Benjamin Weinthal Sweden Sweden Israel and the Jews Uncategorized

ANALYSIS: ARE EUROPE’S SDP PARTIES SHIFTING AGAINST ISRAEL……?

 

Bastions of confused and amoral thinking.

Europe is a mixture of pro-and anti- Israel sentiment, only countries that have had to fend off -or in the recent past two decades, been freed from- Communist tyranny, have a softer view and/or approach to the Jewish state. The Left for the most part (except in lesser degrees in Germany) have been hostile towards Israel, perhaps not in words, but in deeds, such as in continued (indirect) funding of Palestinian terrorism.

Analysis: Amid Sweden crisis, are Europe’s Social Democratic parties shifting against Israel

BERLIN – The diplomatic crisis between Israel and Sweden over the Scandinavian country’s recognition of “Palestine” as an independent state has brought a shift among European Social Democratic parties against Israel’s interests front-and-center into the foreign policy sphere.

The Friday announcement of Sweden’s Social Democratic prime minister, Stefan Löfven, that “Sweden will therefore recognize the state of Palestine” jolted Israel’s political establishment. After an angry public protest from Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, Löfven appeared to water down his recognition statement on Sunday, saying that Sweden’s recognition of a Palestinian state will take place as part of a bilateral negotiated solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

Anti-Israel sentiments from Sweden’s Social Democrats have been conspicuous over the years. In 2011, the Social Democratic politician Omar Mustafa tweeted that Sweden should send fighter planes against Israel instead of targeting the regime of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi. Mustafa, the chairman of the Islamic Association in Sweden, was elected in 2013 to the governing board of the Social Democratic party.

After revelations surfaced that, as head of the Islamic Association, Mustafa permitted the organization to reject recognizing women as equals to their male counterparts and invited a speaker who voiced hardcore anti-gay ideologies, he resigned his post in the governing board. It is worth noting that Mustafa’s well-publicized tweet calling for air strikes against Israel did not bar him from serving in the governing board of his party.

The former Social Democratic mayor of Malmö, Ilmar Reepalu, said that “I would wish for the Jewish community to denounce Israeli violations against the civilian population in Gaza. Instead, it decides to hold a [pro-Israel] demonstration in the Grand Square [of Malmö], which could send the wrong signals.”

Adrian Kaba, a Social Democratic city councilman in Malmö, wrote on his Facebook page in July that “ISIS [Islamic State] is being trained by the Israeli Mossad.

Muslims are not waging war, they are being used as pawns by other peoples’ game.”

All of this does not suggest that the Swedish Social Democrats are infected with a broad-based anti-Israel view.

There is a struggle unfolding in the party to define its policies toward the Jewish state.

A similar internecine fight has got the German Social Democrats (SPD) tangled up in knots. In a September World Jewish Congress event in Berlin, attendees sharply criticized SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel for describing Israel in 2012 as an “Apartheid regime.”

Gabriel was asked at the event why the SPD’s former general-secretary, Andrea Nahles, declared “shared values” between the Palestinian Fatah party and the SPD.

Participants questioned him about his party’s vice president, Ralf Stegner, who in the summer called for an embargo of German weapons deliveries to Israel.

More here.

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