Glorifying Terror at Way Out West. A Fancy Architecture Firm Rejects Israeli Colleagues. And a Mob Threatens to Attack Israelis in Central Stockholm. Published in Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet: https://www.svd.se/a/VzExKW/jag-ar-israel-kan-jag-leva-har
It’s a spiral — it starts with a feeling of discomfort and eventually leads to avoiding certain environments. If, for example, you're a Jewish music lover and the Way Out West festival is a must on your events calendar, maybe this year you skipped it because of one of the festival’s main acts – Kneecap. The festival describes them as “controversial Belfast rappers creating music for the powerless and the voiceless.” It doesn’t specify who those voiceless people are, but a clue might be that one of the Irish rappers, during a performance, shouted “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” while wearing a Hezbollah flag. The oppressed and supposedly powerless turn out to be fascist, chauvinist, racist, antisemitic, and well-funded terrorist organizations.
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When the Swedish Jewish Central Council asked Way Out West to cancel the band, the festival chose to play the freedom-of-speech card – something they likely wouldn’t have done if it had been a band supporting far-right rather than far-left populists. But the real issue is that Kneecap gave the festival exactly what it seemed to want – an image of uncompromising, righteous rebels standing up to censorship and oppression. Music industry professionals know very well they have everything to gain and nothing to lose when B-list celebrities scream “Fuck Israel” while they whisper to each other that the Jews are once again whining about antisemitism and supporting genocide.
Way Out West is just one example. In October, Swedish Jews will likely also avoid Kulturhuset, which has chosen to use taxpayers’ money to fund a public discussion moderated by Shora Esmailian. The event marks two years to the October massacre of Israelis and Kulturhuset couldn't come up with a more suitable candidate than Esmailian. The same Esmailian who was moved by images of Hamas fighters invading Israel to massacre, rape, and kidnap hundreds of civilians, and who later explained that “the reason hostages were taken was because it’s the Palestinians’ only way to negotiate for freedom”.
Many Swedish Jews who have nothing to do with Israel’s war in Gaza feel deeply uncomfortable attending events where support for Hamas is tolerated. For their own sake, they stay away. Sure, they’re not being kicked out – not yet – but when it comes to Israelis, there’s a more proactive attitude.
Boycott is now the latest trend and a cheap way to craft a virtuous image.
A group of Israeli architects and designers who had scheduled meetings with Swedish colleagues ahead of their visit to Sweden received the following reply from an architect at White, one of Scandinavia’s leading architecture firms: “I’m relatively sure that neither you nor your fellow travelers support what the Israeli government is doing, so this might seem strange, but as long as the State of Israel continues its war tactics, we will have to pause tours and collaborations. See it as a form of pressure.”
It’s a revealing message. The sender assumes the group members oppose Netanyahu’s government and its Gaza policy — which many Israelis do. But it doesn’t matter. All Israelis are automatically canceled. If the Swedish architect truly cared about Palestinian victims and wanted to work toward ending the war, he would support more dialogue with Israelis, not less. But these symbolic gestures are solely about appearing virtuous and morally superior. It’s not even about buying into the absurd narrative that Israel is a colonialist project — because White has previously collaborated with Israeli colleagues. But now, boycotting is the trendy new stance and an easy way to signal virtue.
Who cares that millions of Israelis have fought for their lives and political freedoms over the past two years? Who cares that thousands of deadly rockets from six countries have rained down on them? Who cares that academic boycotts, trade blockades, and cultural isolation only strengthen the extremist forces on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides, while hurting the moderate, pragmatic voices trying to build bridges?
The spiral ends with a mob out on the streets, hunting for Israelis. “We don’t accept war criminals walking freely in our streets,” read a post calling people to gather outside a hotel in Stockholm where an Israeli tourist — spotted in the city center — was staying. Rumors began circulating on social media — “an IDF soldier in Stockholm!” — and the digital intifada took off. “Israeli passports should not be accepted at the border!” read one comment. “The problem is they usually have two passports — one from their real country and one from Israhell,” said another. Finally, came the demand for blood: “Let’s go there. Who’s coming with me? We should take the law into our own hands,” one user wrote on X, continuing: “Violence must be used.”
Is the goal to organize a lynching or to pose as humanitarian superheroes? It doesn’t really matter.
It’s easy to threaten tourists.
