Jewish students in Sweden are hiding their identities. They walk to class in fear, avoid social media, and feel abandoned by their teachers and universities. This is not happening in some extremist environment. It’s happening in ordinary classrooms. And it must stop.
We often talk about the importance of a good education – how it shapes the future, builds society, and forms values and citizens. And that’s true.
But we speak far too rarely about what happens when education goes wrong. When it fails not only in knowledge but in morality. When the classroom, which should be a place of safety and learning, becomes a platform for ideological abuse and sometimes even antisemitism.
It’s easy – and right – to scrutinize religious schools, to question honor-based culture, gender roles, and religious influence, and we must continue to do that.
But the question is: Are we equally willing to look critically at our own public schools? At respected high schools? At Swedish universities?
Jewish students describe feeling uncomfortable on campus
Recently, I listened to two young Jewish university students describing, through tears, life on campus after October 7: How old friends had turned away. How it felt walking past pro-Palestinian protests where slogans often crossed the line from criticizing Israel to targeting Jews. How they now hide their Stars of David, have left social media to avoid being singled out, and take detours to school – because they are afraid.
Not just afraid of other students’ reactions but afraid because no adults seem to stand up for them. Teachers they once trusted are now silent. Or worse, they openly take a side, with no thought about what that signals to their Jewish students.
A Saturday article in Svenska Dagbladet exposed a shocking incident at a Stockholm high school. During a religious studies class, the teacher showed a video – not about Jewish faith, traditions, or texts – but a fiery political speech condemning Israel as a brutal, inhuman colonial power and describing Hamas as “true resistance fighters.” Jews who oppose Zionism are held up as the only “good” Jews.
The video was shown without context, without discussion, and without giving students a chance to reflect. Instead, the teacher reportedly applauded it, and the students followed.
One of the students in the room was Jewish. She later described feeling alone, unseen, and afraid.
The school’s principal declined to comment. The teacher has not been fired.
And this is exactly where responsibility must begin. Because if schools don’t uphold our most basic values: human dignity, religious freedom, and student safety, then who will?
People are entitled to different views on the war in Gaza. Some place the blame solely on Israel, others on Hamas following the terror attack on October 7.
That debate will continue. But we must agree on one thing: Jewish students in Sweden should not have to hide who they are. They should not feel unsafe, ignored, or accused because of their identity.
Teachers must not use their authority to push one-sided political views that risk fueling hatred. And school leadership must not look away.
We rightly demand accountability from others – from faith-based schools, mosques, and immigrant groups seen as not sharing our core democratic values. But are we as willing to examine ourselves?
Our own schools are not immune. Our universities are not always neutral.
Even in classrooms that seem fine on the surface, Jewish students are being failed.
When young Jews in Sweden say they no longer feel safe at school, we need to listen. When they say their fear is dismissed because “others are suffering more,” we’ve lost our moral compass.
Empathy is not a zero-sum game. We can grieve the suffering of civilians in Gaza and still defend the right of Jewish children to feel safe here in Sweden.
It’s time we talk about this. This is not about politics. It’s about responsibility; it’s about decency.
Education isn’t just about knowledge. It’s about values. And when the adults in the room fail to protect those values, we must speak up. Silence is not neutrality.
Education that makes students afraid is not worthy of the name.
The writer is a former member of the European Parliament and currently serves as a senior adviser to the European Jewish Association. He is active in international human rights advocacy and a longtime voice against antisemitism.