Media News - Thursday, August 27, 2009

Sweden’s free speech tradition runs into Israeli ire

Sweden's fervent defense of free speech has sparked a diplomatic storm with Israel over the government's refusal to condemn an article accusing Israeli soldiers of smuggling dead Palestinians' organs. The row is likely to overshadow a visit to Israel by Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt next month, right in the midst of Sweden's presidency of the rotating European Union, a key player in the Middle East peace process. Many ordinary Swedes back the government's stance of not condemning the piece by Aftonbladet, the country's top-selling daily, according to a survey released on Wednesday. In an online poll answered by 24,000 readers of the national daily Svenska Dagbladet since Sunday, 65 percent said they backed the position taken by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's centre-right government. Israel has urged the Swedish government to condemn the "anti-Semitic" article, which claimed that Israeli soldiers snatched Palestinian youths to steal their organs and returned their dismembered bodies days later. "We are not asking the Swedish government for an apology, we are asking for their condemnation," a senior official quoted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as telling ministers during a weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday. But Sweden, which was one of the first countries in the world to pass a law guaranteeing freedom of expression in 1766, has refused to condemn the tabloid. Separately, an Israeli man with an address in the United States has filed a suit against Aftonbladet in New York for defamation. (The Local)

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