Netanyahu called Lofven to express Israel’s dismay over repeated biased and false remarks made by Sweden’s foreign minister regarding Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called his Swedish counterpart on Sunday to protest recent remarks made by Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom that the cause of global Islamic terror was Israel’s mistreatment of the Palestinians, and accusations she made later that Israel was carrying out “extrajudicial executions” of supposedly innocent Palestinians, who were in fact terrorists killed while committing terror attacks.
According to a report by Israel’s IDF Radio on Monday, Netanyahu told Prime Minister Stefan Lofven that “this is the second time that she [Wallstrom] relates to Israel and says things we find unacceptable and that are incorrect.”
He also reportedly pointed out that Wallsrtom’s remarks exhibited a double moral standard when it came to Israel. “I did not see that she said last week in San Bernardino [the Islamic terror attack], or the terror attack in Paris that when police forces killed the terrorists, it was an extrajudicial execution like she said about Israel.”
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom (AP)
On Friday, Wallstorm accused Israel of carrying out “extrajudicial executions” of the terrorists at the scene of the attacks, describing it as a “disproportionate response.”
“The number of dead on the other side [is] greater than the original death toll by several factors,” she reportedly said.
Before that, in the wake of the Islamic terror attacks in Paris that killed 132, Sweden’s top diplomat suggested that “to counteract the radicalization we must go back to the situation such as the one in the Middle East of which not the least the Palestinians see that there is no future: we must either accept a desperate situation or resort to violence.”
Swedish ambassador to Israel Karl-Gustav Nesser was summoned “urgently” by Foreign Ministry Director-General Dr. Dore Gold for clarification in wake of the first statement.
Netanyahu also related to Wallstrom’s troublesome statements on Sunday during the weekly Cabinet meeting, calling them “scandalous remarks.”
“Apparently she expects Israelis to offer their necks to whoever wants to stab them. This will not happen and we will continue to defend the lives of Israel’s citizens,” he said.
There are reports that Israel plans further steps against Sweden over its hostile policies and statements against Israel.
Sweden has a history of anti-Israel bias. In October 2014, Lofven stated Sweden recognized the “State of Palestine” during his inaugural address in parliament, becoming on the first major European countries to do so.Then, too, Israel was angered and the move sparked a diplomatic row.
By: Max Gelber, United with Israel