Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman on Tuesday evening condemned Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom’s latest remarks against Israel.
Wallstrom had earlier called for an investigation to be opened in order to determine whether Israel is guilty of executing Palestinian Arab “assailants” without trial, fueling already existing tensions between Stockholm and Jerusalem.
“The only thing the Swedish Foreign Minister has not yet done is to physically join the Palestinian terrorists and stab Jews. In view of her conduct until now, we should hope very much that it will not happen,” Liberman said in response.
Tuesday, of course, was not the first time Wallstrom has made anti-Israel remarks. In December, she made similar accusations against Israel, claiming during a debate in parliament that Israel was “executing” without trial terrorists who carried out stabbing attacks in Israel.
Several weeks before that, the Swedish minister provoked a firestorm of criticism, when she appeared to blame the terrorist attacks in Paris on “Palestinian frustration” with Israel.
Liberman, during his time as Foreign Minister, is remembered for his back and forth with Wallstrom over Sweden’s recognition of “Palestine”.
Liberman reacted to Sweden’s move by saying that Sweden should realize that “relations in the Middle East are a lot more complex than the self-assembly furniture of IKEA”.
Wallstrom later replied and said she would be “happy” to send Liberman some IKEA furniture “and he will also see that what you need to put that together is, first of all, a partner.”
Following that incident, Wallstrom said Israel had overreacted to her country’s recognition of “Palestine”, accusing Israel of “irritating its allies”.