In 1681, for example, 28 members of the families of Israel Mandel and Moses Jacob were baptised in the Stockholm German Church in the presence of King Charles XI of Sweden, the dowager queen Hedvig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, and several other high state officials.

King Charles XII (1697–1718) spent five years with an encampment in the Turkish town of Bender and accumulated a large number of debts there for his entourage.

Jewish and Muslim creditors followed him to Sweden, and the Swedish law was altered so that they could hold religious services and circumcise their male children.

In 1680 the Jews of Stockholm petitioned the king that they be permitted to reside there without abandoning their creed, but the application was denied because the local consistory had refused to endorse it.

On 3 December 1685, Charles XI ordered the governor-general of the capital to see to it that no Jews were permitted to settle in Stockholm, or in any other part of the country, "on account of the danger of the eventual influence of the Jewish religion on the pure evangelical faith."

On his return, several Muslim and Jewish creditors arrived in Sweden and Swedish law was altered to allow them to hold religious services and circumcise their sons.

After the death of Charles XII in 1718, the Swedish government was financially strained and the royal household was often relieved from pecuniary difficulties by the Jewish merchants of Stockholm who insisted, in exchange, for the granting of additional civil rights to themselves and their coreligionists.

In 1782 an ordinance was issued (judereglementet)[4] – due particularly to efforts of the prominent Liberal Anders Chydenius – by which Jews were restricted to reside in one of three towns: Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Norrköping.

The government was desirous of attracting wealthy Jews to the country, but it was equally careful to keep out itinerant door-to-door sellers of trinkets, some of whom had in previous years entered Sweden from Germany.

Any foreign Jew who landed in Sweden was accordingly required to report, within eight days of his arrival, to the local authorities, and to produce his passport and a certificate of character, as well as a statement of his purpose in coming to the country.

Jews who were residents of the country prior to the promulgation of this ordinance were called upon to present their certificates of character to the proper authorities, together with a statement setting forth in which city they desired to settle and make their living.

For every Jewish marriage celebrated a fee of six riksdaler was to be paid to the orphanage of the royal guards, this stipulation being intended as a compensation to the army for the exemption of the Jews from military service.

After a few years this place was found to be too small, and the Jews in the capital selected the old auction chamber at Tyska Brunn (German Well), where they worshiped until 1870, when the large Stockholm Synagogue was inaugurated at Wahrendorfsgatan (Wahrendorf street).

This controversy between sympathizers and antagonists of the Jews continued until 1840, when some members of the Estates of Peasants and Burghers inside the Riksdag petitioned the government to re-establish the ordinance of 1782 in its original form.

The efforts to create anti-Jewish sentiment in the Riksdag were, however, unavailing, and at a later session of that body (1853), when public opinion had turned more in favour of the Jews, they were accorded additional privileges.

Under the law of October 26, 1860, they were granted the right to acquire real estate in rural communities, whereas they had previously been permitted to own property in the cities only.

[citation needed] Also, Swedish immigration policy during the 1930s was restrictive against admitting Jewish refugees trying to escape the Nazi terror and mass murder into Sweden, before the deportations of Norwegian Jews began in 1942.

[7] During the last few weeks of the war and after liberation the Swedish Red Cross undertook a program, known as the White Buses, aimed to rescue Scandinavian concentration camp inmates.

After negotiations led by Count Folke Bernadotte some 15,000 inmates were evacuated in the last months of the war – half of them Scandinavians, including 423 Danish Jews.

In addition to the White Buses a train with some 2,000 female inmates, 960 of them Jewish, arrived in Padborg, Denmark, on May 2, and then further transported to Copenhagen and Malmö, Sweden.

The Stockholm community also boasts a primary school, kindergarten, library, a bi-monthly publication (Judisk Krönika) and a weekly Jewish radio program.

Per Gudmundson, chief editorial writer for Svenska Dagbladet and well known for his pro-Israeli stance for decades, has sharply criticised politicians who he says offer "weak excuses" for Muslims accused of antisemitic crimes.

[18] In February, following shooting attacks that left a filmmaker and a Jewish security guard dead in Copenhagen, Swedish public broadcaster Sveriges Radio asked the Israeli ambassador whether Jews were responsible for antisemitism.

[20] Siavosh Derakhti, Swedish social activist born of Iranian immigrants, founded an organization, Young People Against Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia.

In recognition of his activism to reduce prejudice and xenophobia, the government of Sweden presented him in 2013 with the Raoul Wallenberg Award, an honor named after the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews from Nazi death camps during WWII.

[34] Swedish newspapers and political leaders as well as Israeli media have criticised Malmö's then mayor, Ilmar Reepalu (a Social Democrat), for repeatedly "explaining" anti-Jewish incidents as reactions to Israel's policy towards Palestinians.

[42] In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph in February 2010, Reepalu was asked about reports that antisemitism in Malmo has increased to the point that some of its Jewish residents are (or are considering) moving to Israel.

Andreasson stated that he "had no reason to believe that Reepalu is a Jew-hater – ignorant, perhaps, unaware of the historical chains of thought-figures that lead to antisemitism, possibly – but mostly naive and honest—and stressed."

The characterization the reporter at Skånska Dagbladet made, portraying Reepalu as more interested in talking about Israel's aggressive politics then the problems at hand was unfair, he continued.

It could have ended with the op-ed for Sydsvenska Dagbladet on January 30 where Reepalu called it "totally unacceptable" to make Malmö's Jews responsible for what happens in Israel, Andreasson observed.