This week, Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson was interviewed on the SVT program 30 minuter. The host, Anders Holmberg, did his best to pin the Nazi label on the party, but it didn’t quite go as planned.

In January, Jimmie Åkesson was invited to Israel to speak at a conference against antisemitism—something that, since the Hamas terror group’s massacre in 2023, has exploded in Sweden, where the far left has made common cause with many migrants from the Middle East.

“Antisemitism was for a long time a marginal problem in our country. It was just something a small group of forgotten men engaged in,” Åkesson said during his speech, noting that today it is an imported problem.

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After the speech, the SD leader was interviewed by Dagens Nyheter.

“Growing up, I never encountered any antisemitism. Of course, Jews in Sweden have always been exposed—antisemitism has existed—but among ordinary people… I have never met an ordinary Swede who is antisemitic,” he told the newspaper.

This statement was brought up on 30 minuter, where Åkesson stuck to what he had previously said, which angered the Swedish Committee Against Antisemitism, SKMA, prompting them to contact the program. In their statement, they write that Åkesson’s remarks lack credibility due to the Sweden Democrats’ “well-documented history of antisemitism.”

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SKMA further writes that “Åkesson’s claim that antisemitism today only exists in ‘groups that have chosen to immigrate to our country’ is not correct, but reveals SD’s motivation: to exploit the issue to stoke distrust and hostility towards immigrants and Muslims.”

The organization also argues that Åkesson’s assertion that antisemitism today is mainly prevalent within immigrant groups is untrue “but reveals SD’s motivation: to exploit the issue to stoke distrust and hostility towards immigrants and Muslims.”

Doesn’t care

Given the source, however, Åkesson is unmoved by the criticism.

“I don’t care what they think,” he says.

“They are a political opponent of ours—they don’t vote for us, they don’t think Sweden Democrats should have political power.”

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Åkesson once again emphasizes that it is not ordinary Swedes, or Sweden Democrats for that matter, who are running around shouting antisemitic slogans on the streets.

“It is predominantly people who have immigrated from this region who hate Jews, hate Israel, want to wipe out Jews and wipe out Israel.”

Scrutiny of SKMA

Mattias Karlsson (SD), who was also present in Israel, likewise does not take SKMA seriously. In a lengthy post on social media, he reveals who SKMA actually are:

During yesterday’s grilling of Jimmie Åkesson, Anders Holmberg and SVT passionately defended the organization “Swedish Committee Against Antisemitism” and their constant attacks on SD and Åkesson. Holmberg’s thesis was that SKMA is a completely politically independent organization whose only purpose is to combat antisemitism and that their repeated attacks on SD should therefore be taken very seriously. (Examples of things SKMA has criticized SD for in recent years include SD noting that much of today’s antisemitism in Sweden can be linked to immigration from the Middle East, that Åkesson, myself, and Charlie Weimers, at the invitation of Israel’s minister against antisemitism, have traveled to Jerusalem and spoken out against antisemitism, and that the conservative think tank Oikos published a report on left-wing antisemitism [sic!])

So who are the people behind the Swedish Committee Against Antisemitism? Is there any reason, in light of basic source criticism (which I assume SVT’s journalists are trained in?) to suspect there might be hidden motives behind the organization’s unforgiving and extremely aggressive stance against SD? Decide for yourselves:

Anna Ekström – Social Democratic Minister for Education in the previous left-wing government under Magdalena Andersson. (This is not mentioned on SKMA’s website; there she is merely described as “Active in adult education”)

Ulrika Knutsson (chair) – Known, among other things, for having actively supported the organization “Ship to Gaza,” which turned out to be rife with antisemites.

Gulan Avci – Member of parliament and former party secretary of the Liberals.

Agneta Berliner – Former member of parliament for the Liberals.

Anna Simon-Karlsson – Political adviser, Government Offices of Sweden (Liberals)

Sofia Nerbrand – Political editor-in-chief for the liberal Kristianstadsbladet, former board member of the Liberal Youth Federation, former chair of the Bertil Ohlin Institute (a liberal think tank), former board member at the Center Party’s think tank Fores.

Somar Al Naher – Writer for the radical left journal ETC, where she has, among other things, advocated that Ramadan should become a Swedish holiday, that the Tidö Agreement “whips” the unemployed, and defended the right to wear a burqa in Sweden. She has also written in the SD-critic magazine Expo that it is “an act of violence” to oppose mass immigration from the Middle East.

Izabel Dahl – Associate professor of history specializing in gender and intercultural relations at Södertörn University. One of her recent projects focused on how to encourage school students to be more positive towards migration.

Svante Weyler – Described by Expressen’s culture editors as “the last social liberal.” Wrote the book “Mitten” [The Middle], a polemic against nationalism and conservatism in favor of the so-called social-liberal center in Swedish politics.

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