Antisemitic Sticker on Stockholm Shoe Store Draws Condemnation

An antisemitic sticker placed on the front of a shoe store in central Stockholm on Saturday prompted widespread public outrage and condemnation from Israel's ambassador to Sweden and Jewish leaders. The store owner removed it along with a sticker associated with the boycott movement against Israel following the backlash.

The boycott sticker described the premises as an "Apartheid-free zone." Beside it, another sticker declared a "Jew-free zone," displaying the German word for Jew inside a Star of David. The wording recalled Judenfrei, a term used by the Nazis. The placement of the two messages became central to the criticism and to the explanation offered by the person responsible for the second sticker.

Swedish street artist Dan Park affixed the second sticker and posted about the incident online. Park, who has previously been convicted of incitement involving Nazi symbols, defended his action by presenting it as a "blunt translation" of what he claimed was the boycott campaign's underlying meaning. His explanation framed the sticker as a comment on that campaign.

Israel's ambassador to Sweden, Ziv Nevo Kulman, responded on X, saying the discussion was abhorrent regardless of whether the sticker was meant to expose antisemitism in the boycott movement. He said the episode demonstrated how normalized antisemitism had become and called for an uncompromising response: "There must be zero tolerance for antisemitism, in any form."

Sacha Roytman, chief executive of the Combat Antisemitism Movement, also condemned the display. He linked its language to the Nazi term Judenfrei and criticized the appearance of such wording on a European storefront decades after Nazi Germany's defeat. Roytman argued that hostility toward Israel was being used to legitimize direct attacks on Jews under the cover of political activism.

The reaction extended beyond those statements to social media, where users and activists directed criticism at the Swedish government. They accused authorities of silence and helplessness in the face of public expressions of hatred. Their demands focused on decisive enforcement by elected officials, with critics calling for action beyond statements of condemnation.

Park has a history of provocative acts involving Nazi imagery. In an earlier incident, he placed a canister bearing the label "Zyklon B" next to a swastika outside the Jewish Community Center in Malmö. He was also convicted in April of incitement against a protected group.