Swedish parties call for action against Israel after arrest warrant for Netanyahu

Last week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others. The Social Democrats and the Left Group in the European Parliament are now demanding that both the EU and the Swedish government act in accordance with the decision.

Last week, Netanyahu, along with former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, was formally charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The Swedish Left Party has now put forward several demands to the EU, including a full arms embargo and the endorsement by all member states of the arrest warrant against the Israeli Prime Minister.

– Violating international law must come at a cost, which is why the EU cannot continue maintaining ongoing trade relations with Israel, Hanna Gedin, MEP for the Left Party, told the taxpayer-funded Swedish Broadcasting Corporation.

“Freeze the trade agreement”

The Social Democrats are also making demands on the EU in light of the ICC’s decision.

– Freeze the trade agreement with Israel as long as it does not comply with international law. We have demanded an increased sanction for the settlers, we have demanded that the settlers’ goods be stopped immediately, says Morgan Johansson, the Social Democrats’ foreign policy spokesperson.

Sweden’s foreign minister, Maria Malmer, said in a written statement that both Sweden and the EU support the ICC’s work, which means that the Swedish government would in practice be obliged to arrest Netanyahu if he was on Swedish soil. According to the ICC, member states of the Rome Statute are obliged to cooperate in arrests if the suspects travel to their territory. However, several major nations, such as the US, Russia and China, do not recognize the court.