But what about me? I’m Swedish, but also an Israeli-Jewish Zionist. I write for Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper critical of the Gaza war. Still, like many of my colleagues, I’ve served in the IDF. That said, I thought I was fully integrated into Sweden and that my presence here was just as unconditional as anyone else’s. Is that no longer true? Like most Israelis, I’m not afraid of self-righteous bullies shouting “no Zionists on our streets” – so this is just a rhetorical question – I’m neither a tourist, an architect, nor a Way Out West fan. But I am a Swedish-Israeli who loves his country of origin – Am I allowed to walk your streets?
This is a tectonic and world-changing event, carried out by thousands of people supported by hundreds of thousands of people, as well as by movements, states and regimes. Not condemning it is supporting it. And the results are inevitable. Because of the horror that these people have inflicted on the world, an even darker night is to come before we will see the light.
A is my friend. He is a Burmese expatriate from Myanmar living in Europe. He is an academic, an educated and friendly person, and a veteran human rights activist. As a journalist who writes, among other things, about countries where acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing and human rights violations take place, I consult with various experts. A is one of them. This is the letter I sent him last week.
Hello, A. I am writing in response to your letter regarding the “colonial character and genocidal policy of Israel.” As you can imagine, I am quite busy these days, and as someone who is far away from his family in Israel, I am distracted. I am responding to you despite all this, mainly because your words opened with a reference to Auschwitz, a place where many of my family members were murdered about 80 years ago.
According to you, Israel is using the Holocaust as a “blank check” to justify the imprisonment, bombing and starvation of 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, almost half of whom are children. "In these circumstances, 'never again' is a hollow phrase," you write. “It becomes a call for uncontrolled violence, battle cries and a campaign of revenge and extermination." In the past and under different circumstances, I must admit that I might have agreed with you.
A, you must remember that we got to know each other after several occasions when you very generously shared with me your expertise, knowledge and experience regarding Myanmar. When I first contacted you, I wrote that as a journalist working in a free country, I felt obliged to tell the story of the victims of atrocities there – amongst others, the Rohingya people other minorities who have been suffering from genocidal policies for years since the military coup in 2021.
Since I am not an expert myself, I reached out to you, just as I reached out to many other experts, witnesses and human rights activists who could shed light on other places I wrote about, such as China, Ethiopia, Syria, Iran, Mexico, Belarus and Iraq.
This is an important point. As you know, there are complicated conflicts in many of these places about which there are different opinions. Still, my feeling was that we shared a real commitment to expose and fight certain types of acts which cannot be excused under any circumstances, regardless of the different narratives that explain the conflict. I mean the kind of actions that cannot be permitted even if there is no agreement on the history of the conflict or even on the identity of those responsible for it.
These actions include those that took place in Rakhine province in Myanmar, which I wrote about with your kind help. The barbaric murder, torture and rape of innocents that happened in your country is inexcusable. Political, ethnic, religious or demographic claims simply cannot justify throwing babies into fire, torturing children to death in front of their parents, and the mass rape of women before their execution. I thought we agreed on that.
This week, I received a long email from you, Dr. A. Extremely long. Long enough to clarify your words or even to add something along the lines of: "despite all this, of course I condemn [Hamas’ actions],” or even "despite the absolute truth of the Palestinian claims and genocidal policy of Israel, I do not justify killing civilians."
But there was none of that. Somehow, your post references 100 years of conflict prior to October 7 (including explanations using maps, cartoons, pictures, and quotes). And there is a reference to the days after October 7.
But the day itself, when over a thousand people, most of them civilians, were brutally murdered and over 200 people, again most of them civilians, were kidnapped, was completely absent. And it's strange given the fact that, as I recall, we share an interest in cases of throwing babies into fire, torturing children to death in front of their parents, and the mass rape of women before their execution. Yes, to make the point clear to a person from your background, for one historical moment, Israel's Gaza envelope region became Myanmar's Rakhine.
A, since I received your message, I have been trying to understand why you do not recognize October 7th. I understand your opinion about the essence of Zionism and the essence of Israel. I don't agree with it, but I understand your point. Still, there's that little matter of “under all circumstances.” Perhaps there is a certain type of fascist, fundamentalist, racist, and violent organization that, against your usual leftist positions, you actually do support.
But if so, what are the criteria? Is it because they are jihadists? Is it a matter of religion? Or that according to the accepted code of the post-colonialist discourse, the "natives" have certain Jew-killing privileges because of the many years of oppression they have endured? Oppression, which, as you know, I have never denied.
And maybe you are one of those who do not believe the photos, the direct testimonies of survivors, the explicit confessions of the attackers and the unwatchable and undeniable videos. Do all these not meet your strict standards? Strange, because we never applied such strict standards when I wrote about Myanmar.
