As Sweden heads to polls, Israel and Palestine policies are on the ballot
With the left-wing coalition ahead in polling, the current right-wing government's policies could soon be up for debate.
Stockholm, Sweden – This Sunday, Sweden will vote in a knife-edge general election that could change the country’s stance on Israel.
The decision strained relations with Israel, with then Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stating that Sweden did not understand that relations in the Middle East are more complicated than assembling IKEA furniture.
Now, as Swedes head to the polls, the far-right Sweden Democrats, the Nordic nation’s second-largest political party, want that recognition revoked.
Alice Teodorescu Mawe, a Christian Democrat member of the European Parliament, argued in October 2024 that people applying for Swedish citizenship should recognise Israel’s right to exist and “embrace the Judeo-Christian values on which Swedish democracy rests”.