SWEDISH ANTI-SEMITISM: IGNORANCE AND ARROGANCE. Zvi Mazel, former Israeli Ambassador to Sweden describes what he found there.

Anti-Israelism and Anti-Semitism in Sweden

Interview with Zvi Mazel

"Sweden claims to be a superdemocracy, an example of enlightenment and openness. People with such pretensions should be a little more knowledgeable about Israel, another democracy after all. And yet the average Swedish citizen does not know more than what the country's shallow media tells him. This is often anti-Israeli, and the public is influenced by it."

Zvi Mazel was the Israeli ambassador to Sweden from December 2002 to April 2004. "Before, I had been for five years ambassador to Egypt, where massive hatred of Israel was promoted on a daily basis. We were regularly accused of all that was wrong everywhere in the world. I did not expect to find a somewhat similar atmosphere in a democratic country such as Sweden."

During his stay in Stockholm, Mazel developed a critical view of Sweden. Among large parts of the society's elite he encountered a discriminatory attitude and hostility to Israel as well as pseudomorality and arrogance. Sweden's apparent tolerance for rabid anti-Semitism has reinforced his opinion of the country's ruling classes.

Read the interview.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Sweden and Anti-Semitism.