The Jewish community in Sweden is prepared to increase security after this weekend’s attack in Israel. Some measures have already been taken.
– There is a great deal of shock and concern among Swedish Jews, says Aron Verständig, at the Jewish Central Council.
After the attacks in Gaza and Israel, the police in Germany, France and Denmark, among others, have increased the surveillance of synagogues and other Israeli interests. From the Swedish side, they also see reason to review their routines, says Aron Verständig, chairman of the Jewish Central Council in Sweden.
TT: Have the weekend’s events already led to tighter security work?
– What we have done and what we are doing is that we review our routines and if there is reason to tighten them. We do not have any specific decisions to cancel any particular activity, but of course we are increasing our vigilance even more. Then it can be said that the threat to Jewish institutions has been elevated for a long time and is at a fairly high level.
Has been vandalized
However, the Jewish congregation in Gothenburg has already increased security, according to Göteborgs-Posten, even though it has not received any threats at the moment. In Malmö, where the synagogue has been vandalized and threatened on several previous occasions, no incidents have been reported during the night. But according to the officer on duty, surveillance has been increased.
– During the night we have supervision. This basically means that we look at it a little more often than normal, says Thomas Paulsson, officer on duty at police region South.
Creates concern
The murder in Israel occurred on the same day as the Jewish holiday Simchat Torah and Aron Verständig emphasizes that it also created great concern among both Jews and Israelis in Sweden.
– You can see that there is a great deal of shock and concern among Swedish Jews, then there are a lot of Israelis living in Sweden who to an even greater extent feel a greater concern for their relatives. At the same time, we have been able to see how Palestinians and other people in Sweden celebrated these disgusting terrorist attacks. It also increases insecurity for us as well.