Israel dresses down Swedish diplomat

The Swedish ambassador to Israel, Carl Magnus Nesser, is reprimanded at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem over comments made by his country’s foreign minister that appeared to suggest a link between the Islamic State and Palestinian frustration.

Foreign Ministry Director Dore Gold “severely criticized the Swedish minister’s hurtful words, saying that any link between Islamic State terrorism and the Palestinian issue is baseless,” according to a press release form the Foreign Ministry, which claimed that Margot Wallström’s comments “could be interpreted as a justification for Palestinian terrorism.”

Carl Magnus Nesser, Swedish ambassador to Israel (Courtesy Swedish Embassy)

Wallström had said in a TV appearance that “to counteract the radicalization we must go back to the situation such as the one in the Middle East in which not at the least the Palestinians see that there is no future; we must either accept a desperate situation or resort to violence.”

Gold also reprimanded Magnus Nesser for his country’s stance advocating the labeling of goods produced in West Bank settlements, the release said.

— Raphael Ahren contributed.