The European Palestinians Conference, held in Malmö, Sweden on May 27, had clear and strong connections with Hamas, including through conference chairman Amin Abu Rashid. Before the conference, it was reported that several members of parliament (MPs) from Sweden’s Green Party, Left Party and Social Democratic Party would be participating in the conference.

When the Swedish media wrote about the connection between the European Palestinians Conference and Hamas, however, MPs, one by one, began withdrawing from the conference — although, notably, without distancing themselves from Hamas.

Jakob Risberg, MP for the Green Party, who had planned to participate in the conference, wrote on social media that his refusal was due to the fact that “a number of Palestinian organizations and agencies have criticized the conference and there is too much obscurity in who is participating and whom they represent.”

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Håkan Svenneling, foreign policy spokesperson for the Left Party, who had planned to attend the conference, wrote on Twitter that “the intra-Palestinian division in the view of the conference and uncertainty about personal connections got in the way. We continue to work for peace, a free Palestine, for an end to the occupation.”

As Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization within the European Union and therefore also within Sweden, it would of course be embarrassing for these gentlemen to admit that they were prepared to participate in a conference with connections to Hamas, and that they only refrained because of negative media attention.

Read more: Gatestone Institute