Amid Israel-Palestine Knife Violence, Sweden Calls For Investigation Into 'Extrajudicial' Deaths

Sweden's foreign minister Wednesday called for an investigation into the deaths of Palestinians who have been killed by the Israeli military in recent months. Margot Wallström, who is part of the center-left Social Democratic government, which recognized the Palestinian state in October 2014, discussed the issue in Parliament in December when she called on Israel to avoid "extrajudicial" deaths.

"It is essential that thorough and credible investigations be conducted concerning these deaths, with the aim of providing clarity and bringing about possible accountability," Wallström said Tuesday evening, according to an Agence France-Presse report.

Wallström was referring to the roughly 100 Palestinians who were killed over a period of two months while allegedly attempting knife attacks in Palestine and the Israeli territories. Since Wallström made her initial statement in December, the death toll, which includes an Arab Israeli, has reached 149.

Stabbing attacks against Israeli forces have become commonplace over the past year, with the press describing it as the “knife intifada.”

In the two most recent incidents last week, four Palestinians were killed by the Israeli Defense Forces in the West Bank. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said two of the alleged attackers were 19, while the others were 18 and 16. No Israeli military personnel were injured in the attacks.

In the aftermath of Wallström's most recent comments, Israel's Foreign Ministry condemned her for supporting terrorism. "In her irresponsible and delusional statements the foreign minister of Sweden gives support to terror and in so doing encourages violence," the ministry said in a Hebrew-language statement.

Ties between Sweden and Israel became strained after the government recognized Palestine as a state and further deteriorated following the Paris terror attacks in November of last year. Wallström blamed the decadeslong Palestinian-Israeli conflict for promoting the radicalization of organizations like the Islamic State group and al Qaeda.