Swedish Radio apologizes for asking if Jews cause anti-Semitism

STOCKHOLM -- Sweden's public radio network has apologized for asking Israel's ambassador whether Jews have any responsibility for growing anti-Semitism.

In an interview Tuesday, a Swedish Radio reporter asked Ambassador Isaac Bachman about the causes of anti-Semitism and whether Jews themselves had any responsibility. Bachman rejected the question, saying it was like asking whether a rape victim was to blame for what happened to her.

Swedish Radio later apologized for the question, saying it "is misleading and blames both individuals and a vulnerable group. The Jewish community has experienced horrific terror and has all of our sympathy and condolences."

News chief Anne Lagercrantz said the reporter personally apologized to the ambassador on Wednesday. In a rare move, the network also deleted the question from a recording of the interview on its website.

The ambassador said he felt it was an honest apology.

"It was an inappropriate question that should not have been asked. The attitude that we must have done something to experience anti-Semitism is troublesome," Bachman said.

Anti-Semitism in Europe has been on the rise in recent years, with a noticeable spike coming after the Israel-Hamas war last year in the Gaza Strip.

Earlier this week, hundreds of graves were vandalized at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France. Images posted to social media purported to show Nazi swastikas painted on some grave stones at the cemetery:

And after a gunman in the recent terror attacks in Denmark appears to have targeted Jews at a Copenhagen synagogue, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu encouraged Europe's Jews to leave.

"Again, Jews were murdered on European soil just because they were Jews," Netanyahu said at the start of his Cabinet meeting on Sunday. "This wave of attacks is expected to continue, as well as murderous anti-Semitic attacks. Jews deserve security in every country, but we say to our Jewish brothers and sisters, Israel is your home."