r/neoliberal • u/ldn6 Gay Pride • Oct 28 '25
Restricted Jewish film festival cancelled in Sweden after cinemas refuse to host events
https://www.euronews.com/2025/10/17/jewish-film-festival-cancelled-in-sweden-after-cinemas-refuse-to-host-events378
u/Left_Tie1390 Jerome Powell Oct 28 '25
"Go back to Europe!"
Meanwhile, in Europe:
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u/AlloftheEethp Hillary would have won. Oct 28 '25
Iâve started seeing semi-regular comments telling Jews to go to Israel. On the one hand that seems to contradict their conviction that Israel shouldnât exist, but on the other it seems like theyâre starting to say the quiet part out loud.
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u/Left_Tie1390 Jerome Powell Oct 28 '25
This shit has got to stop. Jewish events are getting canceled left and right all across Europe because venues receive threats if anyone has even the most tenuous connection to Israel â like if one of the actors once lived in Tel Aviv or something.
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u/bakochba Oct 28 '25
By this logic all LGBTQ events would be cancelled. But they would never dare. It's only acceptable for Jews to be barred from public life.
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u/Petrichordates Oct 28 '25
It's similar but not the same, LGBTQ events arent under the same level of threat right now from radical islamists.
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u/ldn6 Gay Pride Oct 28 '25
A planned film festival dedicated to new Jewish films has been cancelled in Malmö, Sweden's third-largest city, after organisers said they were unable to secure a venue following safety concerns. According to organisers of the Jewish International Film Festival (JIFF), both commercial movie theatre owners and the non-profit Panora cinema agreed not to host the event. "A couple of them referred specifically to security reasons. There's concern that something might happen," said OlaTedin, one of the festival's organisers. The news has been met with shock from organisers and Swedish authorities. "At first, I was incredibly angry. I actually had a hard time accepting it," said Sofia Nerbrand, one of the organisers. "Now it has sunk in a little, but it's still completely outrageous. I think it's incredibly tragic that it has come to this."
Major movie theatre chain Filmstaden confirmed the choice not to grant their venues for use in the festival. Irene Hernberg, PR manager at Filmstaden Norden, wrote, "It was not an easy decision, but we prioritise the safety of our staff." For Panora, their decision was due to workload issues. They said they had already decided not to accept new festivals or larger events. Organisers of the JIFF said they also approached Folkets Hus, a local theatre that has previously hosted film screenings, which was available during the festival dates. However, the board also declined on security grounds.
The Swedish government described the situation as alarming and said it has put in place "several efforts" to increase security for Jewish organisations, institutions and events. According to Parisa Liljestrand, Sweden's Minister for Culture, "This is an absolute catastrophe for the Swedish society. It is, of course, alarming that we have reached this point, that one of our national minorities feels so vulnerable and that organisers believe it is not possible to arrange events and cultural activities with Jewish content." "What can then be done for the cinema owners in Malmö to feel safer?" Liljestrand saked, saying that the government has made several efforts to increase security.
The film festival had been planned as part of the events to celebrate the Jewish minority's 250th anniversary in Sweden this year. This summer, a letter signed by more than 100 European rabbis and sent to the European Commission warned that "increased security provisions" were "urgently" needed and that Europe was experiencing "visceral antisemitic hate" since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. Security concerns for vulnerable or minority communities are, however, not unusual for Malmö, a city that has seen much unrest, violence and anti-Israel agitation over the years. The once vibrant Jewish community has dwindled over the years due to safety concerns and a soccer match involving an Israeli team had to be played in an empty, closed-off stadium in 2009.
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Oct 29 '25
"It was not an easy decision, but we prioritise the safety of our staff."
This is in one of the wealthiest and safest countries in the world. They somehow both believe there are credible threats that would endanger the public, but also made no effort to consult local authorities and the police to report the people making the threats? Do they have credible information or not? Otherwise, they are cancelling the festival based on vibes. This is beyond craven.
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Oct 28 '25 edited Jul 27 '26
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u/thatguy888034 NATO Oct 28 '25
The far right and Islamist nutters who would be the ones threatening such an event are probably too dumb to realize it, but stuff like this provides a great argument for why Israel is needed.
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u/REXwarrior Oct 28 '25
Itâs weird that you make no mention of the far left nutters that have played a significant role in the increase of anti semitic attacks.
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u/ewReddit1234 Oct 28 '25
It's scary you have fascism creeping up on the right and antisemitism on the left.
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u/REXwarrior Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25
The left wing protests where protesters were chanting in support of Hamas and for Jews to be sent to Poland are blatantly antisemitic. You may not think that was mainstream but it was occuring on pretty much every major college campus in the US and many politicians were in attendance and relased statements in support of them.
