What's with Netanyahu's Scandinavian plot?

[Steken]

It appears that in at least two separate interviews for Israeli radio, Netanyahu has accused the Scandinavians of conspiring against him:

“Scandinavian governments have spent millions of dollars on a campaign to remove me from power,” he said on the station Kol Israel.

[…]

In a separate interview with Rega Radio he was reported to have said that “foreign governments, specifically Scandinavians, are part of a worldwide campaign to topple me”, according to a translation posted on Twitter by Israeli blogger and journalist Tal Schneider.

Alas, an Haaretz article on the matter seems to be behind a paywall.

OK, so I know that the Swedish government, for one, has recently recognised a Palestinian state, which might in part help explain Netanyahu’s ire, but still that’s not quite the same as “[spending] millions of dollars on a campaign to remove [Netanyahu] from power.” That’s Sweden - as for Norway and Denmark, I don’t know.

Question: Is there a kernel of truth here, or is Bibi making it up from whole cloth?

[Alessan]

I think the claim is that Scandinavian governments have been donating large sums of money to pro-Palestinian NGOs, which have in turn been taking part in the campaign against him. I don’t know how much truth there is to it - NGOs and their funding can be a tangled, bewildering web.

[Ignotus]

Speaking as a Swede, we’re pretty used to the “all Europe hates us Jews”- stuff…

[Steken]

@Alessan

I think the claim is that Scandinavian governments have been donating large sums of money to pro-Palestinian NGOs, which have in turn been taking part in the campaign against him. I don’t know how much truth there is to it - NGOs and their funding can be a tangled, bewildering web.

Yeah, that might be the kernel of truth underlying this thing. If someone has any specifics, that would be great.

@Ignotus

Speaking as a Swede, we’re pretty used to the “all Europe hates us Jews”- stuff…

Except that Netanyahu singled out the Scandinavians, specifically, and not “all Europe”; plus he alleged a conspiracy against himself, personally, rather than “us Jews,” generally.

[Donnerwetter]

@Alessan

I think the claim is that Scandinavian governments have been donating large sums of money to pro-Palestinian NGOs, which have in turn been taking part in the campaign against him. I don’t know how much truth there is to it - NGOs and their funding can be a tangled, bewildering web.

I think this is indeed the case. Also, the anti-Israel rhetoric by some Scandinavian politicians is radical by any standard. And these are not people from the fringes of the political spectrum but influential, mainstream politicians (like the former mayor of Malmö).

[Steken]

@Donnerwetter

I think this is indeed the case. Also, the anti-Israel rhetoric by some Scandinavian politicians is radical by any standard. And these are not people from the fringes of the political spectrum but influential, mainstream politicians (like the former mayor of Malmö).

But Netanyahu’s not talking about anti-Israeli sentiment among Scandinavian politicians, generally, but about a specific plot to remove him, personally. Like so: “Scandinavian governments have spent millions of dollars on a campaign to remove me from power.”

I would love to know the specific factual basis of this claim, with as much detail as possible - hence the thread.

[Alessan]

@Steken

But Netanyahu’s not talking about anti-Israeli sentiment among Scandinavian politicians, generally, but about a specific plot to remove him, personally. "

Yeah, but he’s a politician running for reelection, so he’s trying to conflate the two - you know, “They hate me because they hate our country.”

[Donnerwetter]

@Steken

But Netanyahu’s not talking about anti-Israeli sentiment among Scandinavian politicians, generally, but about a specific plot to remove him, personally. Like so: “Scandinavian governments have spent millions of dollars on a campaign to remove me from power.”

I would love to know the specific factual basis of this claim, with as much detail as possible - hence the thread.

I’m (almost) sure that no Scandinavian government is going to send cash to an opposition party or individual politicians in Israel (like the East Germany intelligence service did with West German members of parliament in 1972). The proper way to influence an election in a democratic country usually is much smarter and subtle than that (and therefore harder to trace).

[Steken]

@Donnerwetter

The proper way to influence an election in a democratic country usually is much smarter and subtle than that (and therefore harder to trace).

If we posit the existence of a above-top-secret multi-million-dollar pan-Scandinavian slush fund for influencing elections in faraway countries, then OK yeah, I imagine its cash flow would be extremely hard to trace.

But if, as Alessan wrote, this is instead about Scandinavian governments donating money to “pro-Palestinian NGOs, which have in turn been taking part in the campaign against him” - and I find that far, far, far more likely - then the money trail shouldn’t be all that hard to trace. SIDA, for example, is pretty open about which projects it supports - it’s right there on their homepage.

So then the question becomes: Which groups, individuals, NGOs, etc., involved in what Netanyahu might - rightly or wrongly - portray as specifically anti-Netanyahu campaigns (as opposed to anti-Israeli or for that matter generally pro-Palestinian campaigns), have received “millions of dollars” from Scandinavian governments?

[Diceman]

@Donnerwetter

I’m (almost) sure that no Scandinavian government is going to send cash to an opposition party or individual politicians in Israel (like the East Germany intelligence service did with West German members of parliament in 1972). The proper way to influence an election in a democratic country usually is much smarter and subtle than that (and therefore harder to trace).

Yeah, but in order to influence people, you have to have influence. The number of people in Israel who give fuck-all about what some Swedish politician thinks is probably a fraction of a percent. The number of people who might be influenced by ads, secretly paid for by said Swedish politican, is probably much larger.

[md2000]

Didn’t Netenyahu or those around him accuse the White House of trying to influence the previous election to defeat him too?

[Lemur866]

It’s not exactly a secret that Obama loathes Bibi.

[barbitu8]

Fox News and some conservative newsletters have stated that the Obama administration has funded Netenyahu’s opponents. Right now I cannot find the link.