Carl Bildt: Hamas Doesn’t Have to Acknowledge Israel

In order to continue to show our readers that Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, (Moderate) who likes to portray himself as a true humanitarian, isn’t what he claims to be, this post is dedicated to explain a little about his Palestinian guest today in Stockholm.

As reported in the blog “Peace in the Middle East” (Fred I Mellanöstern)  Bildt today received Nabil Shaath, a former Palestinian Minister and leader of the Palestinian Fatah. Fatah is the leading political party in the West Bank and sworn enemy of the Hamas which rules in the Gaza Strip. The terrorist organization Hamas has on several occasions conducted “witch hunts” of Fatah members in the Strip and from time to time tortures and executes its members.

FiM notes that Shaath, “belongs to one of the more radical elements [he has been seen in meeting with Hamas leaders in February] which sees a peace process mostly as a way to achieve a Palestinian state. Once this is accomplished he doesn’t see anything wrong in Hamas continuing their war against Israel—this time in a stronger position”. That Carl Bildt is encouraging such two-faced politics doesn’t come as a surprise after what we have learned recently about his involvement in Sudan. In short, Bildt was on the board of a company which is accused of using war lords to violently expel rebelling local inhabitants in order to aid the same Swedish corporation in drilling for oil.

Shaath has further stated to the local Middle Eastern press such as a Jordanian paper  and Arabic journalist Khaled Abu Toameh from the Jerusalem Post, that he is “lobbying for all European leaders who want to let go of the demands on Hamas to stop terror and acknowledge Israel and the peace accords. As opposed to the Quartet’s demands, Shaath, conversely, thinks it is enough with a “ceasefire” (and no recognition of Israel) in order to establish an Israeli state.  Once this is accomplished, Hamas will, of course, be able to continue its goals to eliminate Israel off the map by committing genocide against its citizens. By receiving Shaath in Sweden, it also highly likely that Bildt seems himself as one of those European leaders which approves of Shaat's goals for the Middle East.

Here is the link to the article written by Abu Toameh in which Bildt’s friend Nabil Shaath is interviewed and claims that Hamas doesn’t need to acknowledge Israel.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=178689

Carl Bildt: A Two-Faced “Humanitarian”

Carl Bildt, Swedish Foreign Minister, claims to be a true humanitarian. In him, it would seem the ever-suffering Palestinians have finally found a true champion within the Swedish government; one who is willing to fight for their rights, to stand up against their oppressors. Yet Bildt’s “humanitarian” image might not be as true as he claims. A few years back, he was part of the board on Lundin Petroleum which cared more about making revenues than bringing peace and prosperity to war-torn Sudan.
Lundin Petroleum is now being investigated and suspected of war crimes. During the period from1997-2003, more than 10,000 people were killed and close to 200,000 forced from their homes in southern Sudan. The reason, according to the report Unpaid Debt, is that foreign oil companies needed the rebels removed from the drilling area in order to start pumping oil—companies such as Lundin, of which Bildt was a board member. Of course, it is not the oil companies themselves who are accused of carrying out these crimes; rather, they are said to have hired officers of the Sudanese army to clear away the obstacles that stood in the way of their prospecting.
While Bildt today claims to have a commitment to the Palestinian people, this is as much a product of wishful thinking as his attempts to bring about peace and prosperity in Sudan. Like so many other so-called “humanitarians”, he was quick to condemn Israel for the violence surrounding the boarding of the Ship to Gaza flotilla, and more than willing to give the Swedish activists on the flotilla a hero's welcome.

This, however, seems to be the extent of his commitment to the Palestinians: condemning Israeli soldiers for having the nerve to defend themselves when being attacked by an armed mob, as well as publicly endorsing that mob. The pattern seems rather familiar; rather than actually doing something to help the Palestinians, Bildt thinks that condemning Israel will be the solution to the problem. He is angered by Israeli soldiers shooting nine violent activists in self-defense, but he says nothing when 32 members of the Fatah party are executed in cold blood by the Hamas.
That Sweden’s foreign minister has adapted a two faced “humanitarian” approach is evident; that Sweden chooses to use Bildt as their face to the world says a lot more about the Swedish claim to being humanitarians.
As a board member at the time Carl Bildt may be found a guilty party in the Lundin war crimes in Sudan. While he pretends that he can be the savior of human rights world wide, and especially a great friend to the Palestinian cause, this stain on his record exposes quite clearly the phony two-faced humanitarian mask which Bildt has put on.
And as far as his friendship to the Palestinians is concerned: If it only extends to endorsing anti-Israeli actions while keeping quiet about the crimes the rulers of Gaza are committing against their own people the Palestinians should probably start looking for friends elsewhere.
The report Unpaid Debt can be found here: http://www.ecosonline.org/reports/2010/%5Eindex.html/UNPAID_DEBT_fullreportweb.pdf.html


The text was written by

guest blogger : Adam Eberhag

Malmö’s New Mosque- Terror Friendly?