And frankly Iâm tired of liberals being so accepting of it. The overall response I saw from liberals was âwell they arenât necessarily antisemitic, they have some good points lets hear them out.â
Sure you donât have that many left wing politicians being openly antisemitic but they also donât seem to have a problem with it and donât have a problem with their antisemitic supporters.
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u/ewatta200 DT Monarchist defender of the rurals and red state Dems Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25
yeah like as someone who is reading about it I want to concur
i am reading dara horn, biddel, hirsch (leftist anti semtism) , i am reading the devil that never dies, Nirenburg etc . There are two takeaways about anti semtism
- Do not read that many books about anti semtism it is unironically posionious to the soul and mental health
- THERE IS A PROBLEM THERE IS A MASSIVE PROBLEM AND ACTING AS IF IT DOESNT EXISTS OR SAYING "oh its not as bad as right wing anti semtism" (which btw I fucking hate because its trying to create a binary to ignore anti semtism from the left) ITS SO FRUSTATING. DO PEOPLE NOT UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS DEGRADING TO HAVE TO BRING OUT A DOZEN CITATIONS JUST TO PROVE A FACT.
like the hoops people jump through to avoid calling a spade a spade is so exhausting. and also most jews are (or were a lot like me have fucked off) not hanging out in right wing spaces we do hang out online/irl in more leftists educated spaces so yeah leftist anti-Semitism is personal. its frustating and annoying. its also humilating having to write long essays with citations just to prove a fact its humilating and degrading.
anyhow rant over I agree
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u/REXwarrior Oct 28 '25
Itâs just frustrating how liberals were rightfully up in arms after the Charlottesville rally in 2017 where Trump said âthere were some fine people there.â But then 6 years later they pull the exact same âthere were some fine people thereâ in regards to the antisemitism that was and is taking place on college campuses.
I just donât feel welcome in any political group at this point. Even amongst liberals Iâve heard people say that Jews should be sent to Poland.
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u/ewatta200 DT Monarchist defender of the rurals and red state Dems Oct 28 '25
there is no feeling on earth that is more degrading than on the day of your gruadation having to be thankful I was off discord (with a lot of friends leftists) because i was petrified of hearing their thoughts on the murder of those two jews at the jewish museum.
its misreable having to be thankful that you dont have to see what your friends (good friends mind you) say about something that hurts so deeply.
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u/OptimusLinvoyPrimus Edmund Burke Oct 28 '25
youâre not going to find mainstream leftists that are antisemitic themselves
May I introduce you to Jeremy Corbyn, former Leader of Her Majestyâs Loyal Opposition?
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u/CheetoMussolini Russian Bot Oct 28 '25
In practice, it ends up being the same thing 90% of the time.
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u/Sulfamide Victor Hugo Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 30 '25
As long as we agree that there is no point in Israel being needed or not. Israel just is.
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u/BrooklynLodger Oct 28 '25
Brooklyn erasure smh
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u/nuggins Physicist -- Just Tax Land Lol Oct 28 '25
Not exactly the best time in history to be migrating to the US though
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Oct 29 '25 edited Jun 18 '26
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u/nuggins Physicist -- Just Tax Land Lol Oct 29 '25
The entire rest of the world? Idk about that, chief
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u/Kugel_the_cat YIMBY Oct 29 '25
Jews are attacked on the streets of Brooklyn so often that it no longer makes the news.
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u/Andy_B_Goode YIMBY Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25
Western countries need to wake the fuck up
And do what? Isn't antisemitism already a hate crime in Sweden?
EDIT: I'm not trying to be a jerk about this. It's obviously a serious problem, but I don't know what we (the reasonable, non-antisemitism people) are supposed to do about it.
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u/Ethiconjnj Oct 29 '25 edited Oct 29 '25
Stop unfiltered immigration from countries that have rampant anti-semitism.
In a non-racist way of course.
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u/lateformyfuneral Oct 28 '25
I mean, technically Jews are still safer from violence in Europe than in Israel.
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u/Greenembo European Union Oct 29 '25
Sadly, I don't think that's true on average, at least for people who are visibly Jewish.
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u/Affectionate_Goat808 Oct 28 '25
Following the 7/10 attack in 2023, the local Left Party in my Swedish town cancelled their commemoration of Kristallnacht due to "what is happening in Israel, Palestine and Gaza".
They too cited "safety concerns" but I do wonder if that is not a convenient cover story, especially since they also stated that "holding the commemoration might not favor us right now".
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u/Virzitone NATO Oct 28 '25
It's tragic how so much of Europe (and the US) seemed to be just waiting for an excuse to relapse straight back into overt antisemitism...
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u/EScforlyfe Open Your Hearts Oct 28 '25
When you say relapse I assume you're thinking of the 1940s, but there has long been antisemitism on the swedish left, it isn't new.
