Sweden's Foreign Minister: "Israel is losing its moral values"

The Jerusalem Post ^ | 2 February 2003 | Herb Keinon

[anotherview]

Sweden's Foreign Minister: "Israel is losing its moral values"
By HERB KEINON

After months of relative quiet from Stockholm, Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh again raised eyebrows in Jerusalem with a speech Thursday in which she blasted the Israeli election results and put down Israel’s democracy.

Speaking at an award ceremony in Stockholm where Hanan Ashrawi was awarded the 2002 Olof Palme Award, named after the slain Swedish prime minister, Lindh – in a speech full of praise for Ashrawi - said "I fear that the Palestinian people soon will lose all hope of an independent state, and that Israel will lose its moral values. Israel is a democracy balancing on a thin line."

The result of the Israeli elections, Lindh said, "unfortunately points to continued confrontation, instead of security and of peace. To me this policy is cynical, not the least because Israeli authorities fight the work for reform and peace in the Palestinian Authority.

That was evident when the Israeli government denied three Palestinians to leave the country for a peace conference in London, when universities are closed down, and when timing always seems to be suited to violence, not negotiations."

Lindh also slammed the construction of a wall along the Green Line to foil Palestinian infiltrators. "Now a wall is constructed, about 350 kilometers long, eight meters high by 60 meters broad. Israelis call it protection. Palestinians call it – rightly – confiscation."

One Israeli diplomatic official responded to Lindh's statements, the last in a long list of highly critical comments over the last two years, by saying, "Who is she to moralize to us." The official said that although Lindh is perhaps Israel’s sharpest critic in Europe, "hers is not a lone voice by any means."

Sweden is presently without an ambassador to Israel, since the ambassador – Anders Liden - was recently appointed director-general of the Swedish foreign ministry. As a result, Israel’s Ambassador to Sweden, Zvi Mazel, has been instructed to protest Lindh’s speech directly to Liden.

Lindh said that the Palestinian leadership must do everything in its power to stop terrorism, and said Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorism. "But no one can really believe that this is the best way to do it," she said.

[Pyro7480]

My first reaction to such a ludicrous statement was to laugh. Who are the Swedish to say such a thing? The Europeans are further down the moral sewer than anyone else is.

[Braak]

Must be real cozy to be Sweedish, and never have to take much of a moral stand on anything, Raoul Wallenberg aside, the Sweedes make me sick, all holier than thou, but then again, why don't we ask about Sweedish RBS-70 SAMs, the Iran-Iraq war, and the death of Olaf Palme...yeah, you guys don't have the right to judge nada.

[arielb]

Israel will lose its moral values once Sharon has a unity between Labor and Shinui

[NormsRevenge]

Are the swedes still paying the highest taxes in the world?

Yup, Let's give the Olof Palme award to "moderate Palestinian" mouthpiece/freedom fighter, Hanan Ashrawi. That'll show 'em.

[Cicero]

Yes, Shinui makes me extremely nervous. Not a good sign at all.

[elhombrelibre]

Sweeden??? Is that the same Sweeden that sold so much to Hitler during WWLL? Oh, it couldn't be the sameone and now lecturing Israel.

[hinckley buzzard]

Da Swedes. Ya shure. You can go back to WW II when da Swedes happily sold high-grade steel to the Nazi War Machine.

Moral values my a**. Best of the Scandahoovians came to the US a hundred years ago.

[RobbyS]

How is it that history has ignored that during World War II, Sweden, like Switzerland, enriched herself through trade with Nazi Germany? In 1940, Sweden was a relatively poor country. During the Cold War, she played a similar game with East and West.

[Loyalist]

Compared to the Swedes, the French are paragons of integrity and morality.

[anotherview]

Israel did not lose its moral values with Labor in government as a junior partner to Likud. Indeed, having Shimon Peres defending Ariel Sharon's policies internationally was useful.

I certainly have no problem with Shinui. When it comes to the Palestinians they might as well be part of Likud. The idea that the Orthodox should not control every aspect of ordinary Israeli's lives in a country that is 70% non-Orthodox also makes sense. Being opposed to religious control is not the same thing as being anti-religious. Besides, Shinui is already backing down on not sitting in government with the religious parties.

The wider the coalition the stronger Ariel Sharon's government it and the less the chance that a small party (or even Shinui) can hold the government hostage to it's demands.

[prisoner6]

Sweden...says it all...right behind the frogs.

