Ilan Pappe - centerfold of communist daily Klassekampen

When Israeli historian Benny Morris visited Norway in June, there were no journalists present at the seminar and he received only a single mention in the newspapers (DagenMagazinet). At the time, this site wagered one bottle of Upper Ten (A Norwegian blend of Scottish Malts) that if Israeli historian Ilan Pappe ever visited Norway, moribund Dagsavisen would put him on the front page (In January Dagsavisen printed a one page regurgitation of his book “The ethnic cleansing of Palestine” in the form of an editorial).

We were wrong.

Ilan Pappe spoke at NTNU last week. And Dagsavisen did not put him on the front page. In fact they did not give him any coverage whatsoever. Luckily the communist daily Klassekampen (Class Struggle) has risen to the occasion. Today Klassekampen makes Mr.Pappe the centerfold. Furthermore the journalist behind the piece also writes the editorial, which compares the case of Gilad Shalit to the case of Mohammed Othman, a Fatah activist who was arrested after a visit to Norway. The editorial asks the reader: Which side is Norway on?

Judging from actions of the government, demonstrations and newspaper articles, the answer to this is quite obvious.