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Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallström resigns

Relations with Israel cratered her tenure, with Sweden becoming the first Western European state to recognize a Palestinian state.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström addresses reporters at the U.N. Security Council, Jan. 10, 2017. Credit: U.N. Photo/Mark Garten.
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström addresses reporters at the U.N. Security Council, Jan. 10, 2017. Credit: U.N. Photo/Mark Garten.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström announced her resignation on Friday. A Social Democrat, she has held the position since 2014.

“The time has come for me to spend more time with my husband, my children and my grandchildren. I have notified the Prime Minister of my wish to leave the government and my post as Minister for Foreign Affairs,” she said on Twitter.

“I have put everything I have into the job of making Sweden safe, respected internationally and appreciated as a partner,” she said, according to Reuters.

She told Swedish radio that she expects her successor to be named on Tuesday by Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven.

Relations between Sweden and Israel took a sharp turn for the worse in 2014 when Sweden became the first nation in Western Europe to recognize a Palestinian state.

Wallström, who has accused the Israeli army of carrying out “extrajudicial killings” of Palestinians carrying out terrorist attacks, was forced to cancel a planned visit to Israel after Israeli officials threatened to boycott her in 2016.

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