Another hing France and Sweden have in common. They both think they can make cars.

prisoner6

[Travis McGee]

"Neutral" Sweden made a ton of cash during WW2 selling iron ore and high strength steel to Hitler.

Swedish "neutrality" profited from Aushwitz.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

The Swedes are dupes. During the Cold War, the Russians used to send their submarines into Swedish harbors to train their crews how to get in without being detected. This was common knowledge except to the Swedes. Socialist, single mothers can really bring a contry to its knees.

[retiredtexan]

Who the hell are they to talk?

[Afronaut]

After Ford Bought VOLVO they now have nothing. Did a Great Job in the 2nd WW? Cowards. Nice looking girls though....

[Calvin Locke]

After months of relative quiet from Stockholm, Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh...

There are many ways to consider this, since Anna Lindh, like many politicians in general, and European Socialists in
particular, doesn't play with a full deck.

This woman apparently plays only with jokers when the Mid-East is concerned.

1.) You are a masochist to read further.

2.) You enjoy a laugh at the bizarreness of elected officals.

3.) You are preparing yourself to maintain your blood pressure at safe levels whenever Anna Lindh-like ilk start to make hay of minimal or non-existant "problems".

4.) You continue to cry over what passes for journalism and what they consider news-worthy.

No Swedish jokes. *WE* put Jimmy Carter AND Bill Clinton in to power. Bill Clinton TWICE.

[Jeff Chandler]

I scratched my head when I read "Sweden" and "moral values" in the same sentence.

[Cachelot]

Anna Lindh has been shilling for Iraq almost as eagerly as Ritter. And now it seems she's working to have Islam taught in the schools.

Nothing new there...

[Numbers Guy]

"Israel is a democracy balancing on a thin line."

Sweden is a democracy that's swirling down the toilet.

The Swedes aided Hitler from the mid-30's until the bitter end. They played footsie with the Soviets for decades. They are in no position to pass judgement on any other nation when it comes to respect for human rights.

[Marines981]

"I fear that the Palestinian people soon will lose all hope of an independent state, and that Israel will lose its moral values." Hey Sweden since when do you come into this picture? We don't see you even tryin to help out in the peace process.

[anotherview]

I post these articles so that we all have what to throw back at our liberal friends who quote the U.N. and the Europeans as if they are authorities on the Middle East, Israel, Iraq, etc... Having ammunition to show how off these people are is always valuable.

Oh, and yeah, to all those who wonder how Sweedes can say this with a straight face: pot... kettle... black.

[Numbers Guy]

And when talking about Raoul Wallenberg, how do you feel about Folke Bernadotte, who also saved many lives during WWII?

The handful of Swedes who were brave and did wonderful things at great risk of course deserve our praise and honor. Thank you for pointing out another famous Swede who acted in a moral fashion. It's too bad that the various Swedish governments over the years did not learn from their example and instead aided totalitarian murderers like Hitler and the Soviets. That's why it's amusing for their government to pass judgement on the morality of another, just re-elected government.

[Braak]

Alright, I'll give the count a pass, as for the RBS-70 item, I remember that Olaf was involved in the sale of said weapons systems to both sides in the Iran-Iraq mess, in violation of international embargos at the time (granted, so did the Soviets and some others). Some say that's why he met with a bullet. But to hear the nation who trumpets international law to the heavens, then turns around and pulls this stunt, insult another duely elected government..it's sanctimonious and insulting.

[tictoc]

I read your profile page. You seem to be real unhappy on this forum.

[SpaceBar]

The following is an excerpt from an article on The Anti-Defamation League website www.adl.org regarding "neutral" countries during Nazi Germany. The original article can be found at the following URL: http://www.adl.org/Braun/dim_14_1_neutrality_europe.asp

---

Sweden, like Switzerland, was also deeply concerned about possible German aggression (especially after the occupation of Denmark and Norway, and Finland's entry into the war on the side of the Axis). Some of its policies toward the Reich are open to criticism, but the Swedes acted commendably by providing a safe haven for Danish Jews, and they gradually extricated themselves from Germany's political and economic network after 1943. Judging Sweden by the three categories used to judge Switzerland -- border policies, trade and finance -- we can assert the following. First, though the Swedes permitted the Germans to transport freight through northern Sweden, the nation's border policies were more humane than Switzerland's when it came to the question of refugees. Sweden's crowning achievement, as just noted, was to permit nearly 8,000 Jewish refugees to enter in 1943, and then to protect them. Additionally, approximately 44,000 Norwegians escaped the harsh Nazi occupation of their country by being smuggled into Sweden.22 (Raoul Wallenberg's efforts to rescue Jews in Hungary in 1944 -- he saved upwards of 20,000 Jews from deportation and death by providing them with Swedish passports -- also helped maintain his nation's honor. The Swiss counterpart of Wallenberg was Carl Lutz, who also worked as a diplomat in Budapest during the war and saved Jewish lives by providing protective passports; but Lutz was reprimanded by his government "for having overstepped his authority."23)

