Displaying dolls in Holocaust uniforms hanged in nooses at an anti-Israel protest does not constitute a crime, a Swedish prosecutor has determined. After speaking with police, senior prosecutor Irene Falk decided to close the investigation.
“My opinion is that neither the message conveyed through the installation on site nor the photos shared on Instagram are intended to threaten or express contempt for Jews as a people group, she told state broadcaster SVT. “The question that I have taken a position on is an assessment of whether there is a threatening or disrespectful message in this message. After taking into account the overall picture of what the message was, my assessment is that this is not the case.”
No interrogations have been held, and nobody has been charged with a crime in relation to the purported “art installation.”
The installation featured a wooden scaffold with two hanged dolls dressed like Holocaust victims, including Stars of David. Below, a person in a Palestinian shawl cradled a doll meant to represent a child, alongside two figures resembling corpses in body bags. A banner above read, “A genocide is a genocide is a genocide.” Photos were shared on Instagram.
In a press release from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, Falk is quoted as saying,
I interpret the message as the creators suggesting that what is happening in the Gaza Strip is a genocide, just as the Holocaust was. In my assessment, the apparent comparison between the Holocaust and the conflict in the Gaza Strip does not, in itself, constitute a denial, justification, or clear trivialization of the genocide of the Jews.
The Jewish Central Council wants to appeal the closing of the investigation, spokesman Aron Verständig told SVT. “It is completely legitimate to criticize Israel, but when it crosses over into antisemitism, it is important for society to take a stand,” he said.