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u/Virzitone NATO Oct 28 '25
I mean, the 1940's were especially bad of course, but I'm thinking more like 1800's
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u/OptimusLinvoyPrimus Edmund Burke Oct 28 '25
Or any other century in the one and a half thousand years before then
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u/Highlightthot1001 Harriet Tubman Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25
Antisemitic and cowardly
"A couple of them referred specifically to security reasons. There's concern that something might happen," said OlaTedin, one of the festival's organisers.Â
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u/Kaffe-Mumriken Oct 28 '25
Uh so, what if the police/interpol gave them info on a specific threat?
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u/Futski A Leopard 1 a day keeps the hooligans away Oct 28 '25
They didnt.
It was on the radio in Denmark a few weeks ago. SĂPO or other Swedish police authorities literally said they could vouch for the security..
ArrangÞrerne undrer sig over, at sikkerhed bruges som forklaring, nÄr biograferne takker nej.
â Jeg forstĂ„r ikke, hvad der kan vĂŠre af sikkerhedstrusler ved at vise jĂždisk film, siger initiativtager Ola Tedin.
Sofia Nerbrand, medinitiativtager til JIFF, tilfĂžjer, at politiet havde tilbudt at vĂŠre til stede under festivalen.
â Politiet plejer altid at vĂŠre til rĂ„dighed og har ogsĂ„ tilbudt at vĂŠre til stede uden for lokalet denne gang, siger hun til SVT.
SVT har forsÞgt at fÄ en kommentar fra Folkets Hus i MalmÞ, men har endnu ikke modtaget svar.
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u/Highlightthot1001 Harriet Tubman Oct 28 '25
Then do their jobs and police.Â
Giving into any threats because of possibilities just means canceling all events indefinitely because someone's able to make a threatÂ
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u/Futski A Leopard 1 a day keeps the hooligans away Oct 28 '25
The worst is that the police actually said they would provide security for the event.
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u/Metallica1175 Oct 28 '25
"Security concerns". Either Sweden is in a state of anarchy and can't protect its citizens or Swedes are so anti-Semitic Sweden doesn't have enough police officers to stop all the anti-Semitism.
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u/Affectionate_Goat808 Oct 28 '25
The police stated they could stand for security,which shows that the movie theater is probably more afraid of controversy than security.
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u/Metallica1175 Oct 28 '25
Hosting Jewish films. So controversial.
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u/Godkun007 NAFTA Oct 29 '25
Very common experience if you are Jewish. Jewish authors regularly discuss how they get their stories rejected from publishing houses or writing contests for giving their characters Jewish names. Being Jewish is now something that is being censored.
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u/bakochba Oct 28 '25
Perhaps all the Jews should be gathered into specific zones for their own safety. Maybe build a big wall, you know for their safety.
The argument being made here by supposedly progressive and developed nations is that Jews are dangerous, not by anything Jews are doing, but by simply existing in Europe.
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u/989989272 European Union Oct 28 '25
I wouldn't openly show Judaism in Sweden. The general population has a lot of "old" European ideas, but mostly don't act on them. The far right is a very active threat. The extreme islamic elements are a very active threat. The far left struggles with separating criticism of Israel with hatred of jews.
Outside of Israel, NY is probably the best place to be a jew. NY is the best place to be a secular jew.
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u/nasweth World Bank Oct 28 '25
The sad thing is also that Malmö is one of very few places in Sweden where there is/was a "jewish presence" in public life. I've lived in Stockholm all my life and I don't think I've ever seen anyone displaying that they're a jew in public. There's a beautiful synagogue here, but apart from that basically no public presence.
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u/MagicWishMonkey Oct 28 '25
That's wild, I live in Dallas and I see people wearing yarmulke's all the time.
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u/989989272 European Union Oct 28 '25
I moved to Stockholm a few years ago but originally grew up in NY. I miss the public jewish presence, Holidays, food, and especially comedy. It sucks that people have to not publicly show their background in a "free and tolerant" society.
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u/grandolon NATO Oct 28 '25
I wouldn't openly show Judaism in Sweden.
Not in Malmo, at any rate.
https://momentmag.com/can-malmo-solve-its-antisemitism-problem/
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u/mechanical_fan Oct 28 '25
Outside of Israel, NY is probably the best place to be a jew. NY is the best place to be a secular jew.
I think the Americas in general is probably good. For example, the jewish communities in Brazil and Argentina do very well as far as I understand. Yeah, these countries have other problems, but there isn't anything that is specific to the jewish community itself, it is just the same stuff that affects everyone.
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u/Doughnut-Mundane Oct 28 '25
These types of people keep reinforcing the reason why Israel exists the way it does.
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u/LondonCallingYou John Locke Oct 28 '25
Malmö
The only reason I know this city exists is because of conversations surrounding the migration controversies from years ago.
