Former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt, was the latest top European official to add his voice to those critical of Israel’s apartheid in Palestine.
Bildt, who is also the Co-Chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations and the World Health Organization’s Special Envoy for ACT-Accelerator, said that Israel is “drifting dangerously” following his participation in the annual Herzliya Conference, held on May 22-23.
Good on you, Mr. Bildt. It takes this kind of courage to break the silence on #IsraeliApartheid. We #Palestinians hope to see others speaking out against the ongoign injustices in #Palestine as you have. Palestine will be free. https://t.co/hG3LzdaVFO
— Ramzy Baroud (@RamzyBaroud) May 25, 2023
The Herzliya Conference is an annual summit held at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, to discuss matters of state security and policy.
This year, the conference was held under the theme ‘Vision & Strategy in an Era of Uncertainty’.
Bildt, however, was not impressed with the proceedings of the conference as far as the Israeli occupation of Palestine is concerned. The top EU official tweeted on Wednesday, May 24:
“Excellent discussions at Herzliya Conference, but the non-mention of the issue of 🇵🇸 (Palestine) shows that 🇮🇱 (Israel) has no policy worthy of the name on one of the issues most critical to its future. I don’t think 🇮🇱 (Israel) can survive long term as a full apartheid state. It’s drifting dangerously.”
Criticism of Israeli apartheid in Palestine is growing in societies that have traditionally been perceived to be pro-Israel.
The floodgate of this criticism followed damning reports by top international human rights organizations, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, and by Israel’s leading rights group, B’tselem.
These organizations, and many others, have branded Israel an apartheid regime, calling for the dismantlement of apartheid as a prerequisite for any just peace in Palestine.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
