A man was arrested Saturday evening at a book fair in Gothenburg, southern Sweden, after pouring red liquid on an Israeli flag at the Sweden-Israel Friendship Association’s booth.
Footage from the scene showed the man after he sprayed the paint, with his hands also covered in red, shouting: “Israel is committing genocide. We must stop the suicide in Gaza and West Bank.”
Red paint on an Israeli flag at a book fair in Sweden
As security guards escorted him out, he continued: “This is a peaceful protest and we do this for all the children being killed by Israel. Israel is an apartheid state. They are criminals.”
Earlier Saturday, a small number of protesters demonstrated outside the fair against the event, holding a sign reading, “Death to the IDF.”
Amid the controversy, Swedish media reported that Egyptian poet and author Iman Mersal and Palestinian author and journalist Bissan Edwan had announced they were withdrawing from the fair in protest of the participation of Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesman for international media.
Israel’s ambassador to Sweden, Tammy Rahamimoff-Honig, responded to the events, saying she viewed the attack with “great concern” and was relieved that no one was hurt.
“This attack is not only an attempt to delegitimize Israel and the friends of Israel, it is an attack on free speech and open discourse,” she said.
The ambassador was responding to media inquiries about the incident and said everyone present was safe and doing well.
The protest outside the fair
(Photo: Hannah Lindgren)
Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported that Palestinian activist Taha Khatab had filed a police complaint against the book fair and the Sweden-Israel Friendship Association. According to the report, Khatab specifically cited Conricus’ participation in a program titled “Israel and the International System — Fighting an Uphill Battle.”
“They invited someone with ties to the IDF. They would never accept a Russian spokesman coming to the book fair and explaining why it is legitimate to fire rockets at civilians in Ukraine,” Khatab said.
“It pains me deeply that the book fair has become an extension of Benjamin Netanyahu and continues to dehumanize us Palestinians,” he added.
Fair organizers, however, rejected the criticism. Fair director Oskar Ekström told SVT that “an open meeting place based on freedom of expression will always stir emotions.”
Addressing the comparison with Russia, he added: “We don’t speculate about hypothetical questions, but we have consistent rules and conditions.”
David Lega, chairman of the Sweden-Israel Friendship Association, told SVT: “Come to our booth. Talk to us. Ask us questions, criticize our presentations and challenge our arguments. But don’t try to silence people because you don’t like what they say.”
Lega, a former Gothenburg city council member for the Christian Democrats, added that “the reason Conricus was invited is that he has experience both as an international spokesman for the IDF and as a U.N. official.”