Do you think it's all a conspiracy of Western governments spreading fake news? Is it all the settlers’ lies, supported by American imperialists? Are you really not affected by the testimonies of Israeli women, children and elders, many of whom, by the way, are peace activists who built their homes in socialist communes that are not in any way located in the West Bank or in any way disputed. Unless the very existence of Israel is disputed, a position I assume you hold since you treat Israel as a settler and colonialist entity.
And maybe I didn't understand what you meant. In this case, perhaps in the future, we can discuss the true nature of Israel. As you know from our previous correspondence, I never supported Netanyahu, I have always believed in compromise with the Palestinians and I am absolutely against any kind of war crime, including against civilians in Gaza. You also know that I am a social democrat and a person who is aware of the climate crisis and the hardships of the "global south.” But wait, here I am, once again falling into this trap. If I were not all of these things, if I were a Netanyahu supporter or a settler in the West Bank, would my massacre and that of my family members be justified?
Again, there's that "under all circumstances" nuisance. Even if the Jews were like the French in Algiers, and they are not, deliberate murder of innocents is always evil and mass murder is absolute evil. Among us Jews, even complete secularists like me sometimes recite from the ancient texts: “I have set before you today the heavens and the earth, life and death; I have set before you the blessing and the curse. Choose life, for your lives and for your descendants,” as it is written in the book that you call the Old Testament. Do you understand A? You chose life – without “buts” and without “maybes.” This is why I always opposed my own people murdering other innocent people. And you know what, I'm angry at myself for not resisting enough.
***
And so for the record, I want to mention that I believe that Jews, not just Palestinians, also have rights in the place where I was born. They have personal, social and national rights and they also have responsibilities that are well described in the Declaration of Independence of their country, our country, which was founded 75 years ago. You don't acknowledge that, which is probably the real reason you didn't mention October 7th in your message. If "Palestine will be free from the river to the sea," as they are now shouting in the streets near my house in Europe, the events of October 7th are probably not an accident in your eyes. They are the first step in the plan.
"Free from the river to the sea” means without the people who are living there now. This is not the two-state solution, nor a partition plan, nor a federation. I think with your education, you know exactly what it means. But in case it's not clear enough, I'll say it explicitly: Hamas is the genocidal wing of the Palestinian national movement, and it turns out that it has quite a few supporters. My friends say that such views stem from antisemitism, but I don't know what is hidden in a person's heart. How much darkness, how much hatred.
I also don't know what is hidden in your heart. But I know that October 7th was not another attack, another battle, another chapter in the bloody history of the Middle East. It cannot be solved with sentences like "I cannot be expected to condemn every action taken by the weak and oppressed.” This is a tectonic and world-changing event, carried out by thousands of people supported by hundreds of thousands of people, as well as by movements, states and regimes. Not condemning it is supporting it. And the results are inevitable. Because of the horror that these people have inflicted on the world, an even darker night is to come before we will see the light.
***
And so, as a wise man wrote during the World War II, you and I now stand on two sides. "My opinion is clear about your motives,” he wrote, “and you would do well to speculate on my motives.” And he added: "I have one more thing left to say to you, and let it be the last. I want to tell you how in the past we were so similar and today we are enemies. How could I have stood by your side, and and why everything between us is over now.”
And that's the thing. In Xinjiang and Syria, in Tigray and Iran, in Myanmar and Israel, acts like those committed by Hamas are not only the absolute lowest of what the human race is capable of. They also redefine the lines. If they do not fill a person's heart with unconditional anger and disgust, they place him outside the legitimate discussion of civilized people. If you can only find room in your heart for the pain of one side, that's your problem. But with your permission, I think I'll find myself a different expert on Myanmar.
Before I finish, I will ask just one last thing. Do me a favor – next time, please refrain from referring to Auschwitz. Not because I have a monopoly on the memory of the Holocaust or the memory of the victims. But because when it comes to the 1940s, those people on whose behalf you are currently campaigning, they tend to be something different than you imagine. When you remove the appearances of European leftist movements, those people tend to be supporters of the side that built Auschwitz, not of those led there to their deaths.
Students stay home from class or attend and suffer abuse, protesters call for Israel’s erasure, and radical Islamist groups operate unfettered. Sweden’s Jewish community fears for its safety against the backdrop of the war and mass killings in Gaza.
