COPENHAGEN, Denmark - A 38-year-old Swedish-Kurd was assaulted with bottles and a metal pipe last week in the Swedish city of Malmo after displaying an Israeli flag from his kitchen window.
Ismail Aryan Babak, a Kurd born in northern Iraq before moving with his family to Iran, said that someone first smashed the window where he had hanged the flag. When he went out to enquire, he was beaten by several people waiting outside his home.
Babak told the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that he likes Israel, and that is why he had the flag.
“First they said to me 'You Kurds should not have your own state'. Then another one asked why I had the flag," Babak told Aftonbladet. “They had an iron pipe and bottles,” he told the paper. He was hit twice on the head with a bottle then beaten on the legs with the metal pipe.
Babak is originally from a village in northern Iraq that had a population of Jews, who have emigrated from Iraq in large numbers due to threats and attacks.
"I like Jews and Israel. For me it is no stranger than hanging a Swedish flag in the window," he told the Swedish SvD Nyheter.
In addition, Babak is very active on social media networks against the Iranian regime. One reason for the attack may have been his opposition to the theocratic regime in Iran, he said.
Israel is very much in the news these days.
Many Iraqi Kurds have appreciated recent statements by top Israeli officials in support of Kurdish independence as Iraq hurtles toward a break-up under sweeping jihadi-led military advances and a Sunni insurgency.
On the other hand Israel’s massive attack on Gaza, the worst Palestinian-Israeli bloodshed in two years in which 160 Palestinians have been killed, has enraged many Arabs and other Muslims around the world.
According to official statistics from 2012 reported by SvD News, most anti-Semitic hate crimes occur in Malmo, which has a large Arab population.
“The Swedish police have not yet made any arrests, but have talked to witnesses,” said Linda Pleym, press officer at Malmo police. "We have no suspects. We believe it is a hate crime."
The Kurdish community in Sweden has condemned the attack.
Kurdo Baksi, a Green Party politician in Sweden who was elected as an alternate to the European Parliament in May, said there have been many attacks on Jews and Israel-linked individuals in Malmo.
"Unfortunately, we have again witnessed a political hate crime. It is sad," he said. "We should be able to live together despite differences."
Sukri Demir, a former member of the city council in the Swedish city of Solna who has been active in various Kurdish associations, feared for more such attacks.
"In a democratic country with freedom of speech people should respect others' right to hanging the flag they want. I am afraid that we are going to see more such attacks in the future," Demir said.
Before Babak was attacked, the Israeli flag had been hanging from his window for two years, without incident.
David Jano, an Israel expert working with a university in Denmark and in Israel, said the attack was influenced by events in the Middle East.
"There is much focus on Israel right now, because the fighting in Gaza had restarted. Therefore there is a large anti-Israel sentiment among Arab groups," he said.
Israel on Sunday said it was accepting an Egyptian-proposed truce to stop the fighting.
