Wallstrom reportedly called for a thorough investigation to find out whether Israel is responsible for extrajudicial killings of Palestinians during a parliamentary session on Tuesday. His comments came in the wake of remarks made earlier in the day by Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, who said Israel was closing its door to visits from Swedish officials.
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A Palestinian tried to stab an Israeli soldier in the West Bank on Thursday and was shot dead, the army said, in the latest in a string of such attacks.
Some 155 Palestinians – mostly attackers, Israel says – have been killed in unrest since October.
The board of the United Methodist Church’s $20 billion Pension and Health Benefits Fund has voted to withdraw investments in Israel’s five largest banks, because they do not meet the Church’s new human rights policy.
Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Margot Wallstrom’s comments about the need for inquiry into Israeli “extrajudicial killings” in clashes with Palestinians are an ugly double standard against Israel.
For its part, the Palestinian Authority praised Sweden and welcomed the call for an investigation into Israeli “extrajudicial killings”, and further called on all countries to endorse “this courageous and humane” position, saying it is aimed at preserving the peace process.
“It’s outrageous, it’s immoral and it’s stupid”, Netanyahu said. “The Swedish Foreign Minister is suggesting that Israeli citizens offer up their necks to murders, who would stab them with their knives”. Sweden has been pursuing what has been called a feminist foreign policy since then one that has led to notable diplomatic spats with Morocco and Saudi Arabia.
An outbreak of mass demonstrations took place across Israel and the occupied territories by Palestinians in protest at Israeli raids into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the continued settlement expansion.
Her comments were echoed by her Chief of staff Noam Sela who told local media that Jerusalem has not responded to Swedish officials’ requests to visit Israel. Wallstrom had shot back: I will be happy to send Israel FM Lieberman an Ikea flat pack to assemble. It knew about the refugee camps, about Auschwitz and about Buchenwald, and that the gold in which they were being paid had been robbed from Jews, he said.
Relations between Israel and Sweden began deteriorating in 2014, after a center-left coalition won the country’s elections and subsequently recognized Palestine as a state. Exactly what that will mean in practice isnt clear.
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As if relations between Sweden and Israel weren’t already awkward enough, Israel will no longer host Sweden’s foreign minister.
