This blog saw life three months ago, and has existed as a cursory investigation of the allegations of anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli sentiment made by Manfred Gerstenfeld in the book “Behind the humanitarian mask”. My investigations have been haphazard and amateurish. My translations have been fast and crude. I am not convinced that my blog has served any meaningfull purpose....
Norway, Israel and the Jews
- The Norwegian Government’s hypocrisy re-exposed: “the most evil company in the world” is the second largest share holder in “Norsk Hydro”The Norwegian Government’s hypocrisy re-exposed: “the most evil company in the world” is the second largest share holder in “Norsk Hydro” Brazilian Vale, which Norwegian Hydro has a tight partnership with, only accepts the bare minimum of social responsibility, according to a new poll where Greenpeace ranked the Norwegian Hydro partner as the “the world’s mo […]
- VG’s Hanne Skartveit: the great betrayalLifted from VG. Applause to Skartveit for this eminent oped The great betrayal Synagogue OSLO (AP) We were unable to protect our Jewish compatriots during the war. And today we are unable to give them the security they need. Do we simply not care? OpEd by Hanne Skartveit In the street where I lived for some years, just outside Washington, DC, we had a neighb […]
- One week after PM’s reassurance that nobody should live in fear in Norway – Justice Minister Grete Faremo to reassess Jewish community’s security needsLifted from Dagbladet, but also mentioned in other media. Faremo to reassess Synagogue security needs – Is in constant contact with police and the Police Security Services. The Minister of Justice Grete Faremo (Labour) is reviewing the safety precautions in place for the Synagogue in Oslo, and is in constant contact with the police and the police and the sec […]
- Rockets over Israel go untoldWhile the Norwegian media rightly now focuses on the ongoing atrocities in Syria, and even our FM has felt compelled to politely tell the naughty Assad regime off for the continuing blood bath, one may perhaps be sympathetic to editors’s decision to not cover news from Israel. However, since coverage of Israel continues to be tendentious and one-eyed, one mu […]
- Norwegian support for Israel at record highLifted from Vårt Land Record Norwegian support to Israel More Norwegians buy Israeli goods, provide financial support and join the pro-Israel organizations. By: Lise Marit Kalstad and Olav Solvang Norway set a new record in the import of goods from Israel in 2011. In the last year Norway purchased Israeli goods for NOK 722 million, the corresponding number f […]
- Norwegian People’s Aid failure to report on SyriaAt a time when the rest of the world are slowly, ever so gradually starting to notice the atrocities that go on in Syria (but also many other places on our beautiful planet), one would have thought that the Norwegian People’s Aid would at least have mentioned the word Syria, somewhere, anywhere, on its web pages. But nope, not a word, yet NRK, who cannot fin […]
- The PMs Holocaust Memorial Day speech in full“Dear all, This year marks 70 years since the “Danube” cast off from this quay, and embarked on a voyage of shame . 532 Jews were brutally stowed on board. Only nine returned. One of them was Samuel Steinmann. He is the last survivor. I’m especially glad you are here with us. Today we remember the millions of innocent people who were wiped out in History’s m […]
- Our deepest regret this could happen on Norwegian soilFinally, the first real step towards acknowledging our own role in the tragedy. Only after accepting responsibility, can the hard work of forgiveness and the arduous task of reconstructing relations begin. Lifted from Aftenposten (by Elisabeth Rodum and Halvor Hegtun) PM Jens Stoltenberg (Labour) deeply regretted the deportation of Norwegian Jews at the Holo […]
- Holocaust commemoration ceremony today at 1500 hrs in OsloLifted from Dagen.no, but also covered most other news outlets. For more details on the event itself, you can go to http://www.holocaustdagen.no/ Thinks Jens will apologize to the Jews Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg is expected to come up with a form of apology to the Norwegian Jews during the International Holocaust Remembrance Day today. Bjørn Arild Hatle […]
- Mixed signals from Norway as Holocaust commemoration ceremony is expected to bring a much awaited formal apology from Norway to its Jewish communityToday, at 3 PM, our PM Jens Stoltenberg is widely expected to officially and formally apologize to the Norwegian Jewish community for the state sponsored persecution and murder of Norwegian citizens with a Jewish background during the WWII. Whatever form that eventual apology finally would be presented as, does not detract from the perception that Norway con […]
Archive for March, 2009
Circling the wagons
The Jerusalem Post has printed and withdrawn articles on anti-Semitism in Norway. Twice. The first version of the article claimed that the Norwegian Minister of Finance, Kristin Halvorsen from the Socialist Left (SV), had taken part in a pro-Gaza march where she shouted “Death to the jews”. Of course she never did any such...
Rabid anti-semite fights uphill battle?
On March 22nd the House of Litterature in Oslo arranged a dialogue meeting about hatred, inviting among others spokesmen from the jewish, muslim and gay communities. One of the speakers was Muhammed Ali Chisti, whose speech was titled “Why I hate jews”. Here are some titbits from his speech: “…I hate jews, and how...
“The moslems are the jews of today”
- Muslims are the jews of today, stigmatized, generalized and presented as a threat to society, says a spokesman for Arbeiderpartiet (Labor) on March 26th. It is not uncommon to find different aspects of xenophobia and persecution examined through the Holocaustic lens. If so-and-so is being persecuted, this line of reasoning goes, then so-and-so...
