Israeli-swedish relations

Sweden voted in favor of the UN Plan for the partition of Palestine proposed by UNSCOP (Chairman Swedish lawyer Emil Sandström) in 1947, which became the legal basis for the formation of the State of Israel. The kingdom also offered the services of Count Folke Bernadotte , a Swedish diplomat, to assist the UN in negotiations between Arab and Palestinian residents. The Swedish aristocrat achieved a shaky truce between the newly formed State of Israel and its Arab neighbors, who were planning to attack Israel in May 1948, and then tried to agree on a longer truce. On September 17, 1948, an underground group, Lehi , also known as Stern Gang, killed Bernadotte. The operation was led by Yehoshua Zettler, the performers became a group of 4 people under the command of Meshulam Makover. Deadly shots were fired by Yehoshua Cohen. The UN Security Council described the murder as "a cowardly act that the criminal terrorist group probably committed." ^[2] Lehi regarded Bernadotte as a protege of the British and Arabs, and as a result, saw him as a serious threat to the emergence of the State of Israel and were afraid that the interim Israeli government would accept his plan, which Lehi considered disastrous. ^{[3] [4] [5] [6]}

Shortly after the assassination, the Israeli government issued a decree to prevent terrorist activities and declared Lehi a terrorist group. ^[7] Many members of Lehi’s organization were arrested, including its leaders Nathan Elin-Mora and Matitiaga Shmulevich. Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion quickly outlawed Lehi as "a gang of robbers, cowards, and vile intriguers," but 5 months later he announced a general amnesty and released them all. ^{[8] [9]} Sweden believed that the killing was planned more by the Israeli government than by solitary terrorists. She considered the investigation and its consequences disproportionate to the crime committed. A police investigation was not launched in the first 24 hours after the murder, and, according to Israeli historian Amistur Ilan, the investigation was "amateurish." Only in 1995, Shimon Peres officially expressed "regret that he was killed in a terrorist way." Sweden, for its part, tried to delay the adoption of the State of Israel at the UN. Relations between Sweden and Israel remained cool as a result of the assassination of the count, and also because Israel pardoned the perpetrators. ^{[10] [11]}

Relations between Sweden and Israel were good in the 1950s and 60s when Tage Fridtjof Erlander served as Prime Minister of Sweden. He expressed strong support for Israel during the Six Day War. ^[12]

Olof Palme , who succeeded Erlander as head of government and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Sweden in 1969, was more critical of the United States and its allies, including Israel. In 1969, the SDPS adopted neutrality regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. ^{[13] The} new political course was adjusted by Swedish diplomat Gunnar Jörring, special. envoy gos. UN Secretary (the so-called Yerring mission). ^[13]

In October 1973, during the Doomsday War, Swedish Foreign Minister Wickmann, Christer, criticized Israel and stated that the problems in the Middle East could not be resolved by military superiority. ^[13] In June 1981, Sweden condemned the Israeli attack on the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq as "an apparent violation of international law." ^[14] In July 1982, after the First Lebanon War, Prime Minister Olof Palme compared Israeli treatment of Palestinian children to how Nazi Germany treated Jewish children in concentration camps and ghettos during World War II. ^[15] In December 1988, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat visited Stockholm at the invitation of the Swedish government. After two days of negotiations, Arafat announced that he now recognizes Israel’s right to exist and ceases all terrorist activities. ^[16]

In October 1999, Swedish Prime Minister Hans Goran Persson visited Israel, offering his services as an intermediary in a Palestinian-Israeli peace settlement. Persson’s visit was the first official visit of the head of the Swedish government to Israel since 1962, when Swedish Prime Minister Tage Erlander first visited the country. ^[17]

In January 2004, the Israeli ambassador to Sweden, Zvi Mazel, destroyed the artistic image of the Swedish-Israeli artist Dror Feyler at the exhibition of the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm. The painting was an image of a Palestinian suicide bomber Hanadi Jaradat in the form of “Snow White”. Mazel’s actions caused a diplomatic scandal in relations between the two countries.

During the Second Lebanon War of 2006, Swedish Foreign Minister Ian Eliasson criticized both Hezbollah’s actions and the Israeli response to them. ^[18] During a military operation in Gaza in January 2009, Foreign Minister Carl Bild criticized Israel and called for an immediate ceasefire. ^[19]

In August 2009, a diplomatic scandal arose after the publication in the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet , which claimed that the IDF was implicated in the "cultivation of organs" from the killed Palestinians. Israel called on the Swedish government to condemn the article, which was described as a "manifesto of anti-Semitism" and the modern " blood libel ." ^[20] The Swedish government refused to do so, citing freedom of the press and the constitution of the state.

The Riksdag elections were held in October 2014 and the majority Social-Democratic Workers Party of Sweden , which received the majority, formed a government led by Stefan Leuven . He announced that Sweden recognizes the independence of the State of Palestine because “the conflict between Israel and Palestine can only be resolved on the principle of“ two states for two peoples ”... A solution involving the formation of two states requires mutual recognition and the will for peaceful coexistence. Therefore, Sweden recognizes the independence of Palestine. ” ^[21] In response to this statement, the office of Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated that“ he regrets that the new Prime Minister hastened to make a statement on Sweden’s position on the recognition of Palestinian independence, obviously before how he had time to carefully study the problem. ” ^[22] and that the ambassador of Sweden will be invited to“ talk ”about this. ^[23] Lieberman also stated: “Leuven hastened to make a statement ... obviously, before he could delve into the study of the problem and understand that it was the Palestinians who were hindering the whole process” in achieving peace with Israel. He also urged Leuven to “focus on the region’s more important issues, such as the daily massacres in Syria, Iraq, or elsewhere.” ^[24] Israel recalled its ambassador from Sweden, Isaac Bachmann, for consultations; he returned to his work a month later. In December, Lieberman announced that he intends to boycott his Swedish counterpart’s visit to Israel, and added that “relations in the Middle East are much more complicated than IKEA furniture that you can assemble yourself.” Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström responded to Liberman’s sharp remark. : “I will gladly send him the packaging of an IKEA piece of furniture. He will be able to see that in order to bring everything together, first of all, a partner is needed. And we need to work together with him, and we need good assembly instructions, and I think we have most of these components. ”In January 2015, it was announced that she canceled her visit to Israel without further details. The purpose of the visit was primarily to commemorate Raoul Wallenberg , a Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Jews from being sent to concentration camps by issuing Swedish documents to them during World War II. ^[25]

In August 2018, Swedish businessman Stefan Abrahamsson organized a ship that sailed to Israel from Sweden as a sign of solidarity with the Jewish state, unlike the “freedom fleets” that sailed to the Middle East from Sweden in support of Gaza residents. According to the plan of the seafarer, the ship should arrive at the port of Herzliya in mid-October 2018. ^[26]

The Swedish chain of clothing stores H&M opened its first store in Tel Aviv in 2010, and later another 5 stores in other cities in Israel. It is planned to open several more stores in the area of ​​Greater Tel Aviv (Gush Dan). ^[27]

In 2014, Israel exported $ 185 million worth of goods to Sweden, mainly electronics, ^[28] while Sweden exported $ 491 million worth of goods to Israel: vehicles and machinery. ^[29]

The Swedish-Israeli Friendship Association is an organization based in Sweden that works to expand cultural ties between the two countries. It was founded in Stockholm in 1953, has local offices in Gothenburg and Malmo, opened a year later. Today, the association includes 26 local branches with approximately 3,000 employees. ^[thirty]

• Judaism in Sweden