Red Youth recruitment poster. The mother-party, Rødt, is disproportionately popular with journalists.

The screenshot above is from Rød Ungdoms own website. Believe it or not, this is part of their recruitment campaign.

Rød Ungdom (Red Youth) is the youth organization of the political party Rødt (Red). In 2010 the results from the Nordiske Mediedager survey showed that Rødt, which at the time enjoyed the support of some one percent of the electorate, was nine times as popular among the Norwegian journalistic corps.

Red Youth has stated that it supports Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation on “its own terms”. The fact that these terms include knifing the Fogels to death in their own home does not dissuade Red Youth, who probably believe that tolerating such atrocities is part of their warrior code.

The poster above is indicative of a very unusual tactic. Normally even direct-action type outfits will try and cast themselves as heroic or noble. No sign of anything heroic or noble in the poster above. See it on Rød Ungdom’s own website. The thought behind it is probably to attract attention, and to reject any criticism by pointing out that the poster does not actually condone violence, it just depicts it, etc. Rød Ungdom’s membership is probably so low by now, they feel they have nothing to lose.

This is the kind of people that are most eager to fight Israel. If you need someone to, say set of the fire alarm during Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz’ lecture, or steal a flag, these are the sort of youths who will prove ready and willing. Having once convinced people of the necessity of engaging in such acts of petty crime, one can then coax, cajole and instruct them to engage in more serious activities.

This is how extremists work.