Far from all NTNU academics are convinced of the necessity of imposing an academic boycott on Israel. Here is the stance of NTNU academic Bjørn K.Alsberg. Unauthorized translation: A boycott of Israel? (14.9.09, 13:37) An academic boycot of Israel? In May 2009 some employees at NTNU and HIST wrote an open letter to their...
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 September, 2009
Criticism against imbalanced NTNU seminars
Is it correct for a university to host a series of seminars on a conflict, with only one side of the story being told? Say that an American university was to host seminars on Norway’s war in Afghanistan – ought the seminars only to focus on the sufferings of the Afghan population, or ought...
Spanish reader on Danish special forces
For a long time Scandinavia was a faraway nowhere-land of plenty. Nothing much happened up here, except maybe Volvo would produce a new model or there would be a delightful abundance of snow for christmas. Then the milk and honey went to our leaders’ heads. They decided to export Scandinavian virtues to the rest...
Mearsheimer endorsed by Bin-laden, speaks at NUPI
Professor John J. Mearsheimer co-authored “The Israel Lobby” with Stephen Walt. Little could they have known that after writing this book they would first be endorsed by Osama Bin-Laden, and then afterwards invited to speak at prestigious institutions in faraway Norway. While Mr. Walt will be lecturing at NTNU’s autumn seminar-series on Israel, Mr....
On Norwegian journalism
Back in March, the Jerusalem Post published an erroneous article on anti-Semitism in Norway. Now we Norwegians, as opposed to Israelis, are not used to having erroneous articles printed about us in foreign newspapers. So naturally there was a legitimate outcry and the JP retracted their article. Some Norwegians had the decency to point...
Israeli director-general: Norwegians are “tough vikings”
The Jerusalem Post reports that Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has accused Norway of upholding anti-Israel and anti-Semitic policies. Lieberman is to have mentioned especially Norway’s “quiet support” of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and commemoration of Nazi-affiliated author Knut Hamsun. Lieberman is vaguely right, but for the wrong reasons. Jonas Gahr Støre would listen to the...
Sri Lanka accuses Solheim of gun-running
Allegations against other countries should not be made with ease. Yet for Norway, so quick to condemn Israel, it is difficult to cry “foul” over allegations made against Norway by Sri Lanka. Unauthorized translation from Verdens Gang, Norway’s largest daily: A Sri Lankan newspaper writes that Norway is to have contributed to meetings between...
UK school fearful of teaching about Holocaust
A UK school appears to have avoided selecting the Holocaust as a coursework topic out of “…fear of confronting anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial” among its students. From what we understand this is one school in the UK – one single incident. No, it’s not all UK schools. Just the one, but an example worth...
American University Lecturer asks Digernes to apologize
Norwegian universities are in general eager for international recognition. Yet the particular kind of foreign attention rektor Torbjørn Digernes is attracting to NTNU is hardly of the desired kind. The latest comment on Rektors side (Rektor’s page) is made by Tammi Benjamin, an American university lecturer: In no other country in the civilized world...
Media reports on criticism of imbalanced NTNU seminars
This autumn NTNU, a prestigious Norwegian university, is offering a series of seminars on Israel. The seminars have attracted widespread criticism for being imbalanced, and it has been claimed that the sole purpose of the seminars is to set the stage for a push for academic boycott in 2010. Two of the mainstream channels...
Is Norway becoming Extreme-istan?
Aslak Nore is a young Nowegian journalist who just will not stop rocking the boat. He now appears to have picked up a cue from Melanie Phillips’ (author of Londonistan) and is now publishing a book in which he claims that Norway will become more extreme – we will both get more true excellence...
Al Aqsa TV tells kids “Slaughter the jews”
Norway supports the Palestinian people (pr.capita) more than any other people on earth. Yet this support appears to be completely unrelated to the actual behavior of the regimes of Hamas and Fatah. Blatant racism and incitement to murder goes virtually unnoticed by the red-green coalition government, although it has been questioned by the opposition...
Norwegian development aid and Al-Aqsa TV
Norway supports the Palestinian people (pr.capita) more than any other people on earth. For left-of-centre Norwegians with political aspirations, a tour in the Palestinian territories is almost compulsory. As for the programs on Al-Aqsa TV, the protests of the Progress and Christian Democratic parties have fallen on deaf ears – Norwegian support continues unabated....
The New Republic on Sweden’s Free Speech Charade
Look through copies of Swedish Aftonbladet from the 1960′s and you will find articles lauding Pol Pot, who killed of one fourth of his own population. USA, it was believed, was ultimately to blame. Here is a excerpt from Benjamin Birbaum’s reflection on free speech in Sweden, in The New Republic: The Israeli government,...
Criticism of Norway is welcome gift to Kristin Halvorsen
Norway is in many ways such a splendid little country, it’s dazzling. Yet same as with any other nation, have a closer look and you will unavoidably find rats in the basement, cockroaches in the drains, skeletons in the closet and forgotten evils in dark nooks and crannies throughout the realm. The manner in...
New Management
Someone else might be taking over here from the end of this month. Pop back then and have a look. linkscolor = "000000"; highlightscolor = "888888"; backgroundcolor = "FFFFFF"; channel = "none";
Why should Digernes resign?
In a letter to Rektors side, Ronnie Fraser of the Academic Friends of Israel suggests that it can only be “a matter of time” before NTNU dean Torbjørn Digernes “falls on his sword” and resigns “in order to save NTNU further embarrasment”. To many Norwegians this sounds preposterous. Why should Mr.Digernes resign? What has...
Temporary leave of absence
Due to more pressing concerns, I will have to take a temporary leave of absence for anything up to six months. Unless a replacement can be found, this means that this blog will be down for that time. To keep tabs on the Norwegian debate on the Middle East, normally a sordid and unintelligent...
Morten Levin and the serpent’s egg
In Shakespeare’s Julis Caesar, Brutus looks for a reason to join the conspiracy against Caesar. As he does not immediately find any such reason in the past or present, he engages in some seriously innovative thinking. What if, Brutus speculates, Caesar develops into a monster in the future? Indeed, in such a case Caesar...
NTNU opens for other perspectives on ME conflict
There are several ways in which to deal with criticism. One it bend over backwards in agreeing, as in: “You are right and I was wrong. Sorry.” Another is to deal with the criticism seriously, as in: “Well, I’ll stick to my guns when it concerns argument E and F, but I am willing...