Sweden Dissuades Israeli Taekwondo Team From Participating

As vociferous as the world reaction to Dubai not allowing Israel's tennis team in, that is how little attention was paid to a different sports event during February 14-15 that dissuaded Israel from participating:

An Israeli taekwondo delegation, consisting of 45 athletes and 5 coaches, was supposed to travel last weekend to Trelleborg for the Swedish championship (Trelleborg Open). However, the trip was canceled due to threats by a Muslim organization.

The Swedish Federation warned the Israeli delegation that they had concrete threats of an attack on the Israelis during the competition. They asked the Israeli delegation to cancel the trip due to security problems and the flight was indeed canceled.

A senior Swedish taekwondo official told his colleagues in Israel: "Ten thousand members of a Muslim organization are threatening to settle the account with you because of the war in Gaza." The threat was received by email from somebody claiming to represent a pro-Palestinian organization.

Hat tip: Islam in Europe

Mere Rhetoric notes that the consequences of Sweden giving in to the threats goes way beyond the theoretical:

Whether those threats are credible is one thing. Whether Sweden is making the situation worse by granting these violent fanatics a hecklers' veto - which is how they've been dealing with anti-Jewish incitement for years - is something totally different. Across Sweden Jewish buildings are being set on fire...Mobs are have been rampaging through the streets chanting "Hitler! Hitler! Hitler!" At the end of last month police stood aside while Jews were attacked in broad daylight on Swedish streets.

Read the whole thing.

Another point worth mentioning is that Sweden is also among those European countries who have made a new friend in the Middle East:

Mr Hamdan [Hamas representative in Lebanon] said yesterday that since the end of last year, MPs from Sweden, the Netherlands and three other western European nations, which he declined to identify, had consulted with Hamas representatives.

Besides calling into question their overall judgement, the fact that Sweden would talk to the terrorist group--without its having recognized Israel's right to exist or calling an end to its terrorist attacks--indicates that Sweden is less than reliable when it comes to the safety of its Jewish citizens, a point aptly demonstrated by Mere Rhetoric above.

Technorati Tag: Sweden and Anti-Semitism.