Swedish FM cancels Israel trip amid 'organ' row

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt abruptly cancelled a trip to Israel this week, the Israeli foreign ministry said on Sunday amid raised tensions over a controversial newspaper article.

Bildt postponed his Thursday visit after reports that Israeli hardline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had considered refusing to meet with him, according to a statement from the ministry that was reported in the Israeli media.

But an Israeli ministry spokesperson told AFP that the visit was cancelled over the weekend due to “a problem of timing."

The Swedish Foreign Ministry could not confirm the cancellation and Bildt’s office did not return Al Arabiya’s request for comment.

Freedom of speech dispute

Israel and Sweden have been locked in a row over free speech and anti-Semitism sparked by a report in the popular Aftonbladet tabloid that alleged Israeli soldiers stole and sold body parts of dead Palestinians.

Israel had demanded Sweden condemn the article it labeled an anti-Semitic "blood libel." Stockholm refused, saying that doing so would violate the country's tradition of freedom of speech.

Sweden currently holds to rotating presidency of the EU, and sources in Jerusalem say the cancelation may have diplomatic consequences.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos, whose country is scheduled to preside over the EU, was in Sweden on Saturday and is expected in Israel on Wednesday days after a controversial newspaper article sparked tensions.

Spanish daily El Mundo published an interview with famous Holocaust denier David Irving, which the FM’s office condemned and called “unfortunate.”