However, when it came to trade with the Nazi regime, the Swedes, for a period of time, accommodated themselves to the Reich to an even greater extent than the Swiss did. The Swedish economy was, for a number of years, almost fully integrated into the Nazis' New Order; the country supplied Germany with high-grade iron ore (30 percent of that used by the German armaments industry), as well as ball bearings, foodstuffs, wood, and many other raw materials. In matters of finance, the Swedes cooperated with Germany by providing credit, which allowed the delivery of vast quantities of military equipment to the Wehrmacht. Moreover, after the war, the Swedish central bank, the Riksbank, "examined gold it had received from the Nazis in payment for exports and returned about 13 tons that presumably had been stolen [from] Belgium and the Netherlands."24

The Swedes believed, at least for the first years of the war, that cooperation with Germany was necessary to preserve a precarious neutrality. But after 1943 the Swedish government, heeding Allied warnings about neutrals doing business with Germany, detached the country from the German "political and commercial web," and gradually established closer ties with the Allies.25 There is no doubt that for several years Sweden put its considerable economic resources at the disposal of the Reich; but its behavior in the latter stages of the war removed much of the stigma of collaboration.

[Nachum]

SWEDISH FOREIGN MINISTER RAPS BUSH'S MIDDLE EAST POLICY Deutsche Presse-Agentur -- January 28, 2002

Stockholm -- Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh Monday rapped the Middle East policy of U.S. President George W. Bush, calling it "stupid" and "crazy", Swedish radio reported.

Ahead of a meeting with European Union foreign ministers, Lindh told Swedish radio she was very concerned about Bush having equated Palestinian President Yassir Arafat with terrorism. Lindh said this analysis by the U.S. administration was "factually incorrect, stupid and very dangerous".

The Bush administration's policy of solely rewarding Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for what she called his policy of violence was "pure lunacy", Lindh charged.

http://www.amenusa.org/swede.htm

[Hugin]

When is Sweden going to create an independent Lappland state? Clearly the Lappis derserve one if the Palestinians do.

[Ichabod Walrus]

How is it that history has ignored that during World War II, Sweden, like Switzerland, enriched herself through trade with Nazi Germany?

It's very difficult to condemn countries for engaging in peaceful relations and trade with other states no matter how repulsive. If you haven't a clue what I mean, try to think of US dollars propping up the terrorist House of Saud.

Anyway, why should history pick on neutral nations like Sweden and Switzerland, when the fact is the overwhelming majority of Nazi Germany allies got away scot-free with their responsibility for WWII? Their apologists will say stupid things like "45 years under the Soviet Union or the Warsaw Pact or Yugoslavia was punishment enough...."

It's not that you're wrong about Sweden. Far from it. When the government of Latvia sponsored parades by WWII fascists, Sweden was Latvia's main defender from the threat of Russian sanctions, sponsoring a protest against Yeltsin's actions at the OSCE. The leader of that initiative was the same Foreign Minister, Anna Lindh.

[Nachum]

Palestine under attack

More international comments

Swedish Foreign Minister Boycotts Israeli Products
Yahya Abu Zakarya
Stockholm, April 20, 2002

Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh announced that she shall boycott Israeli products available in the Swedish market, especially citrus fruits and avocadoes.

Speaking to Swedish television on Friday, April 19, Lindh said, "If I'm unable to influence my governments policy to boycott Israel, I can at least personally boycott their products." She called on Swedish nationals to boycott Israeli products in the light of the recent massacres committed by the Israeli army in the Palestinian territories.

