The foreign policy spokespersons of the Sweden Democrats and the Liberals want Sweden to start selling arms to Israel – despite the fact that many observers believe that the Israeli army’s war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Gaza are so gross and extensive that the whole thing should be considered a genocide.
According to Aron Emilsson (SD), Sweden is a key ally of Israel “in its fight against terrorism” and Joar Forssell of the Liberal Party believes that Sweden should export arms to all countries that can be classified as “democracies” – whether they are at war or not.
– At the moment, I think the key issue here must be that Israel is a democracy that has the right to defend itself, in which case arms may be required, he told Swedish Radio.
So far, Sweden has decided, at least officially, not to export arms to countries that are either considered undemocratic or at war. However, there is room to bend the rules if those in power believe that arms exports serve Swedish security and defence interests.
“Would be a flagrant crime”
Israel’s invasion and bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 44,000 Palestinians – the vast majority of them women and children – and displaced much of the population. An unknown number of people have also been killed in Israel’s bombing of Lebanon – while Israel claims that it is only targeting militant targets and that the reason for bombing schools, hospitals and apartment blocks is that terrorists are hiding in them.
Sweden has an obligation to ensure that the weapons it sells are not used in war crimes, and since Israel is often accused of such crimes, the Social Democrats’ foreign affairs spokesman, Morgan Johansson, believes that it is not possible for Sweden to export weapons to Israel.
– Such a decision would be a flagrant violation. Both against international law and Swedish law, he says.
“Bizarre and out-of-touch”
After the move to sell Swedish arms to Netanyahu’s Israel led to harsh condemnation from various quarters, the Liberal Party’s press office said that Forssell was only expressing his own position and that the party was not currently on board.
The legislation on arms exports means that different interests and criteria must be weighed against each other before Sweden decides to approve arms exports. Israel is a democracy and has the right to defend itself. Today, no weapons are exported from Sweden to Israel. Although the Liberal Party is in favour of exports to other democracies in principle, there is no question of arms being exported from Sweden to Israel,’ they claim.
The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society is also highly critical of the proposal, calling for more diplomatic efforts instead of more weapons.
– This is a completely bizarre and out-of-touch move that undermines international law, says Kerstin Bergeå, the organisation’s chairwoman.