As I have mentioned earlier, Malmö will soon be receiving a new more radical mosque to fit the needs of the cities large Muslim population. The deal was signed last week and a large piece of land was sold by the Malmö municipality to the “Islamic Belief Association” (Islamska Trossamfundet).  Within three years the so called “leisure center” is estimated to be ready.

Even though almost half of the center is to be dedicated to a prayer hall, the people in charge for the center refuses to call it a mosque. This of course attracts suspicion—not only by Swedish media but among other Muslims in the city.  Member of the Islamic Belief Association, Ammar Daoud, is one of those who have made a statement claiming that “a mosque is something completely different.”

Ammar Daoud is formerly known as the spokesperson for the Islamic Culture Association (Islamiska kulturföreningen ). This is the same association which in 2009 had one of its branch cellar mosques evicted by the Swedish Security Police (SÄPO) as it was found that radical ideas was being promoted at the site. Yet according to Ammar Daoud, the Islamic Culture Association is nothing like the Islamic Belief Association.   Still, having Daoud as a representative doesn’t bring positive vibes to the new project. Ammar Daoud holds strong relations to Saudi Islamists—the same Saudis who wanted to take over the moderate mosque “Islamic Center” in Malmö and start funding it with money from El-Haramain. The Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation is a Saudi fundraising organization which at present is banned worldwide by the U.N. Security Council Committee due to direct connections to terrorist groups such as Al-Qa’ida.

It should also be noted that it still at this point it is not known how much the construction of the mosque will cost, or who will pay for it. Daoud’s response to the question was that funding will come from “a lot of individuals”. The vague answer does not bode well.

As can be read in the blog “Muslimska Friskolan” Daoud is also known as a man who harbors strong hatred against Israel. That he is a man who doesn’t refrain from inciting to violence is also shown as he screamed in public at an anti-Israeli demonstration “Long live the intifada!”.

It appears that Malmö now needs to get ready to pave the way for a new, larger, more radical and more influential mosque—sorry, “leisure center”.

Marking Four Years Since Hamas Kidnapped Israeli Soldier Gilad Schalit: Sweden Could Not Care Less

Last Friday marked the fourth anniversary of the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit by Hamas armed forces on June 25th, 2006. Since his kidnapping from inside Israel by the Palestinian terrorist group, Gilad has been imprisoned below ground. Throughout his captivity he has not been allowed a single visit by any international human rights organizations in order to assure that he is in reasonable condition or even alive. Refusing political prisoners or prisoners of war these visits is a clear violation of international law.  Hamas does not care about compliance with international law, and neither do the many hypocritical Swedes who choose to support Hamas—an extremist terror organization which  respects neither international law nor human rights. Hamas tortures and executes fellow Palestinians, and aims to commit genocide against Jews both inside and outside of Israel.

In response to the Ship to Gaza incident, Sweden has chosen to take a strong stance against Israel. This can be seen in a variety of ways—right now it’s the “non- political” Swedish Dockworkers Union boycott against Israel.  The dockworkers show their support for the Palestinians by supporting Hamas–the same Hamas which flaunts international law by holding Israeli soldier Schalit prisoner and denying him Red Cross visits.  (You may also recall that the “humanitarian” Ship to Gaza mission refused to take a small package for Schalit along with the tons of aid for Gaza residents.)

Sweden’s strong support for the “Palestinian cause” in the form of Hamas is often based on what the Swede’s call “humanitarian” arguments. It is common in the Swedish media to find discussions demonizing Israel as a state which (according to them) fails to uphold international human rights. This, even though Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East and the closest one can get to the Swedish ideal rule of law in the region. Palestinian prisoners in Israel have visitors and even the opportunity to earn academic degrees in jail. What is never talked about in the Swedish media is terror group Hamas’ human rights abuses, including the current imprisonment of Schalit.

Gilad Shalit was 19 years old on the day he was kidnapped. In August this year he will turn 23, if he is still alive. Schalit so far has spent 1, 460 days without being able to talk to anyone other than his Hamas captors. If he is still alive, he probably has only the vaguest hopes of ever being delivered from his torturers. If he is still alive, one cannot even imagine the suffering he is going through, essentially in solitary confinement, held captive by an organization which is infamous for violence.  If he is still alive….

Nobody knows if he is still alive. One video of Schalit was given to Israel in September of last year, in trade for releasing Palestinian criminals in Israeli prisons, and again, counter to international law. In the video Schalit is holding a newspaper appearing to be up to date, but his condition was definitely not good.