Lindh is a member of the ruling Social Democratic Party and has been sympathetic with Arab issues along with other members of the Swedish government such as former Foreign Minister Stein Anderson, a personal friend of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

She had in the past asked the European Union to suspend its relations with Israel as a way of denouncing the occupation forces practices against the Palestinian civilian population.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian minister for international cooperation Nabil Shaath was visiting Stockholm on Friday and met with Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson who promised to donate 350 Swedish Corona (nearly $ 35 million) to rebuild Jenin and nearby areas that have been destroyed by Israeli aggression. Persson promised to increase the sum soon.

Shaath also met with Lindh who expressed her shock at recent events in the Palestinian territories and promised to do her best to help the Palestinian people.

Besides government officials, Swedish nationals have also been sympathizing with the Palestinian cause, many of them wearing badges that said "boycott Israel". In the Swedish city of Obsala on Friday, a silent demonstration was held with demonstrators wearing black and carrying candles.

The increasing number of Swedes participating in anti-Israeli demonstrations has been noticeable and has forced the Palestinian Issue to be featured on the agenda of the Swedish Legislative elections which will be held on September 2002.

http://www.palestinemonitor.org/comments/swedish_foreign_minister_boycott.htm

[onedoug]

What would a secular humanist know about morality?

[Ichabod Walrus]

Compared to the Swedes, the French are paragons of integrity and morality."

That's a hard one, and only because the Swedes have done more than enough to make it so.

In 1971, the Yugoslav Ambassador to Sweden was assassinated by two Croat "refugees". It did little to change Sweden's (like Switzerland's) policy of providing refuge (and generous welfare) to terrorists from other countries. When the EU led an assault on Yugoslav sovereignty in 1991, Sweden had no qualms about recognizing Croatia - which honors the aforementioned terrorists as "heroes", dedicating monuments in their "honor".

It's even more interesting as Croats are generally believed to be responsible for the assassination of Swedish Prime Minister, Olaf Palme.

[valkyrieanne]

The people who unleashed the first mainstream porn movie on the US feel they have a right to talk about *morality?*

[Charles Henrickson]

Moral values my a**. Best of the Scandahoovians came to the US a hundred years ago.

That's when my grandparents came over from Sweden. There are still many good people there, but they seem to be outnumbered, or at least not represented by the leftist leadership.

[RobbyS]

The blind eye toward Sweden bothers me because post-war British laborites and American liberals took Sweden as the "model" socialist state. Sweden was a defacto ally of the Nazis but paid no price at all, not even in reputation.

[Gal.5:1]

BWAHAhahaha! (snif) That is funny! I guess we should all take the log out of our eye so we can see to help our neighbor with a speck, eh?

[Arpege92]

Sweden should right its wrongs for selling steel to Hitler during World War II before judging others. You could never compare Sweden to Israel....Israel defends itself and Sweden made a huge profit at the expense of humans.

[Ichabod Walrus]

And as I tried to point out before, they didn't do enough during the war to merit more than a footnote in history books, at least in relative terms.

The list of countries, however, which were allies of Hitler that have largely escaped censure is very long. These countries, such as Croatia, not only actively participated in Hitler's campaigns, but actually created genocides of their own, with a barbarity that shocked even their patrons.

Then there are those countries (and institutions) which not only provided safe haven to Nazi garbage, but gave them employment, often in "trades" which would exploit the dubious talents they acquired while part of the Axis. These countries activities' after WWII make Sweden's wartime role look insignificant deed.

[anguish]

Good balanced non-knee-jerk post.

It's not hard to find dark spots in Swedish history, not even for a Swede like myself, but what most people lack is the patience to view actions in their context. While trade with Nazi Germany was a bad thing, one should look at it in the geopolitical and not least military context of the time. As an example - being completely surrounded by axis powers after the invasion of Denmark and Norway didn't make it easier to resist trade.

The same goes for post-war relations with the Baltic states - Russia (Soviet) has always been the no. 1 Swedish enemy - and while sometimes misplaced, Baltic support has always been seen as a way to create a buffert to our arch enemy.

[Gael]

My recollection is that Sweden was threatened with invasion if it refused to permit transit rights to nazi troops, a threat roughly similar to that made by the nazis against Belgrade in ‘41. Perhaps the Swedes could have defied the nazis and accepted the consequences the way the Serbs did, but I submit they would have been foolish to do so. We’ve seen how the Serbs’ wartime sacrifices were repaid by their former allies over the past decade – that’s why the sons and grandsons of nazis now reign in Krajina, Bosnia and Kosovo, the same as their forebears did in 1943.

The people who committed those more recent sins have no standing to condemn Sweden’s decision to stay out of the war.