Swedish Foreign Minister Slams Israel Again

Diplomatic relations with Sweden deteriorated further on Tuesday after Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom urged an investigation into possible overreaction by Israeli security forces to Palestinian terror attacks.

“It is vital that there is a thorough, credible investigation into these deaths in order to clarify and bring about possible accountability,” Wallstrom said during a parliamentary debate, according to The Jerusalem Post, quoting Wallstrom from a TT news agency report.

Rights groups have been accusing Israel of using excessive force in response to almost four months of daily violence against civilians and soldiers.

Israel’s Science, Technology and Space Minister, Ofir Akunis, retorted with a suggestion that an investigation should be conducted instead on “how a woman who so bluntly hates Israel was elected, and still holds the role of foreign minister of Sweden.”

Last year, Wallstrom provoked indignation in Israel when she said that Palestinian suffering was a cause of Islamist radicalization and violence.

Sweden announced its recognition of a Palestinian state shortly after Wallstrom’s center-left Social Democrats won general elections in 2014.