STOCKHOLM – It’s unclear whether Swedes are aware of what the country’s Jewish community has been facing – their neighbors, coworkers, customers, and teachers. The community has been in a state of anxiety since the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 and the start of Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip. Swedish Jews fear for their safety, and it seems the authorities aren’t grasping the urgency of the situation.
October 13. Threats by Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal to spark an international “day of rage” circulated through social media. Parents, many of them in mourning and worried about family and friends in Israel, wrote in private WhatsApp groups that the school’s regular security was inadequate. Some volunteered to watch the surroundings outside the school, and the local police stationed a patrol car nearby for a few hours.
Nonetheless, conversations with parents indicate that in some classes, at least half the students stayed home from school on October 13. Those who attended were strongly advised to avoid displaying Jewish symbols and refrain from speaking Hebrew.
A pro-Palestinian demonstration in front of the Swedish Parliament, October 2023. Photo: Hugh Gordon
A., a former Israeli who lives in Sweden, kept his shop closed on the same Friday, feeling he can’t protect himself and his customers. Another Israeli living in the country encountered violence on the Stockholm Metro after speaking Hebrew on his phone.
Another incident occurred to a man from southern Sweden whose mother is Jewish but who is not religious and does not display Jewish symbols. He describes receiving seven calls from an unknown number this week. A voice told him, “We know where you live. You should watch behind you when leaving home.” It added that he “should no longer live in the city.”
When he contacted the police, he was met with disappointment. They told him that there was nothing they could do because the call came from an unknown number. The police would only intervene if he could provide the caller’s name, an impossible demand for someone receiving an anonymous threat.
Multiple reports have also emerged of students receiving harassment over the Gaza war. The mother of a 16-year-old boy from a Jewish family who goes to a large high school in Goteborg gave one disturbing account. She says a girl stood up in class and shouted, “Slaughter, rape, and torture all the Jews” at her son. The teacher did not react, stop the girl, or report her to the principal, the mother says. The other students also stayed silent. She said they're now considering a transfer to another school.
Two classmates asked a Jewish boy in an elementary school in southern Sweden who he supported in the war. The boy, aged 10, replied that he supported Israel. The two others drew a crossed-out Israeli flag, crumpled it up, and threw it at him, saying, “We hate Israel.” The teacher present in the classroom did nothing until the student’s mother contacted him.
Such attacks and threats have been seen throughout Sweden, with the common denominator being that the victims were Jewish or Israeli.
Swedish academics have also been targeted. A renowned scholar in western Sweden was emailed threats after daring to publicly condemn the October 7 attacks. The head of one department at Uppsala University wrote a social media post stating, “Hamas gave Netanyahu and his radical right partners what they wanted.” Elsewhere, he wrote: “In 1940 and 1941, Hitler developed a plan to systematically starve 30 million Ukrainians, Russians, and Slavs. In 2023, Netanyahu is executing his ‘starvation plan’ in Gaza!”
A Jewish protester, Joanna Istner Byman, at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Stockholm, this week.Credit: David Stavrou
The cultural world has also been rife with tension. Seven hundred cultural figures published a petition urging an end to the “brutal violence in Gaza” and the end of “military, political, and financial support for Israel.” The petition did not mention Hamas’ terrorist attack, its victims, or the Israeli hostages in Gaza. Well-known Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg has taken several opportunities to express support for the Palestinians in recent days, omitting any mention of the Palestinian acts of terrorism last month or the Israeli victims.
The war between Israel and Hamas has reverberated throughout the public sphere in Sweden. Numerous demonstrations have been held since the war began, both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli. On the evening of October 7, hours after Hamas went door-to-door to brutalize and kill Israelis, thousands of people, including women and children, participated in rallies across the country. These featured music, dancing, and convoys of cars honking their horns to show support for the Hamas attack.
Even larger and fiercer demonstrations have been held in the subsequent three weeks. At these pro-Palestinian demonstrations, Israel is accused of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip and there are calls to erase Israel from the map. “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” cried the demonstrators in Sweden. The protests have also seen increasingly widespread calls for an “intifada.”
One of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations was organized by Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical Islamic group advocating for the creation of a caliphate ruled by Sharia law, which has a small branch in Sweden. It received permission for the demonstration despite being banned in several countries. Demonstrators called for a caliphate stretching from Uzbekistan to Morocco, a war between Islam and the non-Muslim world, and the liberation of “all of Palestine” through military force.
