“Mum called and asked me to hide the Star of David”

It has been over a week since the brutal attacks on Israeli civilians. Not since the Holocaust have so many Jews been killed in one day. The violent attacks were celebrated in Rosengård, among others, by people who support Hamas, and now there is growing concern among Jews in Sweden that the escalated situation will lead to violence here as well.

– It is a terrible situation, says Aron Verständig, chairman of the Jewish Central Council in Efter fem.

– We have seen images of massacres of Israeli civilians during the last weekend and after that. And at the same time we are reached by the news that people here in Sweden go out into the streets and squares together with their children and celebrate these massacres, so it is clear that it creates insecurity and insecurity among many Swedish Jews.

Eliot, 21, is one of the young Swedish Jews who notice the heightened mood.

– My mother has for the first time ever called me and asked me to hide my Star of David. That my mother has to take that call, that it has already gone so far that I should be worried when I go home and open the front door and sort of have to check on people if they saw my star of Davis and how they perceived it, what kind of facial expressions and to just have that extra eye that I didn’t need before, says Eliot.

An insecurity that spreads

The Jewish congregation in Gothenburg sent an email to its members this week advising them to be careful, to leave Stars of David and kippahs at home, and not to speak Hebrew in public. And this week Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson visited the synagogue in Malmö where he met Jewish parents who are afraid to leave their children at school, something that even Aron Verständig can testify to.

– I have many friends who have children and some may have thought, should I really go to school with my children? My message has been that it goes without saying that you should be able to do it. We have good cooperation with the police and other authorities. At the same time, there is an insecurity that is spreading.

Will continue to wear the Star of David

Despite the urging of his mother, Eliot will continue to wear his Star of David.

– I am always very hopeful. I think when it starts to flare up in the region, it becomes more uncertain, but over time, hopefully, it calms down a bit and you live in these waves all the time. But I am very very hopeful and I think that Swedish Jews are unfortunately very used to adapting to threats.

– But does it really have to be like that, asks presenter Tilde De Paula Eby.

– Of course I don’t want that, but unfortunately it has become part of being Jewish, Eliot replies.