Upon arriving in Israel during his tour in the Middle East, Norway FM Støre attracted some highly legitimate criticism from both the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz. To Norwegian newspapers Støre made light of the criticism, claiming it had nothing to do with Norway. In an interview in Haaretz however he spoke of unnamed forces in Israel orchestrating a campaign against Norway.
Mr.Støre makes this rather disturbing allegation in the very first paragraph of the Haaretz interview of January 19th:
There are “forces” in Israel that unfairly portray Norway as anti-Semitic, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store charged on Monday. He was responding to various reports critical of Norway in the local press. ”There are references to anti-Israel sentiments in the Israeli press, and I see part of that as a campaign, which is being organized and orchestrated from circles who point out enemies of Israel [in Norway],” Store told Haaretz during a visit to Jerusalem on Monday. He refused to speculate who he thinks is behind the campaign.
This is extremely interesting news which leaves many questions unanswered. Who are these anti-Norwegian forces and how do they conduct their campaign? What proof does Mr.Støre have of there being any such campaign? And why did he not tell Norwegian newspapers about this wicked plot, instead of brushing them of with a brazen claim of the criticism against Norway having nothing to to with Norway whatsoever?
Conspiracy theories on Israel
This is not the first time that Norwegians have spoken of an Israeli plots. This site has actually had the pleasure of seeing an array of conspiracy theories of this nature since March last year, although they have probably been around since before 1814. Here are seven examples:
- The earliest example NIJ is familiar with is the 1999 article in Morgenbladet reporting that Israel was using Apartheid-era South-African “anti-negro technology” in order to develop an “ethno-bomb” containing a biological agent which would target specific “arab” traits.
- On October 30th 2008 Bergensavisen claimed that: “…little Norway has addressed the varying Israeli governments, in order to contribute to peace and reconciliation. To no avail. Israel has from the onset deceived the world. Some still let themselves be duped by smart Israeli PR.”
- On March 31st Aftenposten quoted Middle East pundit Hilde Henriksen Waage, upset over an erroneous article published in the Jerusalem Post (it was subsequently withdrawn), for saying “something akin to a smear campaign is being conducted against Norway in Israel”
- On April 2nd 2009 an editorial in Klassekampen stated: This (Western opinion on Iran as a “boogeyman”) can be attributed to nothing else but a combination of Israel’s propaganda and USA’s perspective on Iran as a strategic enemy, because the authorities of the country haven’t submitted the Washington Consensus in all affairs.
- On April 17th 2009 a NTNU academic reacting to the same JP article as above, wrote in Adresseavisen: “Such attacks are part of the daily amount of propaganda issued by pro-Israel organizations and media. The articles in the Jerusalem Post about anti-Semitic Norway show us a propaganda machine going at full blast.” Quite a harangue for one single article.
- On September 23rd 2009 an NTNU academic, experiencing unexpected resistance to his proposal of boycotting Israel, informed the university newspaper that “…we are dealing with strong forces, who are engaged in an organized and systematic endaevour to strangle all public debate“.
- On November 22nd 2010 Aftenposten ran an editorial speaking of the “blinded, but vocal fanatics” of the “Israeli far-right“.
How Støre must prove his case
FM Støre has made a very serious allegation in claiming that Norway is being conspired against. It would be prudent if he now made his case and answered the following questions:
1. To what extent can it be proven that Norway actually is being vilified at all? This campaign must consist of something. Is it nasty newspaper articles? To compare, in the timespan of 1996-2006 Norwegian Aftenposten mentioned Israel 9750 times – more than three times as often as Saudi Arabia. Can Støre show us a similar pattern, with Norway being written about disproportionately often, in Jerusalem Post or Haaretz?
2. If we indeed do find that Israeli newspapers do cover Norway disproportionately often , what is the pattern and content of the articles? If a campaign is being waged we must expect the pattern to be one of negative content.
3. If there is a pattern of negative content in Israeli newspapers, which now have been shown to cover Norway disproportionately, is this negative content actually erroneous?
4. If the above all are proven, how does this differ from the manner in which the Norwegian media has been covering Israel?