Most of the demonstrations held in Sweden since the war began have been organized by local organizations backing the Palestinians. One weekend in Stockholm's central Sergel Square saw three different organizations demonstrating separately, but with similar slogans. Beside the Palestinian organization, the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement, which has a few hundred members, was one of them, the Revolutionary Communist Youth, which argues that Palestinians have a right “to fight with every means against the occupying power to liberate their lands" was another. The latter described the October 7 attacks as an act of liberation that “caught the Zionists in their beds.”
The two organizations, one neo-Nazi and the other Marxist-Leninist, both endorse the Palestinian cry to “crush Zionism.” Another demonstration held in Stockholm’s main square a week later drew more than 5,000 people. Speeches by Palestinians and Swedish leftists called for “an intifada until victory” as they waved Palestinian flags, horrifying images from Gaza, and signs condemning the government’s support for Israel. None of the speakers at the pro-Palestinian demonstrations mentioned the Hamas attacks.
A demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Stockholm, Sweden, October 2023.Credit: Hugh Gordon
Mikail Yuksel, leader of the Nuance Party, which defines itself as the representative of Sweden’s minorities, with an emphasis on immigrants, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that he had participated in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Stockholm. Yuksel, born in Turkey and now a Stockholm resident, was once a member of Sweden’s Center Party. He was expelled for his ties with the Grey Wolves radical Islamic movement.
On October 7, Yuksel called for the removal of Hamas from the list of terrorist organizations. When Haaretz asked him about this, he replied, “If Hamas is considered a terrorist organization, it is impossible to hold a dialogue with it and reach an arrangement. So long as they are considered terrorists, we isolate and radicalize them. We are in favor of talking with them to reach a settlement.”
He added, “It’s no secret that we are a pro-Palestinian party. Israel is recognized by the UN as an occupying power, which commits war crimes and is an apartheid state. Israel must be stopped, and Netanyahu should be brought to trial at the International Criminal Court.”
Asked about the crimes committed by Hamas, Yuksel replied, “An occupied people have the right to use military force. Violence against civilians is not permitted to any of the sides. Everyone must lay down their arms and not point them against civilians to solve the dispute.”
While speaking with Haaretz, Yuksel condemned the attacks on civilians on October 7 as well as the “continuous Israeli attacks on Gaza.” His position is notable, as no Muslim organization in Sweden has condemned the attacks, including entities that previously cooperated with Sweden’s Jewish community and groups.
One pro-Palestinian demonstrator, prominent Muslim leader Rashid Musa, went as far as writing a sarcastic article mocking demands for condemnation in the national tabloid Expressen. “I, Rashid Musa, as a spokesman for 1.3 billion people worldwide, condemn the Hamas, condemn hummus, condemn Hassan, and [Swedish football club] Hammarby.”
Magnus Ranstorp, a prominent Swedish researcher on domestic Salafi-jihadism, terrorism, and radical groups, is concerned about more than just antisemitic slogans at the demonstrations and incidents at schools and workplaces. He says this could escalate to physical threats against Jewish and Israeli targets. A lecturer and strategic advisor at the Swedish Defense University, Ranstorp says two parallel crises are affecting Sweden’s security.
“The first is related to the burning of Koran books and a false campaign regarding the alleged kidnapping of Muslim children by Swedish welfare services,” he says. “This crisis has put Sweden in the crosshairs of organizations such as al-Qaeda, ISIS, and al-Shabab.
“The second crisis is the conflict between Israel and Hamas,” he continues. He says that according to the Swedish Security Service, there were about 2,000 Salafi-jihadists in various Swedish cities in 2017 who had a definite potential for violent activity.
In the cities of Malmö and Helsingborg, large Palestinian communities include families with members previously convicted of terrorist activities in Germany. Malmö is home to Scandinavia’s largest mosque, built recently with the help of millions of euros from Qatar. It is also home to civil society organizations like Group 194. Despite receiving municipal funding, the Swedish Palestinian group endorses terrorism, spreads antisemitism, and has connections to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which was involved in the October 7 attacks.
It also recently emerged that the Left Party had used taxpayer money to support a project related to the PFLP through an organization run by its Danish counterpart. Meanwhile, in May, a large Palestinian European conference was held in Malmö with the participation of Amin Abu Rashid, a Dutch Palestinian leader linked to Hamas.
Although the Left Party canceled its participation in the conference when it learned that Abu Rashid would be present, a member of the Social Democratic Party, Jamal el-Haj, ignored a prohibition by party leaders and participated. El-Haj is a member of parliament, and some say he was saved from being kicked out of the party because of his substantial political base.
