![Members of the far-right Sweden Democrats](https://images.prismic.io/vfi-news/4621bd62-1c42-4017-9475-c6a35e1170a3_6.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,0,1200,666&w=1200&h=666)
Swedish Party with Nazi Roots ‘Wants to Be Friends of Israel, Jews’
The Israeli Foreign Ministry has long had a policy of blacklisting political parties with Nazi or openly antisemitic roots, from the Austrian Freedom Party to the National Front in France and beyond.
The Sweden Democrats always fell under that category, counting Nazis and neo-Nazis among its founding members, but the boycott had little impact since they were far from positions of power in Stockholm.
Last year, however, the Sweden Democrats became the second-largest party in parliament, supporting the governing coalition – and they want to befriend Israel.
“Israel is the only true democracy in the region, and we like that,” Sweden Democrats lawmaker Richard Jomshof, chairman of the parliament’s Justice Committee, said on a visit to the Knesset on Wednesday, May 17. “We are pro-Israel, we would like to cooperate with Israel and we want to be friends.”
Member of the European Parliament Charlie Weimers, who has been an outspoken supporter of Israel in Brussels in recent years was proud to point out that a recent study by the European Coalition for Israel determined Sweden Democrats had the most pro-Israel voting record of the Swedish parties in the European Parliament and was the eighth-most pro-Israel overall. (JPost / VFI News)
“The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.” - Proverbs 12:26