Kantor Program Topical Briefs

Editors: Roni Stauber, Beryl Belsky

No. 1, January 2012

MOHAMED OMAR,THE SWEDISH ANTI-ZIONIST MOVEMENT

AND MEDIA REACTIONS

Mathan Ravid[*]

After becoming known to the wider Swedish public in 2005, Mohamed Omar gained recognition as arespected poet, cultural journalist and intellectual. Regularly published in mainstream newspapers, Omar,the son of a Swedish mother and Iranian father, was a sought-after lecturer and a frequent guest on Swedish public television and radio.A signatory of the so-called Amman Message condemning extremism and radicalism,[1]Omar was long seen as a “moderate Muslim” and a builder of bridges between cultures and religions, preaching a message of coexistence and tolerance.

Against this background, many were surprised when Omar published an article in Sweden’s second largest evening paper, the liberalExpressen on January 9, 2009, declaring that he had joined what he called “the worldwide Islamist movement,” and attributing his turnabout to Israel’s Operation Cast Lead,or “the plot against the inhabitants of Gaza,”[2]in late 2008-early 2009. However, it is doubtful that it was the Israeli military operation that led to Omar’sembrace of Islamism. A more plausible interpretation is that Omar used the dramatic event to reveal his extreme ideas, trying – as he did numerous times thereafter – to pose as a champion of the Palestinian cause in which he seldom, if ever, had demonstrated any real interest previously.

Signs of radicalism could be discerned prior to Omar’s official “outing” as an Islamist, and he later declared that he had always, or at least for a long time,harbored many of the opinions he expresses today.[3]Since early 2009, Omar has, for example, claimed that school education about the theory of evolution proves how religious people are being “persecuted” in Sweden.[4]He has strongly condemned homosexuality and feminism as “diseases,” to which “Islam is the cure,”[5]and advocatedcriminalization of the former.[6]According to Omar, the Church of Sweden is full of “corrupt civil servants,” “the servants of Satan.”[7]

Today, anoutspoken supporter ofHamas, Hizballah and the Iranian regime, among others, as well as Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Omar frequentlyspeaks out in the name of all Swedish Muslims, taking it for granted that they share his radical views.When confronted with the fact that many Muslims criticize him, Omaroften slandersthemas “Uncle Tom Muslims.”[8]

Jewish Conspiracies, Media Control and Holocaust Denial

Railing against anything Jewish, Omar deems it “difficult” to be both Jewish and “a good human being” at the same time,[9]andrefers to “Jewish misanthropy.”[10] According to Omar,Muslims would never kill or hurt anyone simply because that individual belonged to a certain religion or ethnic group. By contrast,he reiterates the age-old allegation that the Talmud teaches Jews about the virtue of killing non-Jews.[11]In a similar vein, Omar has stated that there is “no evidence whatsoever” that the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks in the US, the 7/7 London bombings, or the failed suicide bomb attack in Sweden in December 2010, were “traditional”Muslims. Rather, he claims,Israel, “Zionists” or CIA and Mossad trained “Wahabian bandits”carried them out in order toincriminate Muslims, among other reasons.[12]

More recently, following the 2011 bombing in Oslo and massacre on the island of Utøya by the Norwegian right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik, whose worldview incorporates both Islamophobic as well as antisemitic notions,[13] Omar found common ground with right-wing extremists worldwide who branded Breivik a “Zionist” and “pro-Israel.” Utøya was “Norway’s Gaza,” and “Zionist terror” had been perpetrated by a person formed in a “pro-Israeli” environment of non-Jews “more Jewish than the Jews themselves,” he declared.[14]

Frequently citing well-known anti-Jewish forgeries such as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and clearly influenced by the anti-Zionist discourse, Omar depictsJewish nationalism – Zionism – as a gigantic fraud. He claimsthat Sweden is ruled by “Socialist Zionism,”[15] and accuses members of the Swedish parliament,[16]the antiracist Swedish magazine Expo,[17]the Swedish Committee Against Antisemitism (SKMA)[18] and even Amnesty in Sweden of being Zionists.[19] He has also charged that “mass immigration” (a term frequently used by groups within the extremeright) to Sweden and “the multiculture concept”arepart of aJewish plot aimed at dividing European societies, destroyingtheir “ethnic identity” andopeningthem up to cheap foreign labour that can benefit the Jews financially.[20]