Ranstorp notes the case of Die Wahre Religion (“The True Religion”), an organization outlawed in Germany. It was banned in part because some of the people connected to it volunteered and joined the ranks of ISIS. Nevertheless, it operated freely as a legitimate Swedish organization that promoted an educational project on Koran reading.
In another case, a Swedish activist named Ahmad Qadan raised money for ISIS and Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat-al-Nusra) and was sentenced to a few months in jail. It seems that his imprisonment didn’t change much. On October 7, he posted a video on social media of Israelis fleeing Hamas gunmen together with a quote from the Koran, “I will fill the hearts of the unbelievers with fear.”
The international organization Islamic Relief, founded in the U.K. in the 1980s, also has an official Swedish branch. The organization enjoys considerable financial support from the Swedish government and engages in humanitarian activities. Various governments, including the Israeli one, say it’s associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, however. According to Ranstorp, Sweden is an important European center for Islamic Relief and, therefore, the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe.
Ranstorp and others have spoken of this for years. Although politicians’ approach has changed somewhat, some say Swedish authorities and public opinion still don’t appreciate how grave things are. Swedish money ends up financing terrorism, and Middle Eastern money is invested in organizations that pose a risk to Sweden. The law allows public activities that threaten the country’s stability and security bodies.
In response to a query by Haaretz, the security service refused to estimate of current number of jihadi activists and organizations in Sweden. Asked about specific organizations, a spokesperson replied: “The Swedish Security Service does not go into details describing our operational activities. We follow violent extremists and assess the threat to prevent terrorist acts and other security threatening activities. We follow individuals and do not target organizations.”
Regarding the protection of Jewish institutions in Stockholm, the police said, “What security measures we implement, if and when we implement them, and in what way, is something we do not publicize.”
Despite several requests, Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer, who oversees the police, prosecutions, and the courts, declined to grant an interview to Haaretz.
Hizb ut-Tahrir in Sweden and the Palestine Solidarity Association of Sweden (Palestinagrupperna) did not respond to Haaretz's requests for comment. Greta Thunberg also showed no enthusiasm for speaking with Haaretz about the subject. When she was offered an interview in which she could clarify her position, a spokesman said, “Greta is not holding interviews at this time.”
Sweden’s new foreign minister, Tobias Billström, talks to Haaretz about recalibrating foreign policy, the importance of ties with Israel and the new government's far-right partners
STOCKHOLM – Swedish foreign policy has been unique for many years in Europe. The Scandinavian nation hasn’t joined military alliances since it was a military power in the 17th and 18th centuries, and hasn’t been involved in a war for over 200 years (with the exception of occasional peacekeeping missions far away from its borders). In the second half of the 20th century, its policy of avoiding alliances and maintaining wartime neutrality created a foreign policy that in many ways wasn’t about serving Swedish national interests. Instead, it was about becoming a “humanitarian superpower” and endeavoring to make the world a better place.
Naturally, there were those both at home and abroad who criticized this policy. Some saw Sweden’s attempts to position itself on the right side of history as self-serving, opportunistic and hypocritical. Others claimed its private sector’s thriving arms industry was incompatible with a government preaching peace, love and understanding. Another problematic aspect was Sweden’s close ties with a host of dictators and oppressive regimes.
Still, for decades, Swedish diplomats were crucial in bringing wars to a close. Swedish policymakers were generous when it came to humanitarian aid, and vocal when it came to issues like the struggles against apartheid and the Cold War arms race.
This tradition was maintained in recent years as well. As well as being the only Western European country to recognize a Palestinian state, Sweden did its best to export progressive ideas like “feminist foreign policy,” taking radical steps against climate change and building stronger international institutions.
“Since I took office, I’ve been very clear that we need a recalibration of Swedish foreign policy,” says Sweden’s new foreign minister, Tobias Billström. “We need to make some very clear statements about our priorities. One priority, above anything else, is the NATO accession. With that we also have to think about our neighborhood – the Nordic states, the Baltic states and the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea. This is where we’re putting our emphasis. It’s not a choice between being active in the international arena and being focused on our neighborhood. You can do both. What you can’t do is be everywhere all the time and be active in all aspects. We’ll have to prioritize.”
This may be a seismic change on the national level but it’s not for Billström, who notes that his party “has supported joining NATO for years. And I believe that the question of neutrality ended in 1995 when Sweden became a member of the European Union.”
