Israel’s foreign minister on Monday paid a visit to Sweden in a new sign of warming ties between the two nations.
Eli Cohen said his visit to Stockholm was the first visit by an Israeli foreign minister to Sweden in 22 years.
“We are opening a new page in relations between Israel and Sweden after years in which Sweden took a critical line against Israel,” he said in a statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
“More than 20 years have passed since an Israeli foreign minister visited Sweden, and today I had an important meeting with the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs in Stockholm Tobias Billstrom, a close ally of Israel,” Cohen stated after the visit.
“Sweden holds the presidency of the European Union and is expected to join NATO; therefore, strengthening the relationship between our countries is a strategic interest. We discussed enhancing the economic and security cooperation between the countries, the fight against a nuclear Iran, and broadening the Abraham Accords.”
“I thanked Mister Billström for the positive shift towards Israel in the international arena, and he told me about his special connection with Israel and the Jewish people. His wife volunteered on kibbutz Misgav Am in the 90s, and his grandparents welcomed Holocaust survivors into their home after World War II.”
Sweden’s previous Social Democratic government had a rocky relationship with Israel after recognizing a Palestinian state in 2014, a move that prompted Israel to temporarily recall its ambassador to Sweden. Two years later, Israel said Sweden’s foreign minister at the time was “not welcome” after critical comments of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
But relations have begun to thaw. In October 2021, Sweden’s foreign minister at the time visited Israel in an attempt to mend ties.
Those relations are expected to improve further under Sweden’s new center-right government, which took office last October.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem & AP)
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One Response
In October 2021, Sweden’s foreign minister at the time visited Israel in an attempt to mend ties. How did he manage to enter Israel during Corona Border lock-down when we regular יהודים couldn’t get in?