In an attempt to treat all religions equally, the Swedish government on July 14, allowed a man to burn the Torah– the religious text of Jews, outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm. The act sparked controversy, as Jews protested against the move.
Like France, Sweden has witnessed rising numbers of immigrants over the past few years. A considerable number of these immigrants involve Islamists from across the world. These immigrants are responsible for the demographic shift in the region. Hence, from time to time the locals have protested against the authorities allowing them to stay in their country.
The centre of these protests remains the burning of the Islamic religious text, the Quran. Most recently, Salwan Momika a resident of Iraq, burnt a copy of the Quran on June 28, outside Stockholm’s central mosque.
The burning of the religious text occurred following the go-ahead given by a Swedish court and coincided with the beginning of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha (Bakrid).
Momika said he wanted to burn the Quran to protest against the Muslim religion, rather than to protest against Sweden joining Nato.
“We are going to say ‘wake up Sweden. This is democracy and it will be in danger if they say we can’t do it’, We are not fighting against Muslims, but against their thoughts. We are not against Muslims, we are on their side,” he said.
Notably, the government recently allowed a man to burn the copies of Torah and the Bible outside the Israeli embassy on July 15. The man who burnt the copies stated that he intended to burn the Torah and the Bible outside the Israeli Embassy in the country’s capital this weekend as a protest. He mentioned that, he wanted to burn the Torah and the Bible outside the Israeli Embassy in retaliation for the burning of the Quran.
Three persons would reportedly take part in the demonstration outside the Israeli Embassy on 15 July at 1 PM local time (1100 GMT), according to an announcement from Stockholm police. Their identity is yet to be revealed.
Meanwhile, Israeli officials appealed to Sweden to call off the event. Isaac Herzog wrote on Twitter, “As the President of the State of Israel, I condemned the burning of the Quran, sacred to Muslims the world over, and I am now heartbroken that the same fate awaits a Jewish Bible, the eternal book of the Jewish people.”
Stockholm police stressed that distinction in an email to the AP, saying they “do not give permission for different actions. We give permission to hold a public meeting! That’s an important difference.”
Permitting the defacement of sacred texts is not an exercise in freedom of expression, it is blatant incitement and an act of pure hate. The whole world must join together in condemning unequivocally this repulsive act.
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) July 14, 2023
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen commented, “Burning a Torah scroll is a crime of hate, provocation and serious harm to the Jewish people and Jewish tradition. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israeli ambassador in Sweden are working through every possible channel to prevent the despicable act.”
שריפת ספר תורה היא פשע שנאה, פרובוקציה ופגיעה חמורה בעם היהודי ובמסורת היהודית. משרד החוץ ושגריר ישראל בשוודיה פועלים בכל ערוץ אפשרי למנוע את המעשה הבזוי.
— אלי כהן | Eli Cohen (@elicoh1) July 14, 2023
Israel’s Chief Rabbi, Yitzhak Yosef wrote, “By preventing this event from occurring, you would send a powerful message to the world that Sweden stands firmly against religious intolerance and that such acts have no place in a civilized society.”
As per the Council of Swedish Jewish Communities, “Our tragic European history links the burning of Jewish books with pogroms, expulsions, inquisitions, and the Holocaust.” The Council also expressed regret that the police had permitted the protest.
Notably, the right to organise public protests is highly supported and protected by the Swedish constitution. The nation’s blasphemy laws were repealed in the 1970s. Based on their evaluation the authorities have given permission to the officials to decide whether a public gathering can be organised without severe disruptions or risks to the public’s safety or not.
Here is why people burnt copies of the Quran in the country
Rasmus Paludan is a Danish-Swedish politician and head of the Hard Line party, who has been known for staging similar events (Quran burning) in the past. His views have been characterized as anti-Islamic, and he has called for the deportation of Muslims from Western society.
He has previously been convicted for hate speech and defamation in Denmark and was previously banned from entering Sweden for his role in inciting the 2020 Sweden riots. However, after receiving Swedish citizenship through his father, he could not be banned from entering the country which allowed him to continue his activities in Sweden.
Sweden has 810,000 Muslims, primarily from immigration. Sweden’s immigration policy has been criticized for failing to integrate immigrants, and there has been conflict between Muslims and the country’s police force. Some Muslims felt outraged by the Quran burnings and associated rallies but such rallies and protests have only risen in the past.
According to Paludan, the purpose of the Quran burnings was to protest the Swedish government’s inability to integrate immigrants into Swedish society and defend freedom of expression.
Who is Rasmus Paludan?
Paludan’s father is a Swedish national and he first came to public attention in 2017 when he started making anti-Muslim YouTube videos. He justified his stunts in Denmark, such as burning the Muslim religious book, sometimes wrapped in bacon as a tribute to free speech.
“The enemy is Islam and Muslims. The best thing would be if there were not a single Muslim left on this Earth, then we would have reached our final goal,” he said in a December 2018 video.
However, Paludan has nothing to do with the recent incident of burning by Momika.