No Jerusalem embassy yet
Billström, 48, is an experienced politician despite his relatively young age. He has been a parliamentarian for 20 years, serving as migration and asylum policy minister from 2006 to 2014, and was a local politician before that. The role he now holds is one of his country’s most important considering current regional instabilities. He meets Haaretz at his Stockholm office, which is located in a beautiful 18th-century palace facing the Royal Opera House on one side and the Royal Palace and Parliament House on the other. He has just accompanied the king and queen of Sweden on a state visit to Jordan, one of his first on the job. He says he’d like to visit Israel one day and thinks that Sweden’s relationship with Israel is “excellent following the establishment of dialogue in 2021.” Still, no official visit has as yet been planned.
Eight years ago, one of the first steps of the previous government was to recognize a Palestinian state. What is your government’s position on the issue?
“The decision to recognize Palestine in 2014 was premature and unfortunate. However, the decision has been taken and this government doesn’t plan to revoke it.”
But it wasn’t just about recognition. The previous government was very active in this field: it appointed a special envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; it actively opposed Israeli settlements in the West Bank; and it supported the Palestinian Authority and the two-state solution. Is Sweden’s new government still committed to these policies?
“On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the government stands firmly behind the EU policy. We want to see a negotiated two-state solution based on international law. That decision will remain. As for being active, we will continue to criticize the parties when called for, when violations of international law are committed and when human rights are abused. We’ll do that in the same way we criticize other states when it’s justified. This is in no way contrary to having excellent relations with Israel or Palestine. The government will at all times stand up for Israel’s legitimate security needs.”
Would Sweden consider moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to the capital, Jerusalem?
“Like the EU, the government will continue to respect the broad consensus of the international community and relevant UN Security Council resolutions and regard Jerusalem as a final-status issue. Pending a peace agreement, Sweden’s embassy will not be moved.”
Your government plans to cut foreign aid drastically in the next couple of years – will this affect Swedish aid to the Palestinians, and could this lead to a problem with Sweden’s Palestinian partners?
“Sweden’s development cooperation with Palestine, just like the EU’s, ultimately aims to build the conditions and promote a two-state solution in line with international law. This goal will remain. As we review our overall development cooperation, we will also recess our Palestine strategy, which applies to the period of 2020 to 2024.”
“The government takes terrorist accusations very seriously and several of these civil society organizations – which were listed by Israel as terror groups in October 2021 – receive support from the EU, the United Nations, Sweden and other donors. Together, the donors within the EU followed up thoroughly on the allegations and concluded that no substantial evidence was provided. The donors will therefore continue to support Palestinian civil society. We believe that a free and strong civil society is indispensable for promoting democratic values and the two-state solution. Needless to say, if Israel makes convincing evidence available that would justify a review in the policy toward these organizations, we would act accordingly.
“When it comes to antisemitism, it is of course unacceptable and it’s very important that the PA ensures that its textbooks fully meet UNESCO standards, and that the EU continues to be clear in its dialogue with the Palestinians to ensure that this is the case.”
Israel’s new government will be led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Are you confident that Israeli-Swedish relations, which have recently improved under another government, won’t deteriorate again under the new one?
“As Sweden’s foreign minister, I would like to see a good dialogue with countries we think we can maintain good relations with. The question of relations between Sweden and Israel is exactly about that: to have a dialogue on issues that we might disagree on – but we think it’s still a good thing to sit and talk about them.
“It’s not up to me as foreign minister of Sweden to say anything about Israel’s domestic policy. The people of Israel have a right to elect their government, just as the Swedish people have a right to elect our government. The important thing is to understand that in Sweden we cherish dialogue and would like to see it maintained.”
“It’s up to the Israeli government through its ambassador here in Sweden to choose with whom it wants to talk. As foreign minister, the case is very clear: the Swedish constitution says that foreign policy is shaped by the government, which keeps parliament informed. This means that since the Sweden Democrats are not part of the government, their influence is limited to exactly that – namely, parliamentary control, just like all the other parties represented in the Swedish parliament.”
A personal Holocaust story
As well as relations with Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, another Swedish policy to draw attention during the previous government’s term was the one concerning antisemitism and Holocaust remembrance.
For over 20 years, since a Swedish initiative started the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in 1998, Sweden has been considered a world leader in this field. Last year, the government organized a major international conference in Malmö dedicated to Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism. It also decided to open a new Holocaust Museum and accept the IHRA definition of antisemitism and its examples (which some have slammed for equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism).
When asked if his government is just as committed to combating antisemitism and preserving the memory of the Holocaust, Billström says: “Certainly! Combating antisemitism is very important and the new government is fully committed to doing so.”
