Sweden: The Swedish Church and Social Democrat Support for BDS

Hat tip Ledarsidorna

It is no secret that the Swedish Church and the Social Democratic Party are hostile to Israel, a hostility that long predates the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas after October 7, 2023. In the article below from Ledarsidorna by Johan Westerholm, he brings us up to date on the one-sided support the Social Democrats and the Swedish Church (the latter little more than a left-wing political organization) have for the Palestinians. 

The article is translated by Fousesquawk.

Social Democrats are approaching anti-Semitic movement

 Tuesday, August 5, 2925

In Germany, any collaboration with the BDS movement and Kairos Palestine, as well as legitimizing associated organizations by participating in meetings, is considered as serious as openly taking a stand for a reborn Nazism. Since the fall of 2023, the Social Democrats' candidate for the post of foreign minister has initiated an in-depth dialogue in friendly forms with this movement.

Kairos-Palestine is originally a document and a movement initiated by Palestinian Christian leaders in 2009. Kairos Palestine has a direct and strong connection to the BDS-movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel. The document explicitly calls for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions as a form of non-violent resistance against the Israeli occupation.

Both the Swedish Church and the Social Democrats are now considered sympathizers of Kairos Palestine and the BDS movement. A movement that has the support of the Swedish Social Democrats, but not, for example, the German Social Democratic Party.

As late as 2023, Morgan Johansson, Social Democrat candidate for foreign minister, was giving legitimacy to the movement that was balancing on the edge of being banned in Germany.

In 2019, the German Parliament (Bundestag), with the support of Angela Merkel's coalition government (including the CDU and Social Democrats), voted through a non-binding resolution that officially labeled the BDS movement as anti-Semitic, noting that their arguments and methods brought to mind anti-Semitic campaigns and caused worry in the Jewish community in Germany.

Johansson adapts the truth to the recipient (audience)

Morgan Johansson was asked a question at a meeting with Kairos Palestine about the Social Democrats' support for the Palestinian Authority, though it is well known that President Abbas and the leadership are guilty of corruption and that an election has not been held for 17 years.

Johansson replied that there is awareness of the shortcomings of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority, but that everything is actually the fault and responsibility of the state of Israel. Johansson stated that it is Israel that has not allowed the residents of East Jerusalem to vote, and so it has been impossible to conduct elections. He also stated that (any) corruption that has come to light has been taken up with the Palestinian Authority.  

Johansson's reply to Kairos Palestine is not a correct description of reality, rather should be seen as having been aimed at further stigmatizing the state of Israel, and with an adjusted-to-suit truth, creating good relations with a fundamentally anti-Semitic organization. 

It is not correct, as Johansson says, that Israel has an explicit ban on Palestinians in East Jerusalem voting in Palestinian elections, but practical and political obstacles, such as limited access to voting places, fear of reprisals, and Israel's unwillingness to faciltate the election process, has often made it very hard or imposssible for them to participate. 

These restrictions have rightly and justly been criticized internationally and seen by many as a way to limit Palestinian's self-determination in East Jerusalem. Therefore, the claim can be interpreted as partially true in practice, even if there is no formal law that expressly forbids voting, which Johansson asserts.

Strong support for BDS in Swedish Church

Kairos Palestine and the BDS movement also have strong support in the Swedish Church. Among others, there is the vicar in the Greater Malmö Pastorate, Gunilla Hallosten, and the priest, Anna-Karin Hammar, who are the foremost advocates with repeated demands for extensive boycotts against the state of Israel.

Hammar, the sister of the earlier archbishop, K-G Hammar, previously acted to change the commemoration of the victims of Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass) with the Palestinian counterpart, the Naqba. Up until the last Church Council, the Swedish Church's highest deciding organ, Anna-Karin Hammar represented the Social Democrats.

But neither Johansson's, Hallensten's, nor Hammar's actions or statements would be tolerated by the German Bundestag in general or the German Social Democrats in particular.

In Germany, any association with the BDS movement and Kairos Palestine and (their) legitimization, such as participating in meetings, is seen as just as serious as taking an open stance for a reborn Nazism. 

Kairos Palestine has not publicly criticized Hamas in any known context, which has led to speculation as to their stance and relations. That the organization is not critical of Hamas suits both Morgan Johansson and the Swedish Church just fine.

Morgan Johansson's relations with Kairos Palestine and the BDS movement are well established and well documented, relations he brings with him to the circle of European foreign ministers, regardless of what the German Social Democrats prefer.

-Johan Westerholm