Swedish PM 0wns Bernie Sanders

Story here.

Fighting Fire with Fire

Over the last few days, the war of words between Israel and Sweden over the latest blood libel (i.e., that the IDF harvested body parts from dead Gazans) has been escalating. Last week, defense minister, Ehud Barak, informed the Swedish foreign minister of Israel's displeasure.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday informed Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt that he expects the government of Sweden to denounce "the scandalous report alleging IDF soldiers snatched organs from Palestinians."

Barak stressed that the claims made in the article by tabloid Aftonbladet are not legitimate, but rather "a despicable libel, which is unacceptable also in a democratic atmosphere of freedom of speech."

Swedish officials, however, have kept silent about the story--perhaps a belated lesson learned about free press and editorial cartoons. Still, this story is over the top and a statement of such from some appropriate official, such as the Royal Pooper Scooper, would not be too much to ask.

Ilya Meyer, in an op-ed article in the Jerusalem Post, suggests that there is more to the story than a simple resurrection of medieval blood libel.

A worrying pattern emerges of governmental, church and trade union involvement in officially-sanctioned demonization of Israel.

This is no one-off phenomenon. Rampant Swedish media distortion and the tacit and blatant anti-Semitism expressed in various Swedish governmental and quasi-governmental organizations can be charted with the utmost clarity in an NGO Monitor report "A Clouded EU Presidency: Swedish Funding for NGO Rejectionism."

THE RESULTS of media distortion and constant demonizing of Jews and Israelis are felt in Sweden all the time - most recently Saturday in a soccer match involving Jewish youth club IF Hakoah, in which spectators raced onto the pitch during and after the match to assault the Hakoah players for the crime of being Jewish.

One problem, however: at this particular match, none of the Hakoah players happened to be Jewish. Not that it mattered in a climate of hate cloaked in government silence.

Other aspects of Swedish silence that are equally worrying if one steps back and examines the broader canvas. Sweden is one of the world's largest per capita donors to Palestinian Arab welfare. This funding comes in the form of tax revenues paid dutifully by hard-working Swedes lucky enough to still have a job, to the tune of about of 700 million kronor per annum and increasing yearly.

And despite the millions that he takes from Swedish citizens to give to Palestinians, [Swedish Foreign Minister Carl] Bildt deliberately chooses not to condition these payments on the Palestinians' release of the only Jew in the Gaza Strip: the young Gilad Schalit who was captured by Hamas 1200 days ago and has since not been allowed contact with his family, legal representation or visits by the Red Cross - itself a gross violation of his human rights.

Indeed, it would appear that part of Swedish official policy is financial support to organizations that routinely deseminate outlandish claims.

Far from being "free speech in action," Sweden's anti-Israel hatred is too often subsidized by the government. A recent report by the respected NGO Monitor shows that the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Diakonia, the multi-national NGO Development Center (NDC), and the Swedish Mission Council (SMR) fund 20 major NGOs that "routinely accuse Israel of 'genocide', 'ethnic cleansing', and 'apartheid', and some compare Israeli military and political officials to Nazis." As Professor Gerald Steinberg puts it, "The path from this demonization to the blood libels of Aftonbladet is short and direct."

So, what's to be done?

Well, I guess one can only fight fire with fire. First, there is a devasting look into the trade secrets of Swedish lox making. In a revealing article in Ynet News, worthy of the genre, Uria Asor investigates the horrific practices of the Swedish lox industry.

OSLO – Gravad lax – or pickled salmon – is one of the most popular Scandinavian dishes. Its preparation process is simple and quick, and its ingredients are seemingly identical everywhere: Salmon fillet, salt, sugar, oil, and herbs.

However, despite this, those in the know and lox connoisseurs have been claiming that the Swedish gravad lax tastes differently than the Norwegian, Finnish, and Danish variety. “The Swedish variety contains some sort of slight sourness, “ says Danish Chef Richard Muller Holstrum. “I was never able to detect its source.”

However, Ynet’s special investigative report has revealed, for the first time, what may be the secret ingredient in Sweden’s gravad lax. The horrifying findings indicate that the source is fungus removed from the feet of innocent Norwegian fishermen.

The problem is that Swedish salmon just can't cut the mustard in the international salt cured fish market.

In the 1950s, ... Sweden faced a sharp decline in pickled salmon exports, mostly because of the growing competition against Norwegian salmon. Secret experiments and taste tests performed by Swedish scientists finally identified the secret ingredient that would give Swedish salmon the edge: One gram of fungus taken from human feet for every 100 grams of gravad lax.

Residents of east Norway villages, known for not changing socks for long months, were therefore an obvious target. And so, Sweden established the Strumpor Stinkande elite unit, responsible for fresh supply of stinky human feet for the Swedish salmon industry.

In KNEW there was something wrong with foreign made lox. I just KNEW it!

But this is small change compared to the truly horrific proportions some will go to demonstrate their outrage with offical Swedish complicity.

Thousands of Israelis on Sunday signed an internet petition calling for a consumers' boycott on Swedish home products retailer IKEA, as well as other companies from the Scandinavian country, including vehicle maker Volvo, Absolut Vodka, and fashion chain H&M.

The petition was initiated following a Swedish newspaper report accusing Israel Defense Forces soldiers of harvesting Palestinians' organs.

The website which published the petition explained that "after the anti-Semitic publication and the blood libel against IDF soldiers, and the refusal of Sweden's foreign minister and prime minister to condemn this report, there is no way that we can continue buying products made in Sweden. Don’t settle for signing the petition. Real action is needed."

Now, THIS really hurts. A Volvo I can do without. But, I was just thinking I need some more shelves for my IVAR bookshelves and planning a trek to the Netanya IKEA.

Bummer.