Malmö Jews can blame themselves..?

Malmö's Social-Democratic mayor Ilmar Reepalu has again displayed his ignorance and musty views. In a local newspaper he was interviewed (in Swedish) about the galloping anti-Semitism in Malmö and the fact that the Jewish population is fleeing the city. In present situation the activities in the Malmö Synagogue needs protection by security forces and sometimes police. Jews are advised against visiting the Jewish cemetery alone, and Jews are afraid to wear Jewish symbols like Star of David and Kippah in public.

Reepalu claims to believe that these threats come exclusively from extreme rightist groups and he pretends to be completely unaware of the fact that fundamentalist Islamist groups and the extreme left are the ones that are mainly responsible for spreading anti-Semitic propaganda today.

On the question whether he has considered doing something, he answered (free translation):

We neither accept Zionism, nor anti-Semitism. They are both extremes that put themselves above other groups, considering them less worthy.

This literally means that he denies the state of Israel its right to exist, as well as defining any supporter of Israel as being a racist. These are no light accusations.

Operation Cast Lead, which was initiated after 8 years of terror attacks on Israeli civilians, created a "furuncle" according to Reepalu, of which the responsibility lays completely on Israel. He concludes by laying over the responsibility for the anti-Semitic harassments on the Malmö Jews themselves (free translation):

I wish that the Jewish congregation would publicly condemn Israel's violations on the civilians in Gaza. Instead they chose to arrange a rally on Stortorget, which can send the wrong signals.

This literally means that he suggests that every Jewish person, no matter how strong connection to Israel they have (or not), can be held personally responsible for Israeli national business, and if they don't speak up against it, they can blame themselves for being harassed.

Very strange and rotten logic - and very 30's style...