Obama Envoy Shades Shliach

Don Snyder reports in The Forward:

A representative of the Obama administration scolded the mayor of Malmo, Sweden, during an April 24 meeting at Malmo’s town hall.

Hannah Rosenthal, the United States special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, accused the controversial Malmo mayor, Ilmar Reepalu, of not doing enough to fight rampant anti-Semitism in this southern Swedish city of nearly 300,000.

Rosenthal requested the meeting to examine allegations of widespread anti-Semitism in Malmo.

The Sydsvenskan, a regional newspaper, quoted Reepalu as saying that Rosenthal told him the Jewish community feels unsafe. “She told me not to say things that have anti-Semitic connotations,” he told the paper.

Reepalu angered the Jewish community when he said it bears responsibility for attacks upon it because the community has not condemned Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.

According to Sydsvenskan, Rosenthal chastised Reepalu for his anti-Israel comments. “Don’t just criticize Israel — criticize other countries as well,” she said.

Two representatives of Malmo’s Jewish community had a separate meeting with Rosenthal. One representative was Malmo’s only rabbi, Shneur Kesselman, 33, who has been the victim in more than 50 anti-Semitic incidents during his eight years in Malmo.

In an interview with the Forward, Kesselman said they told Rosenthal that police do not respond forcefully to complaints about anti-Semitism. “In some cases, they don’t respond at all,” he said.

Kesselman related to Rosenthal one example of the many anti-Semitic experiences he says he has endured. A driver gunned his car toward the rabbi while he was walking in the city center, frightening him and a congregant before swerving away at the last second.

“The president’s envoy expressed her shock and sorrow over what we told her,” Kesselman said.

Malmo’s estimated 45,000 Muslims make up 15% of the city’s population.

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