Swedish minister of Arab descent faces threats after wearing Star of David

Swedish Minister of Education and Integration Simona Mohamsson is facing online threats and hate messages after wearing a Jewish Star of David during a televised election debate this week in a show of solidarity with Swedish Jews facing rising antisemitism.

Mohamsson, 31, is of Arab Muslim descent but identifies as an atheist. Her decision to wear the Jewish symbol has drawn particular attention as she has become an outspoken critic of antisemitism in Sweden, including within the country’s political left. Sweden is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections in September.

“I wear the Star of David for the children who do not dare to in today’s Sweden,” Mohamsson said according to an English translation published by the New York Sun.

Mohamsson, who serves as the leader of the Swedish Liberal Party, was born in Germany but grew up in Sweden from the age of eight. Her original family name was Mohammed, and she is the daughter of Arab immigrants from Haifa and Lebanon.

Despite her family background, Mohamsson has strongly criticized Sweden’s left-wing political establishment over its positions toward Israel and Palestinian terrorism. She previously blasted the Swedish Left Party for supporting jailed terrorists who killed Israelis in terrorist attacks, accusing the party of “sending love letters to Hamas and spreading fear on our streets.”

Her criticism was directed at Swedish lawmaker Ilona Szatmari Waldau, who sent a letter to Ahmad al-Moghrabi, a senior commander in the terrorist organization al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades who is serving several life sentences for plotting terrorist attacks against Israelis.

Following criticism, Waldau apologized in a Facebook post, saying she intended to express solidarity with Palestinian Arab prisoners but not with anyone convicted of violence.

Much of the online abuse directed at Mohamsson after she spoke out against antisemitism has reportedly come from radicalized Muslim individuals, who accused her of being “self-hating” and threatened her with “may she burn,” according to the Swedish daily Aftonbladet.

Antisemitic incidents have soared in Sweden since the Hamas October 7, 2023, massacre, which killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel. Mohamsson’s Liberal Party has repeatedly spoken out against antisemitism in Sweden, warning that both far-right and Islamist activists are contributing to the spread of Jew-hatred, including in Swedish schools.

“Antisemitism is spreading even in our schools. Teachers report difficulties in speaking plainly about the Holocaust and contemporary antisemitism, and that these topics are sometimes relativized or met with silence. This is a development we can never accept,” Mohamsson said in her capacity as Sweden’s education minister.

Sweden’s Jewish community numbers only around 15,000 people, while Muslims are estimated to make up between 8% and 10% of the country’s population of approximately 10 million.

Some 73% of Swedes said antisemitism has become a serious problem, according to a report published by the European Commission earlier this year.

Concerns over antisemitism have been particularly visible in Malmö, home to one of Sweden’s largest Jewish communities. In May 2024, when the city hosted the Eurovision Song Contest, local Jews expressed concern about rising antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment.

“The antisemitic messages are everywhere now in Malmö, whether on posters or in the press,” warned Yair Elsner, a local Israeli Jewish resident, at the time. “The anti-Israel propaganda is highly visible on the streets; anti-Israel stickers and decals are everywhere," he added.

Sweden has also faced concerns over Iranian-backed attacks targeting Jewish and Israeli interests. CNN reported in April 2025 that the Iranian regime employed local immigrant gangs of Middle Eastern descent to carry out terrorist attacks against Jews and Israelis in Sweden.