“We Jews should stand up to Jimmie Åkesson”

Published 11 December 2024 at 17.13

Domestic. Jimmie Åkesson's statement that Syrians in Sweden should go home arouses strong criticism from Rabbi Moshe David HaCohen, who draws a straight line to the Holocaust. He is now calling on other Jews to stand up to the SD leader.

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“You should see this as a good opportunity to go home”, wrote SD leader Jimmie Åkesson in a call to the Syrian immigrants in Stockholm who celebrated al-Qaeda's conquest of Syria.

Moshe David HaCohen, former rabbi in Malmö and co-founder of Amanah, writes in a debate article in Dagens Nyheter that the rhetoric about “going home” is reminiscent of the Holocaust. He states that in the 1930s the expression “going home” meant “judenfrei”.

The rabbi also suggests that Åkesson may have the same plan for the Syrians that Hitler had for the Jews.

“We all know how it ended 80 years ago. When the plans for forced emigration did not work, other ways were found to become 'judenfrei',” writes HaCohen.

Furthermore, he notes that many of the Syrians are now “Swedes” and that they must therefore not be sent home. Especially in the younger generation, they see “Sweden as their homeland”.

“They know Swedish better than Arabic. Leisure time, sports holidays and coffee breaks are a natural part of their identity, in the same way as for others who consider themselves as 'truly Swedish'. They want to find a balance between their identities as Syrian Arabs and the Swedish home where they were born. Today, for the first time, they can consciously choose Sweden as their home.”

Moshe David HaCohen concludes with the following appeal to the Jews:

“After the Holocaust, Europe promised 'never again'. I am of the firm opinion that we European Jews should stand up to Jimmie Åkesson and warn society against the expression 'go home'. We know what it means, we recognize the rhetoric, the discrimination, the hatred. It is the one who uses such language that should not be welcomed in the inclusive society that is our common hope and our future more' may European society allow this to be normalized.”

Moshe David HaCohen's article in DN is written in English and translated into Swedish.