• Document 15 calls on Jonas Gahr Støre to explain Senator Brownback’s letter
    "Mowgli made leader of the Bandar-log" by John Charles Dollman On August 3rd  US Senator Brownback wrote a letter, expressing concern over Israel-hatred and anti-Semitism, to Norway’s ambassador to Washington DC. While this site published the letter on August 12th, Norwegian journalists failed to find it newsworthy. Members of the opposition […]
  • NRK mentions Naqba-effect but omits war-cause
    NRK reports on the Naqba without mentioning war which caused it Journalist Laila Ø. Bakken of the Norwegian State Broadcasting Authority NRK manages to report on how Abbas’ family fled during the “Naqba”, while completely omitting any mention of the 1948 war which caused the “Naqba”. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and […]
  • Letter from Minister of Defense denies boycott of Israel, claims ‘constructive dialogue’ with Israel
    Hans Olav Syversen from the Christian Democrats refers to a letter from the Minister of Defense Vårt Land today reports that the Christian Democrats (KrF) and Conservatives (Høyre) aim to stop Minister of Defense Grete Faremo (Labor) from boycotting Israeli companies on an individual basis. The article (above) refers to a letter from […]
  • NUPI invites Freeman to speak about US-Israel relations
    When Charles W. Freeman had to resign from a position with the Obama administration in March 2009, he blamed the Israel-Lobby. On Wednesday he visited NUPI in order to speak about US-Israel relations. Vårt Land reports, in an NTB article, that Freeman has as little faith in the current round of peace […]
  • Scandinavian democracy – a guided affair
    Screenshots from Norwegian newspapers Aftenposten and DagenMagazinet Not even in Scandinavia does democracy work flawlessly. Is there an invisible hand at work? In the screenshot above (left) we see an op-ed from yesterday’s Aftenposten, with Eirik Vatnøy from Civita, a liberal think tank, asking some rather poignant questions. Vatnøy points out that it appe […]
  • Washington Post on terrorism in Norway
    Three men were apprehended this summer on suspicion of terrorism. As the Washington Post points out, we Norwegians were told that we at no time have been in any danger whatsoever. Norway ‘bomb plot’ underscores al-Qaida pitfalls In late 2009, Jakobsen went to Norway’s Police Security Service and began providing information on Davud’s activities after what he […]
  • Protected: Norway suspects Israel unethical, invests in Turkmenistan
    There is no excerpt because this is a protected post. […]
  • JP mentions Norway: Has Europe learned from its past?
    In material terms, being Norwegian is like winning the lottery. Intellectually it is like living in a carnival. Once groupthink sets in there is nobody left to comment upon how it affects us, and prominent citizens can act bizarrely with impunity . The JP, which editor of Aftenposten Harald Stanghelle tells us is […]
  • Interview with a convert reveals anti-Semitism
    In Aslak Nore book “Ekstremistan” the author predicts that in the near future, Norway will be more mulit-cultural, for good and for worse. The reader is treated to some of the latter in Nore’s interview with a Norwegian convert to Islam, who reflects upon some of her formerly held beliefs. The following […]
  • Nous allons manger des pommes de terre israéliennes », annonce notre hôte
    This blog is not about Israel or the Norwegian Jews. It is about Norway’s perception of and relationship to Israel and Jews. Yet Norway is only one little piece in a larger puzzle. It is while trying to solve this puzzle that foreigners every now and then are brought to pay attention to us up […]

Blog discontinued

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. The [...]

Circling the wagons

Waage is 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 [...]

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 is the [...]

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 a [...]

Norway, Israel and Afghanistan

 

Norwegian soldiers from the Telemark Battalion training in 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 [...]

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

January 8th and 11th : Anti-Israel riots turn Oslo into a warzone

“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 [...]

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 stamp [...]

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 attending a "boycott Israel" demonstration

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, [...]

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 8th [...]

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 activist [...]

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 is splattered [...]