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”.

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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.”

Here’s what we know:

Who is Simona Mohamsson?

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.

In 2024, she represented Sweden at the European parliamentary elections, and in 2025, was appointed as the next leader of the Swedish Liberal Party.

After becoming leader of the Liberal Party, she wrote on her social media platforms: “Sweden is facing major challenges where liberal politics in a bourgeois government is the answer.

“To create a Sweden to believe in, we need to step up the work of getting the schools in order, stopping gangs and clearing out crooks from welfare,” she added.

She is the author of the 2021 book, Hongkong, which chronicles Hong Kong’s fight for democracy and human rights amid China’s influence.

Mohamsson is a supporter of the European Union and has pushed for Sweden to militarily help Ukraine in its war against Russia. While she has not made many public comments on Israel’s genocide in Gaza or the United States-Israel war on Iran, she has focused on how these conflicts have triggered anti-Semitism in Sweden and campaigned on this issue.

Why did Mohamsson wear the Star of David?

On Monday night, Mohamsson wore a necklace featuring the Star of David during a televised political debate before Sweden’s elections in September.

“I carry the Star of David for the children who do not dare to do it in today’s Sweden,” she said.

In response to criticism of her following the TV broadcast, she told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet: “I think it is especially important if you have the background that I have, with parents who come from the Middle East. For me, it is obvious that Sweden should be a sanctuary for Jews. It is also important to show a distance from the forces that try to instil fear and who use a conflict to spread anti-Semitism.”

Mohamsson has also accused members of Sweden’s Left Party of enabling anti-Semitism to grow by sending “love letters to Hamas”.

She was referring particularly to Swedish politician Ilona Szatmari Waldau, who sent letters to a senior Hamas member who is in prison earlier this year. Waldau, however, has since apologised, saying the letters were meant to serve as a message of solidarity with Palestinian prisoners and not for anyone who incites violence.

What response has there been?

Mohamsson’s Star of David necklace has prompted debate about anti-Semitism in Sweden but has also led to her facing online threats, according to Aftonbladet.

Valley Ghanem, Malmo city’s anti-Islamophobia adviser, who described Mohamsson’s actions as “self hatred”, also appeared to threaten her.

“May she be burned,” Ghanem wrote on social media. She later retracted this, however, saying: “That comment was unnecessary but I wrote it in emotion in response to children in Gaza being burned alive as a result of Mohamsson’s policies.

“What I mean is, of course, not that anyone should be burned in a worldly sense, but at the same time it is important that we do not shift the focus from the real issue; that a genocide is taking place for which Israel is responsible.”

Why is the Star of David controversial?

The Star of David is a symbol representing both the Jewish faith and the State of Israel.

Critics claim using it leads to the conflation of criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. According to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, anti-Semitism “is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews”.

Mohamsson has largely steered clear of commenting on the Israeli war on Gaza other than to call for humanitarian solutions and the release of the Israeli captives who were held in Gaza from September 2023.

When asked in 2025 about whether Sweden should move its embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as the US had done in recognition of Jerusalem as the “capital” of Israel, she said: “I think our role should be to focus on reducing humanitarian suffering and getting the hostages back home.

“I think it’s pretty bad if Sweden, instead of working together with other European countries for realistic proposals that can get Israel to receive humanitarian aid and push Hamas to release the hostages, instead focuses on other issues. It’s unfortunate and wrong at the time.”

On rising anti-semitism, she has also previously said: “Anti-Semitism is spreading even in our schools. Teachers report difficulties in speaking plainly about the Holocaust and contemporary anti-Semitism, and that these topics are sometimes relativised or met with silence. This is a development we can never accept.”

Some other Swedish politicians of Palestinian heritage, including Jamal El-Haj, a member of the Social Democratic Party, have accused her party of remaining “silent on events in Gaza”.

Addressing Mohamsson directly in an article last year, El-Haj wrote: “Your father and I lived in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp.”

Is anti-Semitism on the rise in Europe?

According to the European Commission, anti-Semitic attacks have become more frequent since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023. In 2024, Sweden recorded more than 200 acts of anti-Semitic violence, a significant rise from the 111 recorded in 2022.

Nearly all European Jews surveyed by the EU’s Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in 2024 also said they had experienced anti-Semitism in the year before the study was carried out, with such incidents spiking since October 7, when Israel launched its bombardment of Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli villages and outposts, which killed more than 1,100 people.

A majority said they actively worry for their and their family’s safety and security.

The FRA report surveyed nearly 8,000 Jews across 13 EU countries – Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain and Sweden.

Reporting originally appeared via Al Jazeera. Read the full source for additional context.