Israel condemns Swedish report on IDF

September 20th, 2009 STOCKHOLM - The European Union Sunday strongly condemned comments by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denying the Holocaust. "The presidency of the European Union condemns statements by President Ahmadinejad at the Quds Day rally in Tehran, where he repeated denials of the Holocaust and of the right to exist of the state of Israel," the EU statement said.

September 16th, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israel has described the Goldstone Commission Report as biased and nauseating, and added that it has created an unjust "equivalence of a democratic state with a terror organization". The commission, established by the UN Human Rights Council and led by former South African constitutional court judge Richard Goldstone, concluded that "Israel committed actions amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity," during Operation Cast Lead from late December to mid-January.

September 11th, 2009 NEW YORK - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the firing of two missiles into Israel Friday, saying the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon will investigate the incident. He called on all parties to exercise restraint.

September 6th, 2009 Sweden's foreign minister cancels Israel visitJERUSALEM — Sweden's foreign minister abruptly called off a visit to Israel this week, an Israeli spokesman said Sunday, amid a feud over a Swedish newspaper article and a growing gulf between Israel and the international community over West Bank settlement construction. Foreign Minister Carl Bildt has called off a trip to Israel planned for this Friday, according to Yigal Palmor, spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry.

August 23rd, 2009 Netanyahu wants Sweden to condemn organ storyJERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called for the Swedish government to condemn an article in a Stockholm newspaper suggesting Israeli troops harvested the organs of Palestinians they killed. An official present at the weekly session of the Israeli Cabinet said Netanyahu told his ministers he did not expect the Swedish government to apologize for the article in the tabloid Aftonbladet but he did expect it to take a stand.

August 19th, 2009 Israel furious over Swedish newspaper articleJERUSALEM — Israel and the Swedish Embassy responded furiously Wednesday to a Swedish newspaper article that suggested Israeli troops killed Palestinians and harvested their organs. The article published Monday in Aftonbladet, Sweden's largest circulation daily, implies a link between those charges and the recent arrest in the U.S.

August 13th, 2009 Arabs ask for EU support on Israel nuke resolutionVIENNA — Arab states are lobbying the European Union for support in their drive to force Israel to open up its secretive nuclear program to international perusal, documents made available to The Associated Press show. In a letter addressed to Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, Amre Moussa, secretary general of the 22-nation League of Arab States, urges Sweden to back an Arab resolution entitled "Israel's Nuclear Capabilities." The document is to be submitted for a vote at next month's 150-nation general assembly of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

August 4th, 2009 STOCKHOLM - The European Union (EU) is to be officially represented by Sweden as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is sworn in for a second term as the president of Iran, the Swedish foreign ministry said Tuesday. According to Swedish government statement, Stockholm's ambassador to Iran, Magnus Wernstedt, will participate in Wednesday's ceremony in Tehran as representative of the current EU council presidency.

July 31st, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israel has sought help from the US to build a nuclear power plant in the country, a media report said Friday. Israel has already conveyed its request to the US, the Ynet news service reported.

July 19th, 2009 US tells Israel to halt east Jerusalem projectJERUSALEM — Israeli radio stations say the U.S. has told Israel to halt an east Jerusalem construction project.

July 9th, 2009 G-8 condemns North Korea's nuclear testL'AQUILA, Italy — Group of Eight leaders have condemned "in the strongest terms" North Korea's nuclear test and ballistic missile launches. A G-8 statement Wednesday says North Korea's actions "pose a danger to peace and stability in the region and beyond." North Korea conducted a nuclear test in May, and ballistic missile launches in April and again just days before the summit.

May 28th, 2009 JERUSALEM - In its 2009 annual report, formally released on Thursday, Amnesty International places sole blame on Israel for the breakdown in the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that led to Operation Cast Lead. The London-based organization accuses Israel of breaking the six-month cease-fire on November 4, 2008, when "Israeli forces killed six Palestinian militants." Jerusalem-based research organization NGO Monitor said the report ignored Hamas violations.

April 30th, 2009 Poll: Swedish pro file-sharing party gains supportSTOCKHOLM, Sweden — A new poll shows a Swedish party that calls for legalizing Internet file-sharing could win a seat in the European Parliament in June. The poll published Thursday in the Stockholm newspaper Dagens Nyheter shows the Pirate Party's backing has surged after a court verdict against The Pirate Bay file-sharing site.

January 13th, 2009 JERUSALEM - An air raid siren sounded Wednesday morning in northern Israel, indicating that rockets might have landed in the area, news service Ynet reported. Residents of the Upper Galilee region and in the city of Kiryat Shmona said that they heard blasts and saw smoke in the nearby area.

January 7th, 2009 JERUSALEM - Several rockets were fired into northern Israel from Lebanon early Thursday, agencies reported quoting Israeli police and military sources. Israel's Channel 2 TV said explosions were heard in northern Israel, caused probably by rockets from neighbouring Lebanon.