The visit of the senior delegation of the "Democratic Swedes" party to Israel caused waves as expected, but even Jimmy Axon, the chairman of the party, did not expect to be received here with a particularly provocative tweet, and another from a Knesset member. "On the occasion of International Holocaust Day, a minister in the Israeli government (his name ) met with neo-Nazis from Europe," wrote MK Ahmed Tibi, insulting the guests to the core.
The party, founded in 1988, had roots in fascism and even Swedish Nazism.
Among the founders of the party was Gustaf Ekström, 81, one of the Waffen SS volunteers.
ace.
Born in Sweden who stayed in Germany after the war, and returned to Sweden after his retirement.
In its early years, the party was characterized by clear Nazi symbols, and its members organized racist demonstrations in Malmö and Gothenburg, where they waved swastika flags, saluted with raised arms and chanted slogans against Jews and Muslims.
However, since then a new spirit has been blowing in the party, and how symbolic it is that Axon began his first visit to Israel, alongside his party colleagues, with an exciting tour of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
"We are strongly opposed to the trend of importing a dangerous Islamist ideology to Sweden, but what about that and neo-Nazism?" he wonders in an exclusive interview with "Israel Today", and mentions that his party initiated, as a response to the jihadist awakening in Europe following the October 7 massacre, the increase in financing institutions for security Jews in Sweden.
His words took on new significance after last Wednesday a grenade-like object was placed outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, in what appeared to be an attempted attack.
What did you think of MK Tibi's tweet?
"At first I didn't see him. I admit that I had never heard of Tibi, but after I was told about this tweet, I checked on Google who it was about. In his place, instead of whoever was the adviser to the terrorist Yasser Arafat, I would have sat quietly, but I guess you can't expect extremists like him to sense Shame when they lie.
The Israeli embassy in Stockholm after the attempted attack last week, photo: AFP
"It would have been better if Tibi had condemned the Islamists who carried out the massacre on October 7, instead of condemning one democratically elected politician for meeting with another democratically elected politician. We made it clear many years ago that our party does not accept into its ranks those who are infected by the shadow of Sympathy towards the Nazis, or any other extremists. And we continue this policy even today."
This is not the first time you have been accused of extremism and called "neo-Nazis".
"The left attaches such accusations to all right-wing parties in order to deny them legitimacy. In many cases it is an unjust accusation, motivated by political interest. It is true that in the early days our party, being the only party that came out against mass immigration to Sweden, attracted some people with a right-wing extremist background , and even of neo-Nazism, but for a very long time we have been keeping such extreme people away from the party, and the political platform of the party has never been racist or anti-Semitic."
"Europe has forgotten who started the war"
And what about the anti-Israeli atmosphere in Sweden?
Axon explains that Sweden's Social Democratic Party, whose rule in the country ended when a coalition of four center and right-wing parties won a majority in the parliamentary elections in 2022, was able to recognize a Palestinian state, while the "Swedish Democrats" opposed the move.
"Many forgot that Hamas started the war."
A factory for the production of rockets in Gaza, photo: Photo: IDF spokesman
"The Social Democratic Party is a sister party of Fatah, and its prominent members, including those who served as koshers, received decorations from the Palestinian Authority," notes Axon Laganai. "One of their members of parliament, Jamal al-Haj, was photographed on several occasions with personalities Has ties to Hamas.
He participated in demonstrations under Hamas flags, and last summer he participated in a conference, which even the 'Palestinian ambassador' defined as a 'Hamas conference'.
Al-Haj hugged the organizer of the conference from the stage, who was later arrested on charges of funding Hamas.
The Social Democrats do not expel him from their party, not to mention their youth movement, which held demonstrations with anti-Semitic slogans.
The time has come to judge the 'democratic Swedes' for what they are today, and not for what they were 30 years ago."
Axon admits that he and his people were very happy to receive the invitation from the Likud to visit Israel.
