Shameful antisemitic display in Sweden

An installation set up by the group "Umeå for Palestine" in northern Sweden has sparked a wave of condemnation and concern in local and international media. There, mannequins were displayed hanging in Nazi concentration camp prisoner uniforms. The organizers attempted to draw an apparent analogy between the Holocaust and the current war in Gaza.

The exhibition, erected in the city of Umeå, has been denounced by multiple voices as an act of explicit antisemitism and a grotesque distortion of history.

The mannequins, dressed in gray and white stripes with a yellow star sewn onto their chests—identical to the one Nazis forced Jews to wear—hung from gallows beneath a sign that read: "Genocide is genocide is genocide."

On the sides, two PLO flags waved, while in front stood a person with a kufiya covering their face, holding a baby doll.

This is yet another example of antisemitic actions on the European continent.

Images of the installation briefly circulated on social media before being removed, but the impact had already been made.

Israel's ambassador to Sweden, Ziv Nevo Kulman, described the installation as a "grotesque exploitation of the Holocaust and a chilling act of antisemitism." He added: "When pro-Palestinian protesters hijack the memory of the Shoah to vilify today's Jews, they cross all moral lines."

Israel's Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar, shared the ambassador's message, while Swedish Jewish comedian and writer Aron Flam was even more blunt: "This is total madness. Shut it down now. These aren't demonstrations, they're religious rituals calling for the genocide of Jews."

Criticism also came from sectors of the Swedish press. Journalist Bitte Assarmo wrote on her Facebook account: "Umeå for Palestine? A lie. Rather, Umeå for terror against Jews. What will the police, authorities, and politicians of this city of birches do now? How much more has to happen before Sweden says enough?"

Law professor Mårten Schultz pointed out that the installation could violate Swedish laws against incitement to hatred, emphasizing that the message was directed not only against Israel, but against Jews as a people.

Swedish police authorities have launched an investigation into the incident. Meanwhile, the scandal has reignited a debate in Sweden about the limits of freedom of expression, antisemitism disguised as political activism, and the memory of the Holocaust as a tool of propaganda.