Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST
The crisis over the Swedish newspaper article claiming IDF soldiers killed Palestinians and snatched their organs refuses to fade away, with Sweden's Foreign Minister denying a report that his country would work together with Italy to pass a resolution condemning anti-Semitism at an upcoming informal meeting of European foreign ministers.
Monday's Haaretz quoted Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini as saying that he and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt agreed to work to pass a resolution saying that the EU, under the Swedish Presidency, strongly condemned anti-Semitism and would work against its manifestations in Europe.
Frattini, according to the paper, said he would demand that the statement make clear reference to the offensive Aftonbladet article.
Later in the day, however, the Swedish news agency TT quoted Bildt - currently on a trip to Kabul - as denying that he discussed with Frattini a possible resolution to the Israeli-Swedish friction at the upcoming meeting.
According to the news agency, the Swedish foreign ministry's head of communications, Cecilia Julin, denied Bildt and Frattini even discussed the disagreement, or a possible resolution at the Council of Ministers.
"From the Swedish side we have no plans to handle this question through the informal foreign ministers' meeting in Stockholm," said Julin. She said that Bildt suggested that Frattini's comment must have arisen through an "Italian misunderstanding."
Swedish President Fredrik Reinfeldt also continued to hunker down Monday behind the official Swedish position that this was an issue of press freedom, and that the Swedish government could not take a stand.
Referring to Swedish laws regarding freedom of the press, Reinfeldt said at a press conference in Stockholm, "We cannot be asked by anyone to contravene the Swedish constitution, and this is something we will also not do within the European Union."
Israel has said repeatedly that it was not asking the Swedish government to impinge upon freedom of the press, but rather to condemn a "blood libel" that appeared in a Swedish newspaper.
Bildt, meanwhile, is still scheduled to arrive in Israel on September 11 for a one day visit. Israel, according to diplomatic officials, continues to wait for a condemnation of the article by the Swedish government. If such a condemnation is not forthcoming by the time of Bildt's visit, the officials said, it would cast a serious cloud over the trip and Sweden's efforts to play a significant role in the diplomatic process.
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