Since Sweden is still struggling with many instances of antisemitism in schools, in some Muslim environments and in far-right circles, Billström knows the problem is still unresolved. “I will always be a very strong advocate against antisemitism,” he says. “We are working very closely with Israel on this. I appreciate the very fruitful cooperation with Israel during the IHRA presidency, and we’re looking forward to continuing the cooperation during Israel’s presidency in 2025.
“I would also like to make a personal remark on this,” he adds. “My grandparents in Malmö took in a Jewish family that escaped from Denmark across the Öresund strait, during the period in 1943 when the Gestapo tried to round up the Jews. I grew up with this story. I have this very nice diploma that says two trees were planted in their memory in Tzippori [in northern Israel] as thanks from this family. My grandmother and my mother, who remembers playing with the kids of this family, told me this story, and it has left a deep mark on me leading to my understanding of what the Jews and what Denmark went through.
“I’ve always believed that antisemitism is a horrible thing. When the Jewish burial chapel in Malmö was attacked during my time as migration minister [in 2009], I went there for the inauguration of the restored chapel and talked about my family’s story in my speech. For me, it’s obvious that there are examples of antisemitism in Swedish society that should be condemned, and it’s obvious there are people in our society who have not laid off the horrible idea that there are grounds for antisemitic persecution of people of Jewish origin in our society. That should always be combated – in schools, at workplaces, wherever we find it. As foreign minister of Sweden, this is something I have a very firm conviction about.”
What about the Sweden Democrats? Besides their past as a neo-Nazi party and many extremely problematic antisemitic opinions voiced by some of their leaders, the biggest party supporting your government supports various laws that could be problematic for Sweden’s Jewish community – such as forbidding circumcision and banning the importation of kosher meat. Are you sure your partnership with them won’t be part of the problem rather than part of the solution?
“I have to say that although there is certainly room for political debate concerning those aspects, as foreign minister it’s clear that the constitution limits their parliamentary influence. As to other issues you mentioned, they belong to areas under the influence of other ministers and I think that, again, under the limits of the constitution I shouldn’t be addressing them.”
One issue Billström is willing to address is Swedish-Iranian relations, which have been tense lately. A Swedish court recently sentenced an Iranian official, Hamid Nouri, to life in prison for war crimes committed in Iran in 1988. There are also two Iranian-born Swedes standing trial in Stockholm after allegedly spying for Russia, while Swedish nationals are also being held in Iran. The recent domestic demonstrations against the Iranian regime make it even harder for Sweden to maintain business as usual with the Islamic republic.
When asked if these events will bring about a change of Swedish policy toward Iran, Billström makes the Swedish position clear. He says that since Sweden has an independent judiciary, there is no government influence on verdicts in Swedish courts. This may be seen as a signal to Tehran about the government’s policy concerning the complicated court cases in both countries.
However, when it comes to the political arena, things are easier to act upon. “As we see it, there is no movement on the Iran nuclear deal,” Billström says. “But the developments in Iran are a source of great worry for Sweden, which also has a considerable Iranian diaspora. The violence directed against peaceful demonstrators is horrible. I had direct communication with the foreign minister of Iran a few days ago, and I was very frank about the way the Swedish government feels about this – we believe people shouldn’t be persecuted and that the use of the death penalty is absolutely unacceptable in every regard. However, we still feel there’s room for dialogue with the Iranian government on this – and the only way to influence them is by dialogue.
“We are also very clear that individuals who have participated in the persecution of demonstrators, and also those who have been involved in the sale of drones to Russia to be used in the war in Ukraine, should face sanctions. It’s very worrying that Iran is turning in this direction.”
Another Middle Eastern leader Billström’s government is dealing with is Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson met him in Ankara earlier this month, in a bid to get Turkey to ease its objections to Sweden’s NATO accession.
“There is a trilateral memorandum signed by Sweden, Finland and Turkey,” says Billström, explaining the current state of affairs. “The memorandum has conditions that have to be fulfilled and will pave the way for the Turkish parliament to ratify Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATO. The visit to Ankara was good; I think it was a fruitful dialogue.”
It seems there are items on the Turkish president’s agenda – some domestic, others foreign – that are still causing him to block Sweden’s NATO ambitions. Billström thinks it is now time for the “relevant authorities in all three countries” to get to work, but doesn’t specify what the problematic issues are or when he thinks the process will be completed. “Because there are certain issues that have to be dealt with,” he concludes, “I don’t want to set a time frame. Because it’s not helpful to do that.”
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