingrid Carlqvist and Lars Hedegaard are editors-in-chief of Dispatch International.

One Cannot Even Comment On Islamic Behavior Without Being Branded An Enemy

Sweden's Foreign Minister Reviled as an Enemy of the Prophet

by Ingrid Carlqvist and Lars Hedegaard
March 21, 2015 at 5:00 am

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5423/sweden-saudi-arabia-wallstrom

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Translations of this item:

Swedish

Evidently, Sweden's Foreign Minister was unaware that that by criticizing Islamic sharia customs, such as flogging a blogger a thousand times and the ill-treatment of women, she was, in fact, seen as turning against Islam itself.
There appears to be a genuine but concerning lack of knowledge in the Swedish government about Islam and Islamic affairs.
"It makes no difference what she says. In Islam, it is for Muslims to determine whether or not one has criticized their religion." — Johannes J.G. Jansen, author and historian of Islam.
From a Muslim perspective, any criticism or infringement of sharia law and Muslims' obligation to wage jihad [war in the service of Islam] is a violation of their freedom of religion.
In other words, it is incumbent on Muslims to "terrify" non-Muslims (referring to the Koran 8:60). But when they succeed, Muslim spokesmen accuse their frightened victims of suffering from "Islamophobia," and demand that Western authorities denounce and persecute people beset by the psychiatric malady.
There is nothing, however, to indicate that Margot Wallström and other members of the Swedish government have been driven by fear. They have no knowledge of what orthodox Islam is about, and evidently believe that the religion is benevolent and peaceful, but unfortunately hijacked or misinterpreted by evil men.

As predicted, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström's criticism of "medieval" conditions in Saudi Arabia has caused great parts of the Muslim world to rise up in anger against her and Sweden, the country she represents.
"Almost the entire Muslim world joins in the criticism of Wallström," wrote the Swedish national daily Dagens Nyheter on March 19, adding that around thirty Muslim countries have distanced themselves from Wallström's comments. The Arab League has denounced her for criticizing the lack of human rights in Saudi Arabia, and on Saturday the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which represents 57 Arab and Muslim states, as well as the Palestinians,accused her of having "degraded Saudi Arabia and its social norms, judicial system and political institutions".
Dagens Nyheter quotes Middle East expert Marianne Laanatza, from the universities of Stockholm and Lund, as saying that Sweden's troubles may escalate. In addition, Middle East analyst Per Jönsson, from Sweden's Foreign Policy Institute, notes that the OIC's reaction implies that almost the entire Muslim world, including Shia Muslim states and countries in Southeast Asia, have now turned their backs on Sweden. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have already recalled their ambassadors from Sweden; Per Jönsson fears that others will follow their example.
In response, Wallström held a crisis meeting on March 19 with representatives of around thirty Swedish enterprises that have business interests in the Gulf region. As of this writing, the outcome of the meeting is unknown. Saudi Arabia has already announced that is will deny entry visas to representatives of Swedish companies. Clearly, Swedish enterprises are in significant trouble.
Evidently, Sweden's Foreign Minister was unaware that by criticizing Islamic sharia customs, such as flogging a blogger a thousand times and the ill-treatment of women, she was, in fact, seen as turning against Islam itself.
The Swedish government's ignorance was amply demonstrated when Gatestone called Margot Wallström's press spokesman, Erik Boman.
Gatestone asked if he was aware that practices such as the death penalty for blasphemy, flogging and barring women from driving a car are based on the Koran. He said he was not. Nor, he said, had he heard of the 1990 Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, which states that all human rights must be based solely on sharia law, and rejects human rights as expressed in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Veronica Nordlund, from the Swedish Foreign Ministry's press service, told Gatestone that she has heard of the Cairo Declaration, but thinks that Saudi Arabia has signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Saudi Arabia did not, in fact, sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It abstained, claiming the Declaration violated sharia law. [1]
All in all, there appears to be a genuine but concerning lack of knowledge in the Swedish government about Islam and Islamic affairs.
The prominent Dutch Islam expert, Professor Johannes "Hans" J.G. Jansen -- author of an influential biography of Muhammad -- said he does not think Margot Wallström knows what she has gotten herself into.
Asked if the Swedish Foreign Minister can criticize Saudi sharia practices such as flogging, and call them "medieval," without offending Islam, professor Jansen says that this would be impossible.

Gatestone: "But now she claims that it had not been her intention to criticize Islam?"
Jansen: "It makes no difference what she says. In Islam, it is for Muslims to determine whether or not one has criticized their religion. From a Muslim perspective, the Foreign Minister's worst transgression is to have labeled Saudi practices 'medieval.' Muslims never use that term when talking about themselves. They only use it with reference to other parts of the world, for example Europe. The Saudis see themselves as the inheritors and custodians of Islam's Golden Age in the seventh century, which must not be labeled medieval."

Jansen notes that from a Muslim perspective, any criticism or infringement of sharia law and Muslims' obligation to wage jihad [war in the service of Islam] is a violation of their freedom of religion.
The same, he continued, goes for Muslims' duty to strike terror into the hearts of non-Muslims. Jansen points to the Koran's Sura 8, verse 60:

"And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war, by which you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides them whom you do not know [but] whom Allah knows. And whatever you spend in the cause of Allah will be fully repaid to you, and you will not be wronged."

In other words, it is incumbent on Muslims to "terrify" non-Muslims. But strangely, when they succeed, Muslim spokesmen accuse their frightened victims of suffering from "Islamophobia," and demand that Western authorities denounce and persecute people who are beset by this "psychiatric" malady.
There is nothing, however, to indicate that Margot Wallström and other members of the Swedish government and political establishment have been driven by fear. They have no knowledge of what orthodox Islam is all about and evidently believe that the religion is benevolent and peaceful, but unfortunately hijacked or misinterpreted by evil men.
As if more proof of Sweden's incomprehension were needed, Margot Wallström stood up in the Swedish parliament on March 20, and claimed that she had no intention of criticizing Islam. The Swedish government, she said, will "safeguard and develop the relations Sweden has had with Saudi Arabia through the years. ... We have the greatest respect for Islam as a world religion and for its contribution to our common civilization."

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström wanted to lecture the Arab League on human rights. Saudi Arabia's King Salman was not amused. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Wallström and her government have now come in for the surprise of their lives. The good-hearted Foreign Minister suddenly finds herself denounced all over the Muslim world as an enemy of the prophet.
It will be critical to see how Wallström intends to extricate herself from her unwanted position as one of the world's most reviled offenders of Islam.
Will she retract her criticism of Saudi flogging and misogyny, and announce that it was never her intention to offend the great Saudi nation or its culture? In that case, she will have dealt a devastating blow to Sweden's claim to be a "moral superpower" and to a foreign policy based on human rights and feminism.
Or will she stand by her words and accept that Sweden -- and any other country in Europe that claims to stand for humanistic values and the primacy of human rights -- is in for a debacle that may well be more severe than what Denmark experienced during the Muhammad cartoon crisis in 2005/2006?
There is increasing talk among observers that Wallström will have to step down, and that Sweden will have to accept a global role more commensurate with its knowledge of world affairs.

Ingrid Carlqvist and Lars Hedegaard are editors-in-chief of Dispatch International.

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[1] Nisrine Abiad (2008) "Sharia, Muslim states and international human rights treaty obligations: a comparative study. BIICL. pp. 60-65 ISBN 978-1-905221-41-7