As Sweden heads to polls, Israel and Palestine policies are on the ballot

Stockholm, Sweden – This Sunday, Sweden will vote in a knife-edge general election that could change the country's stance on Israel.

Key points

• In December 2025, the administration allocated concerning $83m to the humanitarian response in Gaza and the region for 2026, bypassing UNRWA.
• But a Novus survey published on Monday suggested 50.3 percent backing a left-wing coalition compared with 47.9 percent for the current right-wing administration.
• The party's leader, Ebba Busch, was photographed regarding 2009 in front of a military vehicle in the occupied Golan Heights wearing an Israeli army T-shirt.
• Within the bloc, the Left Party and Green Party have pressed Sweden to join South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the ICJ.
• It issued in 2024 an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over war crimes.

In 2014, Sweden became the first European Union member state to recognise Palestine.

Meanwhile, the decision strained relations with Israel, with then Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stating that Sweden did not understand that relations in the Middle East are more complicated than assembling IKEA furniture.

As Swedes head to the polls, the far-right Sweden Democrats, the Nordic nation's second-largest political party, want that recognition revoked, now.

For context, the Israel-Palestine conflict has been baked into the political landscape ever since Sweden's Count Folke Bernadotte, the United Nations' first mediator for Palestine, was assassinated in 1948 by the Zionist paramilitary group Lehi, widely known as the Stern Gang, in Jerusalem.

Forty years afterwards, Sweden brokered negotiations in Stockholm between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and a delegation of prominent American Jews. Days afterwards, Washington opened dialogue with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Sweden's politics run in two blocs.

On the right: The governing Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals, plus the Sweden Democrats. This person have propped up the administration from outside since all four parties signed an agreement in 2022.

Current Prime Minister and Moderate leader Ulf Kristersson and Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson confirmed earlier this year that an election victory would see a four-party cabinet, with the Sweden Democrats promised significant portfolios.

On the left: The Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Greens, with the Centre Party a feasible fourth. What could happen if the right-wing bloc wins?

For context, the current right-wing administration does not regard Israel's conduct in Gaza as genocide and has not joined South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

After Israel alleged that a number of UNRWA staff took part in the deadly October 7, 2023 ‌attack led by Hamas on southern Israel, the administration suspended Sweden's funding to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

It resumed funding afterwards and then concluded core funding in December 2024.

When Israeli forces intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters in October 2025 and arrested more than 400 individuals on board, among them Sweden's Greta Thunberg, the administration acknowledged reports of Israeli abuse towards the activists but noted it had long advised against travel to Gaza and stated the group had "clear personal responsibility". Some MPs in the right-wing bloc appear to be favouring Israel.

Christian Democrat MPs have filed motions calling for Jerusalem to be recognised as Israel's capital and the Swedish embassy to be moved there, for UNRWA's responsibilities to be transferred to UNHCR, and ultimately for UNRWA to be wound up entirely.

In practice, the party's leader, Ebba Busch, was photographed regarding 2009 in front of a military vehicle in the occupied Golan Heights wearing an Israeli army T-shirt.

Alice Teodorescu Mawe, a Christian Democrat member of the European Parliament, argued in October 2024 that individuals applying for Swedish citizenship should recognise Israel's right to exist and "embrace the Judeo-Christian values on which Swedish democracy rests".

In August, she shared a clip published by a pro-Israel media enterprise, The Free Press, that questioned the famine in Gaza. An expert interviewed by SVT, Sweden's public broadcaster, concluded that the video was misleading.

But the current administration is not uniformly pro-Israel. It has pushed for EU sanctions against "extremist" settlers and ministers, and in April proposed extra tariffs and export certificates on settlement products.

Nevertheless, the Sweden Democrats, a party with neo-Nazi roots, if it were to secure into administration, would represent the most pro-Israel views in the bloc.

Their motions this session call for moving the Swedish embassy to Jerusalem and ending all Swedish aid to Palestinians.

Akesson additionally stated in January that if it were up to him, recognition would absolutely be withdrawn, and that he would raise it in coalition discussions.

In practical terms, recognition is a declaration by a state, and that can be changed, Zina al-Dewany, a political commentator and editorial writer for the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, informed Al Jazeera.

It is something that could be a possibility given the administration has not shown much of a "backbone" in standing up to Sweden Democrats' wishes, she stated.

If the Sweden Democrats join the administration, she went on, they could theoretically end up in charge of foreign affairs, and "our foreign policy is decided by the government, not the parliament, " which means it would not need a parliamentary vote. What might happen if the left-wing bloc wins?

In practice, the left, at present ahead in polling, is aligned on a number of key problems, including the resumption of UNRWA funding.

Anfal Mahdi, an opposition councillor in Malmo, informed Al Jazeera that her Left Party had been an outlier in its explicit backing of Palestine, and that the Social Democrats have been fearful of adopting a clearer stance.

"If the left bloc comes to power, you will see a trade boycott of Israel, more money to UNRWA, and we want more funding to the ICC, " Mahdi remarked, referring to the International Criminal Court. It issued in 2024 an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over war crimes.

All parties have condemned the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel and state the armed group should hold no role in any future Palestinian administration.

Meanwhile, the Social Democrats, Sweden's dominant party for a century and architect of the welfare state that still defines Swedish politics, backing elements of these matters, but have erred more on the side of caution, focusing more on targeted sanctions against Israeli authorities and "extremist" settlers.

For now, as Sweden heads to polls, Israel and Palestine policies are on the remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.