Malmö’s new mayor, Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh, has vowed to fight hatred against Jews. “As a politician in Malmö, I will in any way I can work against anti-Semitism and other forms of racism, in word and in deed,” she was quoted by the ‘Jewish Chronicle’ as saying.
Stjernfeldt Jammeh’s predecessor, Ilmar Reepalu, faced widespread criticism for failing to address Malmö’s problem with anti-Semitism. The new mayor says she has been in contact with the Jewish community and is looking forward to cooperating with them.
Thomas Bull, head of the Malmö police’s hate crime unit, says hate crimes are being taken more seriously. He expresses hope for convictions in at least five cases currently being investigated.
About 30 percent of Malmö’s 300,000 residents belong to families of immigrants from Muslim countries. Radical members of that population were responsible for most of the attacks against Jews, the local Jewish community said. Reepalu, who left his post in February after 28 years in office, at one stage blamed the rise in anti-Semitism on Jews publicly supporting Israel, and he advised them to distance themselves from Israel’s action in order to remain safe. Since Reepalu’s departure, police are more alert to hate crimes, said Fred Kahn, chairman of the board of the local Jewish community (pictured above at a Malmö synagogue vandalized in 2011).
Source: World Jewish Congress