The wisdom of the crowds
In the hope of curtailing yobster violence, England has invested in a massive amount of surveillance cameras. The theory was if people knew they might be on camera, they would think twice before committing a crime. What really happened was that criminal activity went on pretty much as usual. Social psychologists however, all of...
Norway, Israel and Afghanistan
Norway is at war in Afghanistan. Militarily Norway contributes with 700 soldiers in the NATO led ISAF-force. In 2007 Norwegian contributed with NOK 450 million in humanitarian and development aid. For a career officer in the Norwegian army, it’s become almost compulsory to spend a term in what Kipling called “the great game”. One would...
Headlines in the Norwegian Media
DISCONTINUED Aim and method: What is the extent of Norwegian interest in Israel? To what extent does Norwegian media cover Israel? This rough survey consists of counting headlines in the indexing service of www.webavisen.no. Webavisen lists headlines and stories from 240 Norwegian news sources. This method is by no means exact, as it covers only...
Norwegian media mocks and misquotes Israeli editor
Norway does not get a lot of attention from the outside world. We’re just like New Zealand with more snow. Things more or less work and we coexist peacefully with our neighbors so there isn’t much to write about. For example, Norway is a member of NATO and has been allied to the USA for more...
Scandinavian justice
“Khyber khyber” the mob chanted during the riots in Oslo on January 8th and 11th. There were cries of “Kill the jews!”. In the background, young people from the publicly financed youth activity house of Blitz were banging drums to create the appropriate atmosphere. Bottles spun through the air and smashed against the cobblestones. A molotov cocktail was thrown,...
Norway, the Trade Unions and Israel
The two main Trade Union Confederations in Norway are LO and YS, with the former having strong ties to the Labor movement. LO’s description of itself on its website: ” The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) is decidedly the largest and most influential workers’ organisation in Norway. LO has a strong position in society and has set its...
VG:’Right to admit Jew-critics’
The screenshot above is from the article “Right to admit Jew-critics” by Lars Akerhaug in Norway’s largest daily Verden Gang. The article covers one of the “dialogue-meetings” arranged at the prestigious house of Litterature in Oslo following the riots in January 2009. On the picture above you see speaker Muhammed Ali Chisti elaborating on...
Gry Larsen, political adviser to the Foreign Minister
Gry Larsen is a Norwegian politician representing Arbeiderpartiet (Labor). She holds a bachelors degree in the humanities and political science and has previously been leader and deputy leader of the AUF, the youth wing of Arbeiderpartiet. As reported on in this blog AUF cooperates with Fatah Youth. In the AUF election in 2002, Gry Larsen narrowly defeated Eva Kristin...
PM thanks painter for Middle East effort
On Saturday the mayor of Trondheim applauded painter Håkon Gullvåg for the “brave” political commitment of his next exhibition, where he displays a painting of a blood-splattered Israeli flag and a 9 metres wide canvas titled “Requiem for the children of Gaza”. The film clip below is from the annual meeting of Trondheim Arbeiderparti on February...
Three headlines on one event
On February 5th 2009 in Qabatiya on the West Bank., Israeli soldiers shot Ala a-din Abu Rop, a leading member of Islamic Jihad. The three news agencies Reuters, NTB (Norwegian News Agency) and TT (Swedish News Agency) reported on the event under the following headlines: “Israel kills Islamic Jihad militant in West Bank” (Reuters), “Palestinian...
Painter chastises Israel – is supported by Mayor
Still no articles on neither Fatah’s recent refusal to accept Israel nor the preparations for Durban II, which Norway is to attend. But the Norwegian painter Håkon Gullvåg is in the news for focusing on Israel in his exhibition next weekend. The “Requiem for the children of Gaza” is 9 metres wide. In ”The flag” above, the flag of Israel...
Portrait of a Norwegian socialist
Audun Lysbakken (30.09.1977) is second in command in Sosialistisk Venstreparti (Socialists). He was elected into Parliament in 2001, is an avowed socialist, and has stated that capitalism should be discarded. More to the point he supported Jostein Gaarder’s famous co-ed “God’s chosen people” of August 4th 2006. Audun Lysbakken wrote in Gaarder’s defence: “I...
“Israeli charged with cyanide sales”
On February 5th several Norwegian newspapers reported on how the Israeli navy had seized the supply ship “Tali”, on its way to Gaza with supplies, in tow. No media reported on how the ship turned out to be carrying no supplies at all. On February 18th Aftenposten, a larger Norwegian daily, ran the article...
Norway, Fatah and Israel
As this blog has reported on earlier, the youth wings of Norwegian Arbeiderpartiet (Labour) and Fatah are engaged in cooperation. The mother parties cooperate as well, as Arbeiderpartiet describes on their web page on March 7th 2009: “Labour participates in the Norwegian center for democratic support (NDS), together with the other parties in Parliament....
Hamas makes “extreme” demands in return for Shalit
Aftenbladet, a smaller Norwegian daily, today reports on the prisoner exchange negotiations between Israel and Hamas. Under the headline “Failed talks on prisoner exchange” the newspaper notes that: “According to Olmert’s office Hamas made “extreme” demands” in spite of several “generous” demands from Israel.” Aftenbladet makes no mention of the fact that men Hamas seeks...
The Nordic churches and the Christians of Palestine
The blog Philosemitism today reports on the political activities of the Swedish Church, which appears to be very critical of Israel. Here is a small article on the situation for the Palestinian Christians from Åpne dører – i tjeneste for forfulgte kristne.. While reading it, recall the flowery description Line Khateeb of the Norwegian...