"We detected changes in public opinion in the West, and in Sweden in particular, and this is what motivated us to respond to the invitation and send such a high-level delegation to Israel. We were shocked to see how quickly many forgot that Hamas started the war on October 7, and that Israel exercises the right to defend itself.
"Too many announce support for the Palestinians, and unfortunately in many cases it is support for Hamas. We came with the aim of showing our party's support for Israel in these difficult times. In addition, we hoped to learn more about Israel, the region and the war against Hamas in Gaza. I discovered that Israel is a friendly country , cordial and welcoming, but that was also my expectation based on the stories of others. What surprised me was the fact that everyone I met showed, despite the deep sorrow, a sense of humor and a true love of life."
These qualities, according to Exxon, were possessed by both the elected officials who met with him (including ministers Amichai Shikli and Miki Zohar and the chairman of the World Zionist Organization Yaakov Hagoel), and the veterans of the security systems who shared with him their insights regarding what was happening. "The meetings with the ministers gave us the opportunity to express our support directly to the government representatives, and discuss with them the ways in which we can act in the Swedish Parliament and the European Parliament to help in the current situation.
"But the most moving meeting of all was with Zvika Mor, the father of Eitan Mor who was kidnapped to Gaza. I wish more of my colleagues in Sweden would have met with him. Eitan and the other abductees must be released immediately."
"Happy about the end of aid to UNRA"
According to Axon, his party is currently the friendliest party towards Israel in Sweden, if not in Europe as a whole.
His words find support in official data, published by the European Coalition for Israel.
In a study of voting patterns on issues related to Israel between the years 2019-2022, the "Democratic Swedes" were ranked seventh out of the 198 parties represented in the European Parliament.
Jewish members of parliament serve, and have served in the past, in the ranks of the party.
Equally interesting is the fact that among the members of parliament on behalf of the "Democratic Swedes" you can find two who are proud of their Iranian roots.
Axon explains that both detest the fundamentalist regime in Tehran and love Israel, adding that his party enjoys special popularity among immigrants from Iran and Christian refugees from Iraq and Syria.
"You can learn about our worldview from our actions," says Axon.
"We demanded, even before October 7, to stop all aid to UNRA and the Palestinian Authority.
We were an important element in stopping European funding for the Islamic University in Gaza, also before October 7, for a very simple reason: European taxpayers' money should not be diverted to finance chemistry classes for Hamas terrorists."
Charlie Weimers, head of the faction of the "Swedish Democrats" in the European Parliament, led the effort that succeeded in banning all contacts of the European Parliament with the Iranian authorities.
The Iranians responded by imposing sanctions on him.
Like the rest of the "Democratic Swedes", Weimers is a vocal supporter of moving the Swedish embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Such a proposal is submitted by members of parliament on behalf of the party almost every year.
Your party announces its desire to move the embassy to Jerusalem, but we have already heard such promises from other politicians, who did not necessarily stand behind them.
Can Israel trust that you will not lie?
"Our position is clear - the Swedish embassy should be in Jerusalem. If we have a majority, it will be moved to Jerusalem. However, even though we are growing very quickly, and today we are the second largest party, it is unlikely that we will reach an absolute majority in the near future. So moving the embassy will be an issue for negotiations. The preference for advancing this issue depends on relations with Israel, that's why the visit here was so important."
What is your main message to Israeli politicians?
"Our parties and nations share the same values, and many of the problems we face are also similar. We must fight for the soul of the West and of Judeo-Christian values against the left, which suffers from moral confusion and is no longer able to distinguish between right and wrong, between truth and lies. We support Israel's demand for the return of the abductees and the destruction of Hamas before it is possible to talk about a ceasefire. We also encouraged Israel to continue doing what it is doing anyway - to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza. In addition, I was happy to share with the Israelis the good news: the Swedish government will freeze aid to UNRWA.
Although we demanded to stop the aid completely and forever, this is a good start, and I am sure that sooner or later the Swedish Parliament will adopt our policy on the matter, as it has done in many other cases in the past."
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