The Swedes Throw A Tantrum Over Israel

Sweden's foreign minister Margot Wallstrom is angry at Israel, and she unloaded publicly today.

"It is unacceptable how they have been talking about us and everybody else," Wallstrom said in an interview with Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter. "It has irritated not only us, but the Americans and everyone who has anything to do with them right now."

She's in a snit because she was scheduled to arrive in Israel in mid-January in order to attend a memorial service for the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved Jews during the Holocaust. And, just a coincidence, to have meetings with high level Israeli officials. Instead, the Israeli government and Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman told her that those meetings weren't going to happen...at which point she canceled the trip, which gives you a good idea how much she and her government actually cared about honoring Raoul Wallenberg.

The reason for the Israeli government's response was Social Democrat Prime Minister Stefan Lofven using his inaugural address in parliament last year to announce that his country would recognize a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 lines.

Here's what the Swedish government actually endorsed by backing that: the creation of 500,000 Israeli refugees; the forced retreat of Israel to indefensible borders; the legitimacy of Hamas as part of the government of this new 'Palestine'; the casual tearing up of treaties and agreements signed by the PLO; and the redivision of Jerusalem and the barring of Jews forever from their holy sites.

Of course, what's really bothering Margot Wallstrom and the Swedish government is that those damned stubborn Jews won't roll over and appease Islamists - like Sweden, for instance.

In her interview, Wallstrom claimed Sweden supports Israel, Palestine and peace, but then she launched into the usual diatribe of 'anti-Zionists'

"Israel has been extremely aggressive," she said.

"They have continued with their settlement policies, they have continued demolitions, they have continued with their occupation policies which entail a humiliation of Palestinians, which makes the (peace) process difficult."

Yes, in her mind Hamas wasn't being aggressive at all in launching rockets at Israel civilians or in funding terrorist raids to kidnap and murder Israeli civilians. And Abbas and his Hamas allies haven't engaged in constant incitement, lawfare, terrorist attacks and failure to actually negotiate anything.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon tried to clue the Swedish people in during an interview broadcast on Swedish Radio, saying, "The Swedish foreign minister would not have been given any official meetings in Israel if she had traveled here. What Sweden did was an utterly unfriendly action."

It was more than just 'unfriendly.' Sweden may be famed for its neutrality but its Leftist government has essentially decided to pick sides in a war. Can they possibly be so clueless as to not understand that officials of Sweden's government aren't welcome in Israel, the country they chose to align themselves against?

And the government is backing up their choice with hard cash going directly to Hamas.

Margot Wallstrom may claim Sweden supports Israel and peace, but the actions of her government prove otherwise. Israel hardly needs enemies with the kind of 'support' they're getting from Sweden.