Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom, known for harshly criticizing Israel, opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, Sweden’s Leader of the Opposition Anna Kinberg Batra told the Israeli Knesset on September 5.

Wallstrom asked Kinberg Batra to pass on the message before the opposition leader left for Israel to meet with the Israel-Sweden Parliamentary Friendship Group.

Kingberg Batra was on a diplomatic visit to neutralize Sweden’s negative posture toward Israel.

Israeli officials said they did not believe she was successful in her mission, as Kingberg Batra did not make any explicitly pro-Israel statements during her visit, the Times of Israel reported.

“We are disappointed with the visit of Swedish opposition leader Kinberg Batra in Israel,” a senior official in Jerusalem told the Times of Israel. “Before the visit, she presented herself as a close friend and gave us to understand that she would use her visit as a platform for positive statements about Israel. She did not deliver the goods.”

Swedish-Israeli ties have been strained since Sweden recognized the Palestinian state in 2014 and Wallstrom called for a query into whether Israel is guilty of extrajudicial killings of Palestinians, saying the number of deaths during the recent terror wave are disproportionately heavy on the Palestinian side in comparison to Israelis.