Sweden’s designated ambassador to Israel, a political appointee, publicly disassociated himself from support for Israel and opposed members of his party holding an event in the parliament in Stockholm with representatives of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party.
Erik Ullenhag, a former minister of integration and leader of the Liberal People’s Party, has been Sweden’s ambassador to Jordan since 2016, and will arrive in Israel in September.
He courted controversy last month when he announced his new posting by tweeting that he was appointed “ambassador to Tel Aviv,” as opposed to Israel. He later thanked people for congratulating him on becoming ambassador to Israel, using the country’s name.
Ullenhag has one other tweet mentioning Israel, and it is a denial that he supports it. In 2014, he defended his participation in a “Kippah March” – protests against attacks on people wearing Jewish symbols – by writing that he was protesting “against antisemitism, not in a manifestation of support for Israel.”
Sweden is one of the countries that is least friendly to Israel in Europe. The Liberal People’s Party’s MPs have a range of views on Israel, including some who support moving Sweden’s embassy to Jerusalem, according to recent Swedish media reports.
We call upon the UK Government to officially recognise Jerusalem is Israel's capital and move its embassy to Jerusalem.
Related Articles:
