Published 4 December 2024 at 10.44
Domestic. Despite the upcoming legal requirement that religious communities must distance themselves from anyone who violates “the equal value of all people” in order to receive grants, the Jewish congregations in Sweden will not distance themselves from Benjamin Netanyahu, who is suspected of crimes against humanity. This is announced by the Jewish Central Council – which at the same time welcomes that Muslims must distance themselves from Hamas.
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According to the new legal text that comes into force at the turn of the year, contributions to denominations are not given to organizations that glorify, excuse or defend violence or other violations of so-called human dignity.
“Government fee assistance may not be given to a religious community if the religious community, one of its congregations or a representative” defends someone who engages in violence or someone who “violates the principle of the equal value of all people”, the new text of the law says.
In that case, contributions must only be made if “the religious community has distanced itself from the action”, and this only in exceptional cases, according to the provision.
Philosophy professor Torbjörn Tännsjö has drawn attention to the fact that several Jewish denominations' charters state that the associations must “protect the connection with the state of Israel”, which, according to Tännsjö, creates a need for clarification on the part of the congregations as to whether they support or distance themselves from the policies of the Israeli government.
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The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, is currently being held in absentia by the International Criminal Court ICC, suspected of, among other things, crimes against humanity, and according to Tännsjö, anyone who engages in crimes against humanity violates the equal value of all people.
Tännsjö requests therefore clear positions from the Swedish Jewish congregations on Israel's actions in Gaza.
He also asks questions that he wants the Jewish Central Council to answer, among another if they condemn Israel's violations of international law and if they support an arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the crimes he is accused of by the ICC.
In a response, also published in SvD, Tännsjö's argument is rejected by Jewish Central Council Aron Verständig.
He writes that Swedish Jews cannot be held collectively responsible for Israel's policy, as the “vast majority of Swedish Jews are precisely Swedes”. and do not have the opportunity to “through elections influence what happens” in the country.
“Tännsjö also argues that Swedes of Turkish origin should be held responsible for Erdogan's killing of Kurds or that Swedes of Chinese origin would be responsible for Xi Jinping's detention of Muslim Uyghurs?” asks Verständig.
At the same time, Aron Verständig – speaking of a prayer in Gothenburg's mosque for a dead Hamas leader – pays tribute to the new so-called democratic condition for religious communities to be granted government grants.
“Thank you whatever the stricter democratic conditions that are introduced at the turn of the year, this type of terror celebration will likely lead to the withdrawal of state funding. So far, we seem to agree,” he writes.
Verständig, on the other hand, does not agree with Tännsjö that whoever defends Netanyahu should lead to withdrawn contributions.
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