Henrik Bachner: "Social media has facilitated the spread of anti-Semitic ideas"

Henrik Bachner believes that Sweden and parts of Europe have experienced a clearer and partly reinforced anti-Semitic flow in recent decades.

- It partly has to do with social media. They have greatly facilitated the dissemination of anti-Semitic ideas and offered meeting places for people who hold such views, which in turn can help to strengthen attitudes.

In addition, today, more aggressive and open anti-Semitism appears in specific ideological environments, says Henrik Bachner.

- Then I think especially of right-wing extremists and extreme Islamist movements, which are also behind several acts of terror against Jewish targets.

The reporting statistics regarding anti-Semitic hate crimes in Sweden indicate a certain increase over the past ten years. It also shows that the number of reports is partly related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In Sweden, for example, the notifications increased during the 2009 and 2014 Gaza wars.

- It is difficult to know what is an increased tendency to report and what is an increase in actual crimes. But we know that many do not report hate crimes and that the number of blacks is high, says Henrik Bachner.

In a comparative perspective, anti-Semitism seems less prevalent in Sweden than in many other European countries.

In an attitude survey from the American-Jewish organization Anti-defamation league (ADL) of 2019, Sweden was ranked lowest among the 18 countries surveyed in terms of "the proportion of consistent anti-Semitic attitudes".

An attitude survey conducted by the broadcaster CNN together with the research company Comres last year shows similar results.

Henrik Bachner believes that the results of the above-mentioned surveys can give a clue about attitudes in the respective countries, but at the same time points out that the measurements do not give a comprehensive picture.

At the other end of the spectrum, that is, the countries that, in attitude measurements, show the highest levels of anti-Semitism, are Poland and Hungary.

- There we see an intensified anti-Semitic tendency that is undermined by right-wing nationalist parties and in some cases also governments, not least the Hungarian.