Sweden’s opposition parties , the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Left party have criticised the government’s stance on the conflict between Israel and Hamas militants, declaring that the ruling alliance had failed to strongly condemn Israel’s actions.
Kent Härstedt, the Social Democrats spokesperson on International Development Cooperation, said that the government had difficulty in speaking about human rights and people’s rights and that Foreign minister Carl Bildt had not condemned Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
However, the two other parties in the red-greeen opposition alliance, go further. According to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, The Green party wants to break all military co-operation with Israel while the Left Party wants to have a total boycott against Israel , including the selling of its oranges in Sweden’s shops.
At a press conference in Stockholm on Thursday evening, Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said that it was ”clear that we have a better possibilty to work for peace if we have a close relationship with both sides in the conflict.”
In response to the opposition criticism, he said that he was more concerned with what people think in the middle east than what one thinks in Sweden.
This weekend, more demonstrations against Israel are planned in Sweden.
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