Yair Lapid said that Israel “is looking forward to increased cooperation with Sweden.”
For the first time in seven years, an Israeli Foreign Minister spoke with his Swedish counterpart.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid wrote on Twitter that he spoke with Sweden’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ann Linde on Monday.’’This phone conversation symbolizes the relaunching of high-level relations at this level,’’ he said.
He also said that he “appreciates her statement regarding Sweden’s strong and solid commitment to the security of Israel and her recognition in the course of our conversation of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.”
“I look forward to increased cooperation with Sweden on bilateral and multilateral issues,” concluded Lapid on Twitter.
Israel stopped visits from Swedish officials in 2014 after then Foreign Minister Margot Walstrom called to investigate “extrajudicial killings” of Palestinians during the 2014 wave of terrorism.
In the same year, Sweden became the first EU member state to announce that it would officially recognize a ‘’state of Palestine’’ 2014 causing Israel to make a public “reprimand” to the Swedish ambassador.