How is it, then, that so few Swedes know of these conspiracies? According to Omar, the simple answer is that since the Jews control the media, “only Zionists get the opportunity to speak their minds.”[21]

In addition, Omar has frequently denied the Holocaust.[22]The “official version” of the “so-called Holocaust” is, according to Omar, merely a tool which “the Zionists” use to legitimize “the world hegemony of USrael[US and Israel]” and “the real Holocaust” in Palestine.[23]

Activities and Associates

In November 2009, Omar announced on Swedish public radio the impending foundation of an “anti-Zionist” party.Clearly influenced by the French Parti Anti-Sioniste(PAS),Omarunderlined that it would not be an Islamist party but would focus solely on “anti-Zionism,”“in order to reach out to as many as possible.”[24]

Over two years later, Omar’s party has yet to see the light of day. Still, some of the structures and persons behind what was most likely intended as another channel for the dissemination of anti-Jewish propaganda areclearly discernible. What follows aresome examples.

Local Activities

On a number of occasions Omar has stated that until his “anti-Zionist” party is formed, hisendeavor should be seen as “the new anti-Zionist movement in Uppsala.”[25] Accordingly, his home city Uppsala, located some 70 kilometers north of the Swedish capital Stockholm, is the main center of his activities, which include the establishment in 2009 of a study circle named after the Swedish painter and convert to Islam Ivan Aguéli (1869-1917).

Officially a “nondenominational association,”[26] the Aguéli study circle (Studiegruppen Aguéli)isdescribed by Omar as “a group of dedicated Islamists,” and the project as “an alternative form of integration” of young Muslims into what he calls “the Swedish dissident culture.”[27] However, from the outsetthe focus was mainly on the Jews rather than on Islamism. Lectures included titles such as “The Holocaust – A False Religion,”“Do We Have to Believe in the Gas Chambers?” and “The Jewish Freemasons and the New World Order.”[28] Many of the lecturers are known antisemites and Holocaust deniers (see below).

The Aguéli study circle is also the organization behind the Aguéli Islamic Publishing House (Islamiska förlaget Aguéli), which Omarhas describedas a counterbalance to “Zionist dominated” mainstream publishing houses, and a weapon forwhat he calls “the daring Muslim fight” against “the heresies of the modern era”: atheism, liberalism, hedonism, Darwinism, feminism, gender science and “faggot lobbyism.”[29]

Internet Activities

Since early 2009, Omar has endeavored to spread his message via groups created on Internet social forums such as Facebook. He was also one of the founders of the short-lived anti-Jewish web tabloid Friaordet[The Free Word] (friaordet.nu). Omar is a frequent contributor[30] to theIranian anti-Zionist enewspaper Islam Times(islamtimes.org) and the Swedish-Arabic news site Arab Nyheter (Arab News) (arabnyheter.com/ar/),[31] edited by the Swedish-Palestinian antisemite and Holocaust denier Mousa Almallahi.[32]

However, alook atOmar’s homepage( and blog ( offers the best insight into the opinions of the groups and individuals he has been trying to promote. These two sites arethe main sources of Omar’s propaganda, and the origin of most of the information disseminatedto members of the various groups he has been trying to build.This takes the form of movie clips, book reviews, and, not least, articles by and interviews with a variety of Swedish and international extremists. Well-known figures published, promoted or interviewed by Omar include the American 9/11 conspiracy theorist David Ray Griffin,[34] the Israeli-born British antisemite Gilad Atzmon[35] and French Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson.[36]

Omar’s homepage and blog are probably also the best means to get a better understanding of the various individuals attracted by and linked to him. These can be divided into two groups:a smallinner circle of close associates, and a larger, outer circle of contacts.

