Sweden Ponders What to do About it's Citizens in Gaza

Sweden, like most other Western nations, is facing a dilemma about what to do about those in Gaza who hold Swedish citizenship. For the most part, they are Palestinians who were granted citizenship and then chose to return to Gaza for various reasons.

The Swedish foreign minister, Tobias Billström, is saying that there is not much Sweden can do in Gaza, and that those people who chose to return to Gaza-against the advice of Swedish authorities- must accept responsibility for their own predicament.

Of course, speaking officially and diplomatically, once someone is granted citizenship, we must consider them as our own in these tricky and dangerous international situations. At the same time, I find it hard to disagree with the foreign minister's statement.

The below article from the conservative Swedish news outlet, Nya Dagbladet, is translated by Fousesquawk.

 https://nyadagbladet.se/utrikes/billstrom-svenska-medborgare-i-gaza-maste-ta-eget-ansvar/

Foreign     

Billström: Swedish citizens in Gaza "must take responsibility"

Situation in Gaza Strip

Posted 14 November 2023

by Jan Sundstedt

Foreign Minister Tobias Billström points out that the Foreign Affairs Department has been advising against travel to Gaza for a decade, and that the hundreds of Swedish citizens who are still there in Gaza now must learn to take responsibility for their situations.

The Swedish government has received some criticism from the opposition and other actors and is accused of having "too little" to help Swedish citizens who are stuck in the Gaza war, criticism that Billström dismisses. 

"I want to underline that the Foreign Affairs Department has been advising against travel to Gaza for ten years. All who are there have defied this advice and gone there at their own risk, and we must remember that this advice was issued for a reason, which is not something that happens lightly," he says to the tax-financed SVT (Swedish State Television).

He points out that Swedish authorities have a very small possibility to act in the region and that those who go against the authorities' advice themselves bear a responsibility to remedy the situation.

80 can leave

"Again, I want to underline the personal responsibility that all those who are in Gaza today themselves bear."

The Foreign Affairs Department is in contact with its ambassadors in Tel Aviv and Cairo to be able to assist the Swedish citizens who ask for help. About 80 Swedish citizens have also obtained permission to leave Gaza and go to Egypt-but it is unclear how many have actually made it there.

There are currently about 500 Swedish citizens in the area- most all being Palestinians who were granted Swedish citizenship and then, for reasons that are unclear, returned to Gaza.