Here and there: Whose Jerusalem?

The negative international reaction to US President Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital should not have been a surprise. Perhaps naively, I was hoping for a greater show of support from at least some countries, but it did not materialize. Instead, we saw an upsurge of antisemitism, no longer disguised as anti-Zionism, with demonstrators in places like New York City and London shouting “Death to the Jews.”

In Sweden, synagogues were torched in Gothenburg and Malmö. The media classified these vile acts as a protest against Trump’s decision. In a recent oped in The Jerusalem Post, Swedish journalist Annika Hernroth-Rothstein connected the growing antisemitism there with the war against Israel that their government has waged through the media and one-sided diplomacy. It has become acceptable to be openly antisemitic.