One of Omar’s closest associates is Lars Adelskogh (born 1950),formerly tied to the journal Folkets Nyheter (News of the People), which advocated the fascist-inspired “Third Position.”Adelskogh portrays the European Union as a Jewish plot, and claims that the allegedly millions of Jews killed during the Holocaust aremerely propaganda spread by “Zionist-Jewish lobby groups.”[37]

A polyglot, Adelskogh has translated various antisemitic texts into Swedish for Omar’s websites, and contributed with his own writings. Adelskogh is also a frequent lecturer atthe Aguéli study circle. His influence on Omar is clear, and the latter has described Adelskoghas his mentor, “probably one of Sweden’s most intelligent people”[38] and “Sweden’s leading expert” on “the mythic notion of the Holocaust.”[39]

Lars Wilhelmson, who according to Omar is “one of Sweden’s leading experts on Zionism,”[40] is perhaps the most important member of Omar’s inner circle. Born a Jew in 1941, he claims to have been a leading figure within the 1968 Swedish leftwing and anti-Vietnam War movements.[41]He has worked for the Swedish branch of European Jews for a Just Peace (EJJP) andthe Palestine Solidarity Association of Sweden (Palestinagrupperna), as well as the socialist, former Maoist journal Folket i Bild/Kulturfront,and the Alhambra publishing house. The latter has published books questioning “the mainstream” conception of the forces behind the 9/11 attacks. Wilhelmson’s Jewish heritage might have been of minor interest had Omar not used it as “proof” that he himself is not an antisemite, but merely a “critic of Zionism.”[42]

Wilhelmson, one of the most frequent guests on Omar’s websites and athis study circle, has assured Omar that racially based antisemitism is “practically non-existent.”[43]Judging by Wilhelmson’s articles in support of and interviews with Omar, “Zionism,” on the other hand, appears to be omnipresent. Wilhelmson portrays Zionismas the current greatest threat to all humanity,[44]something that transcends the Jewish political movement, and a worldwide imperialist power occupying thewestern world, not unlike the notion of the “Jewish world conspiracy” in Nazi propaganda.[45]

A third person vital to Omar’s network is Ahmed Rami (born 1946, inMorocco). In 1987, in the wake of the first Palestinian Intifada, Rami foundedRadio Islam,a local radio station ostensibly aimed at “deepening the friendship between Muslims and non-Muslims living in Sweden,”and urging “unequivocal solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people.” However, the content focused almost entirely on Jews, and the station was accused of being a vehicle forNazi propaganda. Books like Mein Kampf were regularly cited, and broadcasts welcomed “a new Hitler.” The abovementioned Protocols of the Elders of Zion was used as “proof” of an international Jewish conspiracy controlling the economies, media and political parties in the western world.

In 1989 Rami was charged by the Swedish Chancellor of Justice with hate speech, and eventually sentenced to six months in jail. Seven years later, in 1996, he established the Radio Islamwebsite (radioislam.org/), which continues today to spread the same anti-Jewish propaganda. Omar has explained Rami’s jail sentence as the result of political pressure from a “Jewish lobby” that could not accept Rami’s outspoken “criticism of Israel.”[46] According to Omar, Ramiis no bigot but a “martyr” and former “political prisoner” who has uncovered the “destructive influence of the Jews in Sweden.”[47]

Rami was one of the first speakers at Omar’s study circle in August 2009, calling his lecture “Israel’s Power in Sweden”[48] (he published a book under the same name in 1989), and the two seem to have worked closely ever since. Describing Ramiasone of the few “Muslim intellectuals”in Swedenand a “pioneer,” Omar sees himself as the keeper of Rami’s legacy and his heir.[49]As for Rami, after some twenty years of spreading hate on the Internet and as a sought-after lecturer, debater and writer in Muslim and Arab countries,[50]Omar has providedhim with a new Swedish platform to spread his propaganda.

Outer Circle of Contacts

A look atOmar’s remaining Swedish contactssuggests that his closestassociates – Adelskogh, Wilhelmson and Rami – might have introduced him to some of them, since they appear to have had direct or indirect links to the three.

