A Swedish representative of the left-wing Social Democrats party claimed that the Israeli Mossad has been training the Islamic State in order to fight other Muslims in the Middle East.
In a Facebook post reportedly uncovered by Sydsvenskan newspaper, Malmo city council member Adrian Kaba said to his followers: “ISIS is being trained by the Israeli Mossad. Muslims are not waging war, they are being used as pawns by other peoples’ game.”
Kaba initially doubled down on his assertion, claiming that his ideas kept “a debate going” about what the true source was for conflict in the Middle East.
He would finally give a half-hearted apology, releasing a statement that read: “I now realize that I made a mistake. If there is evidence that this is an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory, then i reject it unreservedly.”
Kaba has reportedly in the past used the term “Jew-European extreme right-wing conspiracy” in a 2012 op-ed he wrote for the Socialist paper Tro & Politik.
Sweden has experienced a surge in Islamic anti-Semitism over the summer. In June, Malmo reported multiple vandalized and burglarized synagogues. In July, a man was severely injured with iron pipes because he was hanging an Israeli flag in his apartment. In August, a Jewish woman was beaten almost to death because she wore a Star of David necklace.
Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who hails from the same leftist Social Democrats party as Kaba, said in a statement on Friday that Sweden has pledged to “recognize the state of Palestine.” Lofven declared his support for a Palestinian state on his first day in office. However, It remains unclear where Sweden recognizes the borders of the Palestinian state.
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