Sweden's Orwellian concept of free speech
On Wednesday, the Swedish embassy in Tel Aviv issued a statement condemning the vile accusations made in the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet that Israel harvests the organs of dead 'Palestinians' for re-sale abroad. "The article in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet is as shocking and appalling to us Swedes as it is to Israeli citizens. We share the dismay expressed by Israeli government representatives, media and the Israeli public. This embassy cannot but clearly distance itself from it," the statement said.On Thursday, Sweden's ambassador to Israel finds herself under fire back in Sweden for allegedly interfering with Sweden's obtuse concept of 'free speech.'
It continued its condemnation of the paper by saying, "Freedom of the press and freedom of expression are freedoms which carry a certain responsibility. It falls on the editor-in-chief of any given newspaper."
Swedish opposition leaders on Tuesday slammed Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier for calling an article by tabloid Aftonbladet, which said Israeli troops harvested the organs of Palestinians, "shocking and appalling."What about Borsiin Bonnier's free speech? Doesn't she have the right to say that a newspaper article is 'shocking and appalling'?
Green Party spokesman Per Gahrton says Borsiin Bonnier should be recalled and taught "the basics of Swedish freedom of speech."
The Foreign Ministry distanced itself from her statement, saying it had no comment.
Since I don't live there and have never set foot in Sweden (although I did once close a transaction pursuant to which a company I represented was sold to a Swedish company), I will take the liberty of saying that something is seriously sick about Swedish society. But then, based on the list of recent incidents I mentioned yesterday, we all knew that already.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:54 PM
8 Comments:
Dear Sweden...
Here is my free speech...
KISS MY ASS
Sadly,you are right, something is very wrong with my country.
Next thing to do is perhaps an Alijah!
But I do not want that, we do need to be "light to people" even in bad times.
This is a very tricky situation...we were all up in arms when people were asking for the Danish government to intervene in the Mohamed cartoon fiasco and we were all in favor of freedom of the press then...
Shouldn't this be the same?
As disgusting and appaling as this propaganda is, we would have been better off ignoring it altogether and letting Swedish Jews do whatever they want to do (Aliyah anyone?)
Instead, now this is international front page and there is nothing we can say without appearing to be a bunch of hypocrites.
Good job!
Free speech for Israel's enemies. No free speech for Israel's friends. No I understand the meaning of Swedish freedom.
Or am I missing something here?
Sweden return our Jewish gold you war profiteering nation
If G-d want me to make an Aliyah I will do so.
But for now I think we Swedish Jews are needed in Sweden even if it is rather difficult in this time of large Muslim immigration and along with it an awakening of old European antisemitism.
If the same thing would happen in Israel, and if the goverment would stop this kind of article, it would only show that Israel DO NOT have freedom of speech. It would just illustrate the actions of a true police state.
Freedom of speech is all about saying whatever the hell you want to (does not matter if it is true or not). It is up to the reader to have to have a critical view to any article he reads, and check out facts of his own.
Oh, I forgot, Israeli newspapers is the omnipotent beholder of the truth. I am so sorry for forgetting this little detail.
/Swede
Unwind!
You forgot one more rather important thing. By now the Muslim world has taken Aftonbladet´s article to their hearts and the surviving Nazis too and the old European antisemitism is coming back.
Of course I agree on the matter of freedom of the press and speech. but we are living in problematic times.
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