Israel Matzav

Good news: Carl Bildt is staying home

This is the best news I've heard tonight. Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt, who has arrogantly refused to express any remorse for the publication of a blood libel by one of his country's tabloids last month, has decided not to come to Israel on September 11 (what an 'appropriate' day that would have been). Good riddance!

While Swedish officials told The Jerusalem Post late last week that the visit was in doubt, Israeli diplomatic officials said Saturday night that the visit had definitely been cancelled.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was considering not meeting Bildt unless he condemned the article in the tabloid Aftonbladet, something the Swedish government - citing freedom of the press - has adamantly refused to do. Netanyahu gave vent to Israel's disappointment over the matter during a meeting last week in Jerusalem with visiting EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

During that meeting, Netanyahu said that no one was expecting the Swedes to restrict freedom of the press, but that it was reasonable to expect the government to speak out against the type of defamation that in the past had led to the mass murder of Jews.

Sweden currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, and Bildt's failure to visit here will have an impact on the country's ability during its term as president to have any real say on the diplomatic process.

All of which means that we don't have to listen to the EU until at least January. Good. With Sweden in charge, they don't deserve a say.

How dumb are the Swedes? Even Spain's Miguel Moratinos gets it more than they do. On Saturday night, he condemned Spain's El Mundo for calling Holocaust denier David Irving an 'expert' on World War II.

"The foreign minister, while maintaining the most absolute respect for freedom of expression, regrets that space was given to a historian who denies one of the biggest tragedies for humanity in modern history," a spokesman for Moratinos said. "These types of statements deeply hurt the Jewish people."

Moratinos will be here on Wednesday.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:12 AM