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Sweden puts Israel on Twitter blacklist, then apologizes

Sweden apologized after placing Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to Sweden Isaac Bachman on a Twitter blacklist.

The Swedish Institute, operating under the authority of the Swedish Foreign Office, on Tuesday placed Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to Sweden Isaac Bachman on a Twitter blacklist together with some 12,000 accounts that peddle hate and incitement.

Saudi Arabia, Iran and other states with abysmal human rights records were not added to the list of users banned by the Swedish Institute-owned Twitter handle @Sweden.

“Now, that Israel ‘s MFA and ambassador are blocked – Sweden is much safer in reading Iran and others that were not blocked,” Bachman tweeted after being blocked.

A minor diplomatic incident erupted, following which Sweden apologized and removed the two accounts from the ban list and issued an apology on Wednesday.

The Jerusalem Post quoted a Foreign Ministry official who said that the incident “appears to be a mishap and we’ve gone beyond it.”

Emmanuel Nahshon, spokesperson for the MFA, reacted with outrage to the incident, tweeting that is was “crazy and shameful.”

“Democracy and pluralism at its best…” he added mockingly.

After the accounts were removed from the blacklist, he tweeted sarcastically, “I feel a bit disappointed that I wasn’t blocked.”

After being unblocked, Bachman tweeted, “Hope all is well and that you don’t find me now as scary as before…”

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Sweden’s relations with Israel have been strained since the Social Democratic-led government in 2014 recognized Palestinian statehood. Since then, several leading Swedish officials have made outlandish statements about Israel and in support of Palestinian terrorism.

In December, Israel boycotted Sweden’s foreign minister, Margot Wallstrom, saying she was not welcome since making several offensive remarks about the Jewish state, such as accusing Israel of randomly executing innocent Palestinians.

By: World Israel News Staff