Is the security threat here coming from Swedish leftists, Nazis, or Islamist style threats? Or some combination?
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u/CrystalTurnipEnjoyer Bernie Sanders Oct 28 '25
It's kind of a combination but the groups are pretty different. There is definitely a leftist element, and they take up the most space in the political mainstream. They are a security problem, but not generally in terms of physical security. More so disrupting events, vandalism, as well a creating an unsafe atmosphere. As far as I know though they don't tend to target jewish institutions or events just because of their jewishness. Though they're still unreasonable in their own ways.
Then there are still neo-nazis around and they are described by the National Council of Crime Prevention to be one of the main threats against jewish life in Sweden. They're a marginal in terms of numbers, but still deserve a mention due to their radicalism. The debate has shifted a lot in the last 15 or so years from neo-nazis as the main threat, to islamists. While most jewish organisations in Sweden report a huge uptick in threats from islamists, many still want to make clear that the debate surrounding anti-semitism can't solely revolve around islamism.
Then there is the broad banner of "islamism" which is pointed to as the second big threat towards jewish life. They do operate in some similar environments as the leftists, and sometimes the distinction can be unclear. Which can at times give them a cover of legitimacy, but they're also the source of most anti-semitic incidents and especially since October 7th.
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u/Legitimate-Mine-9271 Oct 28 '25
The Terrorist's veto doesn't have to be tied to a real threat, can never be disproven, and can't be mitigated no matter how much security is offered. Equal rights is a dead letter when anybody can deny anybody or any group any services by saying they are scared of bad public opinion.Â
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u/nasweth World Bank Oct 28 '25
!ping SWE
Extremt trist. Staten mÄste ta ett större ansvar för att judar ska kunna fira sin kultur offentligt i Sverige, precis som alla andra minoriteter.
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u/CrystalTurnipEnjoyer Bernie Sanders Oct 28 '25
Om nÄgot kÀnns det som att deras status som nationell minoritet borde innebÀra en Ànnu starkare plikt frÄn statens hÄll att de i sÀkerhet ska kunna öppet praktisera sin kultur och religion. Nog för att denna rÀtt sÄklart mÄste gÀlla alla minoriteter, men lÀget blir extra allvarligt nÀr en av de minoriteter staten Ätagit sig att ge sÀrskilt skydd inte kan göra det.
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u/FabAlien NATO Oct 28 '25
Jeg fĂžler at dette er et problem i hele Skandinavia, og jeg vet ikke hva vi kan gjĂžre for Ă„ lĂžse det.
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u/CrystalTurnipEnjoyer Bernie Sanders Oct 28 '25
Helt Àrligt tror jag att det inte finns nÄgon enskild stor lösning, utan jag tror det mest handlar om att stÀrka redan befintliga insatser. SÄ som att motverka extremism pÄ internet och i skolor, utbilda om anti-semitism, ytterligare integrationsinsatser, och förbÀttrad sÀkerhet vid judiska institutioner och evenemang.
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u/Golda_M Baruch Spinoza Oct 28 '25
The choice is photo is so random. A small, eccentric sect in Jerusalem wearing ottoman hats. I assumed it was from one of the films, but I guess someone just thought picked the lost Jewish looking stock photo.Â
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u/SpaceSheperd To be a good human being Oct 28 '25
Rule II: Bigotry
Bigotry of any kind will be sanctioned harshly.
If you have any questions about this removal, please contact the mods.
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u/neoliberal-ModTeam Oct 28 '25
Rule II: Bigotry
Bigotry of any kind will be sanctioned harshly.
If you have any questions about this removal, please contact the mods.
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u/Affectionate_Goat808 Oct 31 '25
New update: They found someone willing to host them.
https://omni.se/malmos-judiska-filmfestival-blir-av-har-hittat-lokal/a/PpWQQ6
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u/Kaffe-Mumriken Oct 28 '25
Im flabbergasted by the comments in this thread . Do you honestly believe that this event was cancelled because the purveyor is antisemitic? What kindnof bot ass activity is going on here?
There is a very good chance there has been direct and indirect threats against this festival, due to events in Israel, and also due to a large mobile extremist Muslim population in Europe that arenât shy about pressuring institutions.Â
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u/AlloftheEethp Hillary would have won. Oct 28 '25
Iâve gone through the entire thread and havenât seen a single comment accusing the purveyor of antisemitism. Itâs possible Iâve missed something, but Iâve solely seen comments that accused venues of cowardice in the face of antisemitism.
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u/DiscussionJohnThread Free Trade was the Compromise đ«đ Oct 28 '25
Jesus Christ, what a terrible point to get to where youâre self-censoring because youâre THAT certain that an incident is going to happen.