Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has raised Israel’s ire after claiming that stabbing attacks on Israelis were not considered terrorism.

"No, it is not classified as that. There is an international classification when it is, or is not. What I know is not classified as terrorism," he told the Swedish news agency TT.

The Prime Minister later called the news agency in an attempt to clarify his own comments. "I was referring to the fact it is not clear whether these knife attacks have been organized by some classified terrorist organization. But organized attacks are precisely acts of terrorism," he said.

Relations between Israel and Sweden have been strained by recent statements made by Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom.

In the most recent of these statements, she accused Israel of "extrajudicial executions" of Palestinian terrorists on the scene of the attack. Israel condemned what it called the “scandalous” statement and warned of a diplomatic rupture.

Sweden said Wallstrom’s comments had been misunderstood.

“The Minister for Foreign Affairs did not, as alleged, say that extrajudicial executions occur in Israel,” Lofven and Wallstrom said in a statement.

“The situation in the Middle East is difficult enough without having to be encumbered by misunderstandings about anybody’s intentions.”

Last month Wallstrom caused anger in Israel when she seemed to imply that there was a connection between Islamist terrorism and the "desperate situation" of the Palestinians.

During an interview on Swedish TV channel SVT2, shortly after the Paris attacks, she was asked if she is concerned about the radicalization of Swedish youth who fight with Islamic State.

‘’Of course we have cause for concern, not just in Sweden but throughout the world, because there are so many being radicalized," Wallström replied.

"And again, it reminds us of the situation in the Middle East, where the Palestinians see that there is no future for them and have to either accept a desperate situation or resort to violence," she added.

The Swedish ambassador to Israel was summoned to the foreign ministry for an urgent discussion to clarify Wallström’s comments.

Last year, the Social Democrat-led Swedish government was the first EU member state to recognize a Palestinian state.