On Friday, Sweden’s security police announced that a live device found outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm is now under investigation as a ‘suspected terrorist crime’. The device, discovered on Wednesday, has resulted in a shift of the investigation’s lead from the national police authority to the security police.
The live device was located outside the Israeli embassy around 1 PM and was promptly neutralized by the Swedish bomb squad, ensuring no casualties or damages. The Israeli ambassador to Sweden attributed the incident as an “attempted attack” on the embassy staff and expressed his gratitude to the Swedish authorities. In the face of adversity, he asserted his unwavering steadfastness and refusal to be “intimidated by terror”.
The reclassification of the incident by the Swedish prosecutorial office was based on the nature of the “grossly illegal threat” and “attempts to public destruction”. Sweden’s Prime Minister, Ulf Hjalmar Kristersson, voiced his concerns, emphasizing that an attack “on an embassy is an attack both on those who work there and on Sweden”. He further highlighted the increased police protection extended to the embassy and Jewish institutions across Sweden.
Prior to this attempt, the Swedish government had committed 10m kronor ($1 million) last October to bolster security at Jewish institutions nationwide. This was a direct response to the spike in antisemitism following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas War. Since the beginning of the war on October 7 last year, there have been over 120 reported antisemitic crimes in Sweden.
This incident follows closely on the heels of an explosion near the Israeli embassy in India last month. Though no lives were lost in the New Delhi attack, Israel’s National Security Headquarters issued a warning to its citizens to reconsider overseas travel amidst the ongoing conflict.