Sweden’s former premier asks Palestinian lawmaker to leave parliament

By Leila Nezirevic

LONDON (AA) - Sweden’s former prime minister has asked a Palestinian member of the country’s parliament to leave his seat after he resigned from the Social Democrats, citing a lack of trust expressed in him by the party’s leadership, local media reported Tuesday.

The move came due to Jamal El-Haj’s participation in a Palestinian solidarity conference last May, despite being asked not to attend by senior Social Democrats over what they described as its links to Hamas.

El-Haj, a member of parliament for the Malmo region, has decided to sit as an independent in the Swedish parliament, or Riksdag. But Magdalena Andersson, the leader of the Social Democrats and a former prime minister, has asked him to leave it completely.

“He should leave his seat in the Riksdag,” Andersson told local broadcaster SVT Nyheter.

“I hope he comes to his senses,” she said, adding: “You don't tell a member of parliament to leave the party lightly."

El- Haj said: “It would not be right towards our voters and Swedish democracy to leave my position,” the local daily newspaper Aftonbladet reported.

It marks the first time someone in the Social Democrats has resigned from the party and has decided to remain independent.

Andersson initially defended El-Haj after the conference in May, but she no longer trusts him, according to the broadcaster.

She now believes that El-Haj has damaged the party, according to SVT Nyheter,

In a letter to Aftonbladet which he also reportedly sent to the party board, El-Haj said that in “the battle between truth and lies, there is a critical point when the lie is at its greatest and the truth reaches its ultimate test.”

“With these words, I want to inform you that I am leaving the Social Democrats,” he said.

El-Haj pointed out that he had been a Social Democrat for over 30 years and that he was still convinced that the party was the best thing that has happened to Sweden in modern times.

“Today's decision is therefore the most painful I have had to make in my entire adult life,” he said, adding it is not possible to remain when the party leadership “no longer has confidence in me and the drive has become too great.”

As support for Palestine is rising among the general public around the world, politicians and experts are increasingly finding themselves cancelled or sacked by their governments and institutions for speaking out against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.