But Omar himself probably made contactwith a number of Swedish Islamists who figure on his homepage and blog. These include Mahmoud Aldebe, chairman of the Muslim Association of Sweden (Sveriges Muslimska Förbund), the largest organization within the Swedish Muslim Council (Sveriges Muslimska Råd), and one of the key groups seen as representing the Swedish Muslim community. Aldebe has willingly defended Omar[51] and agreed to be interviewed on his blog.[52]

On Omar’swebsites one can also findtexts by other Swedish Islamists criticizing, among others, “vulgar-feminism,”[53]and equating homosexuality to incest.[54] Such positions, which run through Omar’s own texts, seem to have won him friends outside of Islamist circles, including a number of Christian conservatives.[55]

In addition, Omar is affiliated to individuals on the far left of the Swedish political spectrum. One example is Jan Myrdal,a leading Swedish Maoist who has demonized Israel in interviews with Omar by equating its actions to that of the Nazis.[56]Other figures within Omar’s network are the internationally infamousantisemite Israel Shamirand his Swedish publisher Hesham Bahari,[57] founder of the above-mentioned Alhambra publishing house. Omar has described Shamir and theabovementioned Gilad Atzmon as “former Jews,”“brave” enough to criticize Zionism.[58] Shamir claims, inter alia, that believing in the Holocaust is like stating that the Jews are “special,”and that it is the duty of every Muslim and Christian to deny “the Zionist version of the Holocaust.”[59]

A fourth circle with whom Omar associatesincludesmembers of the Truth Movement, a collective name for loosely affiliated groups and individuals who question “the mainstream” account of the September 11, 2001 attacks. A leading Swedish “truther,” whom Omar interviewed in May 2009,[60] is Mikael Cromsjö, founder of the website Vaken[Awake] (vaken.se), which hosts numerous antisemitic texts.

On his website Cromsjö has promoted the antisemitic, Estonian-born conspiracy theorist Jüri Lina,[61]also a frequent lecturer at Omar’s study circle.[62]According to Omar, Lina is “probably Sweden’s leading expert on Freemasonry.” Lina assured him that both the American Republican Party and the Democratic Party have connections to “Freemason Jews,” whose ultimate aim is an omnipotent world government.[63]

Already in the fall of 2009, when publically announcing the impending foundation ofhis “anti-Zionist” party, Omar stressedthat even Nazis would be welcomed.[64] According to him, they held common “insights” concerning, among other things, freedom of expression, democracy, “liberal culture” and, of course, Israel. Hence, Omar hasalso cultivated quite good relations with certain groups and individuals within the organized Swedish extreme right, including many Islamophobes. This is one of many examples illustrating how Omar considers the“anti-Zionist” struggle even more important than the well-being of his fellow co-religionists.

On his websites, Omar hasinterviewed, for instance, Vávrinec “Vávra” Suk,[65] party secretary and one of the founders of the National Democrats (Nationaldemokraterna), a nationalist party closely linked to wholly National Socialist Swedish parties and groups. At the time of the interview (July 2009), Suk was also editor-in-chief of the National Democrat’s newspaper Nationell Idag (National Today), andhereciprocated by publishing articles about[66] and equally fawning interviews[67] with Omar and his closest associates in Nationell Idag. Similarly, the web tabloid Nationell.nu, which has ties to the Nazi organization Nordic Youth (Nordisk Ungdom),has postedarticles about Omar’s activities,[68]as well as interviews[69]and promotions of his biography Islamisten (The Islamist).[70]Sweden’s largest Nazi organization is the Swedes’ Party (Svenskarnas parti). Founded in 1994 as the National Socialist Front (Nationalsocialistisk front), itrepresents classic National Socialism, including antisemitism and racial biology.Its party organ Realisten (The Realist)has frequently featured and defendedOmar and his closest associates. For example,on May 23, 2009,an article claimed that Omar, Rami and Shamir were “victims” who had made the big mistake of “breaking the liberal norm, which requires obedience to questions of importance to the Jews,” who, it alleged, control theSwedish media.[71]

The above are just a few examples of the many radicals supporting, promoted by, or linked to Omar. In addition, a number of more or less establishment figures or politicians, some of whom belong to mainstream organizations,have supported or given legitimacy to Omaror his agendain one way or another.These includethe author Carl-Göran Ekerwald,[72]poet and journalist Marcus Birro,[73] Social Democratic Church Congress politician Leif Svensson,[74]former Center Party parliamentary candidate Ove Svidén[75] and former Norwegian Labour Party Sami Council politician Anders Mathiesen.[76]The fact that the latter two were contacted by Omar after having publicly denied the Holocaust and claimed that Jews were behind 9/11 – consequently earning them public pariah status – are two examples of what seems to be a conscious network-building strategy on his part.