– A Swedish watchdog on anti-Semitism accused a far-right lawmaker of spreading racist stereotypes of Jews in speaking against “control of media by any family or ethnic group.”

Anna Hagwall, a lawmaker for the Sweden Democrats party in the Riksdag, Sweden’s national legislative body, submitted a motion on Sept. 30 that proposes to condition state subsidies of media in Sweden on the plurality of entities that own the publications.

In a statement to the Aftonbladet daily, she named specifically the Bonnier Group — a privately held Swedish media group of dozens companies operating in 15 countries that was started and is still controlled by the Bonnier family, which has Jewish roots.

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Opposing state funding for local publications owned by the group, Hagwall wrote in the email: “Let the small Bonnier newspapers in the provinces go under. No family, ethnic group or company should be allowed to control more than 5 percent of the media” market.

Her statement triggered rebuke within her own party and by the Swedish Committee Against Antisemitism.

“The anti-Semitic myths fueled by a member of the Swedish Parliament are frightening,” the committee’s chairperson, Svante Weyler, wrote in a statement published Thursday.

By “implying that an ethnic group controls the media, Hagwall indulged in anti-Semitic propaganda on the notion that Jews control the media,” Weyler added. “This type of attack against Bonnier has a long tradition that continues to this day, not least in right-wing propaganda.”

Mattias Karlsson, a leader of the Sweden Democrats, said in a statement Thursday that Hagwall’s actions “have damaged our confidence in her” and “will have consequences for her future activities in the party and its parliamentary work.”

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