Christian put on yarmulke in Malmo - see what happened
Irish journalist decided to try and wear a yarmulke in Malmo, Sweden – where there are many Muslim immigrants living • It did not end well
- Yonah Shub, Behadrey Haredim
- י"ז חשון התשע"ד
A Swedish journalist of Irish descent, sought to examine anti-Semitism in the southern city of Malmo, roamed the city with a yarmulke for a day and documented the relationship towards him which changed dramatically, as reported by TheLocal news site.
Journalist Patrick Reily received a letter from a Jewish reader in America, who expressed hesitation whether to visit Sweden for there is much anti-Semitism there. Following the letter, the Christian journalist decided to spend a day in the shoes of a Jew wearing a yarmulke, and explore the immigrant Muslim neighborhoods that populate the city.
"The idea was," he said, "to visit places to which a tourist might potentially go, although with one major difference – a skullcap attached to the back of my head."
Before embarking on the journey, Reily asked for the advice of Chef Shmuel Goldberg, who wears a yarmulke, who warned him: "Do not do anything that you would not normally do. Be careful because sometimes it can be unpleasant."
Reily stopped first in Malmo, inhabited mostly by immigrants. "On several occasions, people stopped and looked at me with a mixture of distrust and threat," he reported.
Reily's friend who was guarding him from a distance, reported that a group of men "has been staring at you for 30 minutes."
"After a while I started to forget I'm wearing a skullcap," he said, "and a burly man walked aggressively toward me and cursed me. This was a reminder and to be honest, it was a relief to take it off," he wrote.
"I never felt threatened, but those few hours were sufficient to instill in me feelings of fear. Different and unwanted".
"Beyond the stares and insults, nothing serious happened when I wore the cap for a few hours," writes Riley. "But the incident with me was enough to suggest that something could happen."
Mayor of Malmo, Catherine Sternfeld, said she was "eager to repair the relationship between the communities" and promised to do more to tackle hate crimes.
Journalist Patrick Reily received a letter from a Jewish reader in America, who expressed hesitation whether to visit Sweden for there is much anti-Semitism there. Following the letter, the Christian journalist decided to spend a day in the shoes of a Jew wearing a yarmulke, and explore the immigrant Muslim neighborhoods that populate the city.
"The idea was," he said, "to visit places to which a tourist might potentially go, although with one major difference – a skullcap attached to the back of my head."
Before embarking on the journey, Reily asked for the advice of Chef Shmuel Goldberg, who wears a yarmulke, who warned him: "Do not do anything that you would not normally do. Be careful because sometimes it can be unpleasant."
Reily stopped first in Malmo, inhabited mostly by immigrants. "On several occasions, people stopped and looked at me with a mixture of distrust and threat," he reported.
Reily's friend who was guarding him from a distance, reported that a group of men "has been staring at you for 30 minutes."
"After a while I started to forget I'm wearing a skullcap," he said, "and a burly man walked aggressively toward me and cursed me. This was a reminder and to be honest, it was a relief to take it off," he wrote.
"I never felt threatened, but those few hours were sufficient to instill in me feelings of fear. Different and unwanted".
"Beyond the stares and insults, nothing serious happened when I wore the cap for a few hours," writes Riley. "But the incident with me was enough to suggest that something could happen."
Mayor of Malmo, Catherine Sternfeld, said she was "eager to repair the relationship between the communities" and promised to do more to tackle hate crimes.
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