How a Swedish Palestinian minister raised controversy with Star of David

Simona Mohamsson, Sweden’s minister for education and integration, wore a Star of David necklace during a televised political debate this week, seeking to spread awareness about the rise of anti-Semitism in Sweden, she said.

Mohamsson, who is of Palestinian descent, said she wore the Star of David – the symbol of both the Jewish faith and the state of Israel – at the election debate on Monday night “for the children who do not dare to in today’s Sweden”.

She also criticised Left Party politicians for spreading anti-Semitism in the country.

While Mohamsson’s actions have been regarded as “powerful” by Sweden’s Jewish community, her Star of David necklace has prompted backlash from commentators in Sweden.

Malmo city’s official adviser on Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism, Valley Ghanem, a political scientist, wrote on Instagram: “I don’t think I can feel more disgust than this type of person: weak in body, evil in will, pitiful in her betrayal; a self-hating creature who has turned her hatred against her own.”

Mohamsson was born in 1994 in Germany, to a Palestinian father from Haifa, Israel, and a Lebanese mother. Mohamsson has, however, always identified as an atheist and not a Muslim.

The family moved to Sweden when she was eight years old and changed their surname from Mohammad to Mohamsson.

Mohamsson has been involved in politics from an early age. In 2021, she became a member of Sweden’s Liberal Party, a centre-right, conservative-liberal political party that is in a coalition government with the Moderate Party and the Christian Democrats, after having served as vice-chair of its youth wing.