When the right-wing party, Sweden Democrats, published this commentary in Aftonbladet criticizing radical Islam as a threat to the country, the government quickly moved to distance itself from the article.
No less than Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt weighed in, as quoted in the Stockholm News:
Prime minister and leader of the Moderate Party, Fredrik Reinfeldt says that the article shows that the Sweden Democrats only have one issue.
“It’s the core of their ideology. They only have one political issue, to divide people into groups. Every attempt from power holders to distinguish the right religion, the right nationality or the right sexual orientation has always ended in horror”, Fredrik Reinfeldt told news agency TT during an informal press conference at Gothenburg University earlier today.
When the same paper accused Israel of killing Palestinians to harvest their organs, Sweden refused Israel's request to denounce the article. This led to a brief diplomatic crisis.
Putting aside the politics of the Sweden Democrats and the fact that this may be a domestic political issue for Sweden, it still sheds some light about their real attitudes towards tolerance and free speech.
Now that Prime Minister Reinfeldt has demonstrated Sweden's real views on free speech, I challenge the government to similarly distance itself from Donald Bostrom's blood libel against Israel and the Jewish people.
(Hat tip: Ilya Meyer)
