Relax. It’s just the biathlon. What could possibly go wrong?
“Sweden: State-funded Muslim ‘Sniper’ Training,” by Pamela Geller, January 17, 2016:
No, this is not the Onion. But it is madness.
Why would Sweden give sniper training to Muslim refugees?
This story from the Swedish publication Allehanda is from 2013, but it is well worth revisiting now. Is this training continuing? Where are the Muslim migrants who have gone through this training now? What are they doing?
Allehanda’s original article now contains this “clarification” in English: “Because of the recent international citations of the 2013 Allehanda article ‘Laddad för prickskytte’, I as News Editor feel that a few clarifications are in order. Several websites refers to the immigration project in Sollefteå as ‘sniper training’. This is not a correct description. The word sniper training implies military combat education which is something completely different from this. Although the refugees in the pictures can be seen holding what looks like sniper rifles, it is in fact biathlon sports equipment. Biathlon is since the 1960s recognised as an Olympic discipline, and the Sollefteå Ski High School runs an international upper secondary school programme for elite competitors. This is where the refugees were invited to try rifle shooting, the only element of biathlon possible in the summer. It was done by the authorities as part of their work with local immigration. I hope this clarifies the circumstances surrounding this article.”
So it supposedly wasn’t sniper training, but rifle shooting, and that makes it OK?
“Charged up for sniping,” Allehanda.se, June 2, 2013 (Google Translate):
It began on a small scale in the fall. But in the spring, interest exploded. Now shoot more than 50 immigrant youths dot on the biathlon course in Sollefteå.
Maria Ibrahim loading rifle and lies down on the green rubber mat. She is aiming carefully and long before she pushes against the classical target of five black dots.
The white caps fall into place one by one. Five hits out of five possible.
– I think this is a good activity, she says.
– It’s fun to learn how to shoot, and we have fun together. We laugh a lot. If this continues into the fall, I will certainly be with!
Over 50 young immigrants have found the biathlon track at Hallstaberget. His Nauclér, which holds the course together with Björn Lindblom and Birgit Höglin, very satisfied.
– Already the sample meeting in March, more than 50 young people from all over the world – Syria, Afghanistan, Africa, South America. And it has persisted. They are interested and very talented, and some come from war-torn areas has never been a problem.
All the young people go to the individual program in upper secondary school, focusing languages. Teacher Birgit Höglin points out several advantages.
– It’s much more than the sport itself, she says.
– Here they talk Swedish in other social contexts, meet new people and hang out in other forms. It is good especially for the vocabulary. Moreover, it is sure discipline and security, is also a useful experience.
His Nauclér agree.
– Very safety is very important. The inches we do not!