In Israel, the norm is that every 18 year-old young man or woman has to participate in army or national service. As Israelis relate to Schalit as the typical boy next door serving his country, the response to Schalit’s kidnapping has been a public outcry, including demonstrations —just as Hamas intended. Paradoxically, the Israeli human response means that Hamas has accomplished exactly what they wanted; public pressure on the Israeli government, increasing the likelihood of negotiations for Schalit’s release. Negotiation means that Israel would have to release many thousands of Palestinians, many with Israeli children’s blood on their hands.

The psychological warfare conducted by Hamas is war crime. It is obvious that Israel cannot release thousands of prisoners—again, many of whom have Israeli blood on their hands—in order to release one soldier. This only sends the message to Hamas to keep kidnapping soldiers; it’s a productive war strategy for Hamas. 

In a situation like this democratic nations which claim to fight for human rights should take a stance against Hamas.  In Sweden, which internationally portrays itself as a humanitarian leader this has certainly not happened. Swedish organizations such as the Dockworkers Union instead choose to send money to organizations such as Ship to Gaza which hides behind a humanitarian mask, while allying itself with violent groups such as Hamas and IHH.  Keep in mind that Hamas violence is aimed not only against Israelis, but also against many Palestinians—whether they support Fatah, are Christians, or oppose Hamas’ Islamic regime and policies. Most of the blame for humanitarian problems in Gaza can be traced to Hamas’ totalitarian regime, not to Israel.

In Sweden, nobody speaks of kidnapped young Israeli Gilad Schalit or the war crimes committed by Hamas. In the Swedish imagination , extremist Hamas remains the humanitarian victim of Israel—as the Swedish media continues to report a biased and false narrative—but not the true terrorist story.

Positive news from Sweden: Students willing to replace anti-Israeli dockworkers.

Sweden often gives the impression that it is blinded by hatred of Israel. However in the last couple of weeks following the Ship to Gaza event, some signs of hope have appeared showing that not everybody refuses to see both sides of the story.
In a public statement, the student union of the ruling Moderate party (Fria Moderaternas Studentforbund) writes "We can unload the ships".

The statement refers to the boycott  that the Swedish Dockworkers Union currently is imposing on Israeli cargo arriving to Sweden as well as Swedish cargo destined for Israel. In response to the Dockworkers Union’s boycott, the young Moderates offered to offload and load those ships which the dockworkers refuse to handle.
Their statement reads:

"Today, the Swedish Dockworkers Union has initiated a blockade of goods to and from Israel. The reason is that Israel did not let through a number of ships which were aiming to break their naval blockade of Hamas. To so clearly take a stance for Hamas and their unlimited naval access to accept all the goods they wish, including weapons, is a manifestation of hate towards Israel, not a support for the suffering population. Those who really want to have peace in the Middle East should instead take a stance against the terror group Hamas and the horrible suffering which it has caused Gaza’s population. It is Hamas's fault that people are suffering in Gaza, not Israel’s."

As a sign of their support of Israel the students have consequently decided to act in order to break the Swedish blockade against Israel and load and unload those ships which the dockworkers refuse to handle.
Anyone in Sweden interested in helping the Moderate Student Union can contact chairman Gustav Dymov for further information and contact details:

Email: gustaf@fmsf.se

Cellphone: 073/2477440.

Swedish Dockworkers Conduct Boycott of Convenience

As  I have mentioned earlier, the Swedish Dock Workers Union (Svenska Hamnarbetarförbundet) has decided to conduct a boycott against Israeli cargo arriving into Swedish ports as well as cargo that sets off towards Israel.  The boycott concerns almost all Israeli goods, except those which are inconvenient for the Swedes to boycott.

The self- initiated boycott was decided on as a response to the “attack on the Ships to Gaza activists” and started on the night between the 22nd and the 23rd of June and is to take place for a week.  In a statement in Swedish news debate forum Newsmill there is  an article written by the dockworkers themselves which states:

“From the 23rd of June the Swedish Dockworkers Union will no longer unload or load Israeli ships and cargo to and from Israel. The limited-term blockade will hopefully stop Swedish trade  with Israel by sea until July 29th. The Swedish Dockworker Union’s actions are not isolated. We are working parallel with the dockworkers in South Africa and Norway, a first international action in order to achieve two goals from the state of Israel: 1. Stop the blockade of Gaza. 2. Allow an international investigation of the violent boarding of the freedom flotilla.”

While caught up in the frenzy of hating Israel many Swedes might not have noticed a small and problematic statement which was made by the Union’s man of confidence  Erik Helgeson from the dockworkers’ department in Göteborg. According to Helgeson, some goods are not going to be blockaded from entering in the Sweden, giving less credibility to the boycott as a whole.

