Why would Norway want to boycott Israel, you might ask. The answer: Because the Norwegian debate on the Middle East is just about the most intense emotional experience the country has to offer its citizens. And in every story needs a villain, no? Let me give you a hint – it’s not the Palestinians.
Below, an excerpt from an article by Cnaan Liphshiz in Haaretz on the impending NTNU board decision. Notice how we in Norway have people who only cover the Middle East debate from under the cover of anonymity. Sophie and I do the same. Nice, eh? From another perspective of course, this just proves how we have something to hide.
A representative on the board of executives at the University of Tromso this week told Haaretz that the NTNU vote is part of a national effort by pro-Palestinian activists to promote a boycott of Israel in Norwegian institutions of higher education, including in Tromso.
“A group of people have petitioned the board to hold a vote on this in the coming weeks, but no decision has been made yet,” said the board representative, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Excerpt from the Jerusalem Post below. Notice the reference to how Norway heads the ITF this year. Funny that, in a country where prominent citizens may claim that the recent war in Gaza was “just as bad” or “worse” than what the Nazis did to the jews in WWII Warsaw. Then again, editor Harald Stanghelle tells us JP is just another right-wing rag and not to be believed.
Norwegian churches and universities were at the forefront of the academic boycott of apartheid South Africa. But Singer, a native of South Africa who lives in Jerusalem, and many others find fault with the current proposal’s comparison of the countries.
“The whole idea of equating Israel with South Africa is… an ill-fitting adjective for conflict of an entirely different nature,” she said.
Official relations between Norway and Israel have been strained in the past few months, with barbs traded between Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his Norwegian counterpart, Jonas Gahr Støre, in late September. Lieberman condemned Støre for his “quiet support” of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and for honoring this year’s Nobel Literature Prize laureate and Nazi-sympathizer Knut Hamsun.
Norway currently chairs the 26-nation Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education.
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