Jerusalem vents fury after Swedish foreign minister Wallstrom calls for a probe into “extrajudicial killings” of Palestinian attackers. Wallstrom told last year PM and FM would not meet her if she came.
Officials from Stockholm are currently unwelcome in Israel, deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely said Wednesday, a day after Sweden’s foreign minister, Margot Wallstrom, called for an investigation to determine whether Israel has been conducting extrajudicial executions of Palestinians during the current wave of violence.
“Israel is closing its gates to official visits from Sweden,” Hotovely said during a briefing for future Israeli diplomats currently taking the cadets’ course.
“For over two years, relations with Sweden have been at some level of disconnect,” she said. “That is, we have refused visits by the Swedish foreign minister in Israel. At the clearest level, the State of Israel is sending a very stark message to Sweden that says that [when] you encourage terror [in Israel], you encourage Islamic State to act in all parts of Europe: in Brussels, in Paris.
“We’re currently at the front line of the battle against terror,” Hotovely added. “[Wallstrom] is de facto supporting it, encouraging it, and the State of Israel is sending a blunt message.”
Her chief of staff, Noam Sela, later told the Times of Israel that there had been various requests by Swedish officials for visits, but that Jerusalem had decided not to “advance” them. “Our relations are currently not at their very best, to say the least. We’re not interested in hosting them here.”
Later, Sela clarified that only the foreign minister and her deputy would be barred from Israel.
A senior Israeli official said prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unaware of any changes in Jerusalem’s foreign policy to bar Swedish officials from entering the country, according to Haaretz.
Indeed, at the very time Hotovely appeared to bar all Swedish officials from entering the country, the third deputy speaker of the Swedish parliament, Esabelle Dingizian, was in Israel on an official visit. A delegation of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences is also visiting Israel and has met with senior Israeli officials.
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