In an article in Svenska Dagbladet Helgeson explains that for example, dialysis machines will be exempted from the boycott--meaning there will probably be a number of other goods allowed into Sweden which have been made in, and shipped from, Israel. What many have failed to notice then is that in fact, a variety of goods still will be shipped in to Sweden during the blockade as, according to Helgeson’s “the purpose is not to harm the sick”, meaning the sick in Sweden, of course.

When a union conducts a boycott of convenience like the one conducted by the dockworkers Union in Sweden this doesn’t give much credibility to the boycott nor to the organization itself. It also shows that the sympathy that the dockworkers claim to have for the Palestinian cause is only so great when it is convenient for the Swedes—when it’s not, they could not care less about Palestinians—when in need hypocritical Swedes still allow for goods they want to enter into the country .

If the dockworkers truly felt for the Palestinian cause (despite its glorification and promotion of murder and genocide) they would stop all goods from Israel from entering Sweden. By choosing not to do so, their boycott is nothing but one more statement that many Swedes are at best hypocrites rather than the humanitarians they claim to be. If the dockworkers really were humanitarians,  they already would have boycotted the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL). It is blacklisted in the US, but has unrestricted access to Swedish ports.   

The union earlier stated that the boycott of Israel and Israeli goods was to take place starting June 15th until midnight on June 24th. The reasons as to why the boycott did not occur at its set times is unknown, yet one cannot help but wonder if the workers perhaps knew that they were expecting important cargo from Israel—and therefore decided to push forward the date to start the boycott at a more convenient time for Swedish “humanitarians”.

The Juggernaut of Misinformation

Christian Braw, Swedish priest and Army lieutenant (res.), continues a long and proud tradition within the Church of Sweden: defaming Israel.

In an article in the Swedish Christian newspaper Dagen, he describes, at great length, how Israel is conducting a kind of propaganda warfare in order to gain the world's sympathy after the boarding of the Ship to Gaza flotilla and the killing of nine of the Turkish extremists who assaulted the soldiers. Drawing on his own experience as an instructor of so-called “psy-ops” (psychological operations) at the army garrison in Eksjö, Sweden, he describes at length how Israel, with the help of its “information ministry” [possibly referring to Yuli (Yoel) Edelstein, the minister for Information and Diaspora], uses these psy-ops to convince the populace of other countries to see things from the Israeli point of view, or at least to sow confusion regarding what has truly happened.

These psy-ops are said to often be aimed at specific groups of people, in which case it is important to have a comprehensive understanding of the group one is trying to influence. Braw mentions political groups and members of free churches as examples. Concerning the former, the best, most effective method according to Braw would be to paint Israel as a progressive democracy, while in the case of the latter, it would be better to speak of G-d's chosen people. Apart from this, Braw says, psy-ops also make use of carefully selected pieces of information, chosen for being advantageous for the case one is trying to make. One may also use false eyewitnesses, tampered videotapes and documents etc. If this is not enough, there is also the option of trying to shift focus to something else. In this case, he writes, since it is obvious that Israel has committed an act of piracy, it would be to their advantage to shift focus to the question of whether the activists “defended themselves” using wooden bats or iron bars.

Braw paints a truly frightening picture: reading his article, one gets the impression that Israel has access to a vast bureau of propaganda, whose only purpose is to spread lies and misinformation regarding Israel's misdeeds. In that case, however, one serious question presents itself: if Israel has such a powerful juggernaut of propaganda at its command, why is it still losing the battle for opinion?

Rather than describing Israel as a progressive democracy, Swedish political parties are uniting in their hatred for Israel. Rather than describing Israel as the nation of G-d's chosen people, a representative for the Social Democratic Christian movement Broderskap claims that “Israel's worst enemy is Israel”.

Oh, but there is some talk of the Chosen people. Swedish politician Veronica Palm, Social Democratic MP, is wondering if there are others wondering “who the Chosen ones will burn next”, the Chosen ones being, naturally, the Jews.

Also, one should take into account that hardly a word is said in the Swedish press concerning the seven Israeli soldiers that were wounded during the boarding, which certainly suggests that the activists were not merely “defending themselves”; had the Israeli soldiers been the ones who began the violence, it seems unlikely that there would have been a single Israeli wounded, as the soldiers, with their side-arms, had the advantage of range. For there to be any wounded Israelis, the activists would have to be very close indeed in order to beat at them with iron bars, something which would have been difficult to accomplish if the Israeli soldiers had been firing at them – unless, of course, the activists were armed with firearms from the beginning, which would prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that there was never any peaceful intent whatsoever behind the flotilla.

Braw's argumentation is flawed, but he is right when it comes to one thing; there is an unstoppable juggernaut of misinformation at work regarding the conflict, but it is not being operated by the Israelis. It is under the control of the Hamas and their supporters, the various useful idiots of the West.

The text was written by
guest blogger Adam Eberhag