Nazi flags hung over Swedish highway

Police assume the April 20 date was chosen for the act in order to honor Adolf Hitler on his birthday.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Three large Nazi flags were hung over a major highway in Sweden Sunday, shocking drivers.

They were strung over the entrance to a tunnel on the Essingeleden highway that runs through Stockholm and is among the busiest transit points in the country.

The police were called at 7:19 AM and acted quickly, with the banners being taken down 20 minutes later.

A complaint was filed for “incitement against an ethnic group,” and the authorities immediately opened an investigation, according to police spokesperson Mats Eriksson.

They have yet to take any suspects into custody.

Police assume the April 20 date was chosen for the act in order to honor Adolf Hitler on his birthday.

Sunday was the 136th anniversary of the Nazi dictator’s birth, which is celebrated by many neo-Nazis around the world.

Israeli ambassador to Sweden Ziv Nevo Kulman took to X to express his shock at the incident.

“I am appalled by images of Swastika flags in Stockholm, something we never thought to see in Europe again,” he wrote over a photo of the flags published by the Aftonbladet daily.

Sweden is considered one of the most antisemitic and anti-Israel countries in Europe, due in part to its huge Muslim immigrant population.

There were open celebrations in the country following Hamas’ invasion of Israel 18 months ago in which the terrorists massacred 1,200 people, including children, and injured thousands, which sparked the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been common since then, and hate crimes against Jews exploded by hundreds of percentage points.

According to an October report by the World Jewish Congress, supposed leaders in the country have been complicit, as “Local politicians spread gross anti-Semitism without immediate action from the party leadership.”

The small Jewish community of 20,000, which next year will mark 250 years of continuous life in the Nordic state, feels “abandoned,” the report noted, as the government mouths condemnations of the hate crimes but doesn’t take meaningful action.

The hatred was especially displayed during the Eurovision song contest last May, which took place in Malmo, a particular hotbed of antisemitism in Sweden.

Thousands of anti-Israel protestors demonstrated outside the arena where the competition took place, and Eden Golan, Israel’s representative, received death threats which her security team took very seriously.

Golan and her team were largely restricted to their hotel for their own safety, and she told of having to wear disguises when she left, as protestors made their presence felt there as well.