Letter
Yesterday NRK was acquitted of charges of anti-Israel bias. Only four days before, NRK had aired Vibeke Løkkeberg’s “Gaza’s Tears“.
As the ambassador of Israel to Norway Michael Eligal points out above: “The film is an extremely one-sided production, figuring under the label of a documentary that without reservation is smearing Israel. Not a word is mentioned neither about Hamas’ abuse of civilians as human shields, nor of Hamas’ conscious strategy of utilizing civilian areas and structures in their warfare“.
There is of course nothing spectacular about NRK airing Løkkeberg’s film. This is how things are done here in Norway. One day the MFA finances an exhibition of anti-Israel art in Assad’s Syria, the next day editor of Aftenposten Harald Stanghelle denies that such financing has taken place, and the day after that again NORWAC doctor Mads Gilbert launches a film casting himself as a hero, while simultaneously, back at the bookstore, the books “Morning in Jenin” by Susan Abulhawa and “Eyes of Gaza” are selling briskly. Mads Gilbert floats over Oslo in a balloon carrying the caption “Palestinian embassy” while the Israeli embassy – guilty only of being attacked – is being forcibly evicted from prestigious Parkveien. Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz is rejected by the same Norwegian universities which treat Norman Finkelstein to standing ovations and Benny Morris goes unnoticed while Ilan Pappe basks in the adoration of the erudite. On Sunday May 1st, the unions will march for the Palestinian cause, next week there will be something else. Indeed, some will have it that the very identity of the Norwegian soul is basically pro-Palestinian in nature.
To some extent this constant vehement Israel-bashing is a problem for Israel. But even more so, it is symptomatic of a much graver ill in Norway – groupthink among the elites which rule us.
Poor Norway, so close to the Norwegian intelligentsia, so far away from God.
(Read this post of April 17th 2010: Is NRK biased against Israel?)
Looks like it actually is what the Norwegian population wants. They buy the books and eat up the anti-Israel stuff pushed at them by the elites. After all, Norway’s record when it comes to Jews is rather poor, especially for a country that proclaims it has a “moral” voice, yet is too biased to see how much it supports immorality.
Arab states pay universities to promote their perspectives. Norway pays many that seek to impose illiberal regimes and have no real intention of other than to ultimately destroy it. Pretty intelligent, this intelligentsia, indeed!
A nation of idiots. DON’t blame me, it is an echte Norwegian journalist who said that. (OK, he said it is in danger of becoming one. But judging by the evidence it’s already happened. Why no debate about it, only total deafening silence?)
Perhaps this will not be published, b/c it’s not pretty. The other day I saw a rather good new Norwegian film, partly comedy, partly family-drama, partly crime story. Sorry to say this, but at the same time yours is such a shallow, uninteresting, average – or less than that – , country. In everything. Architecture. Grey clouds over heaps of snow on every street corner. Linear contours… Absolutely zero aesthetics. In fact othing to be enthusiastic about, nothing to live for, nothing to cry with joy or happyness. sorry lot. Shallow. Shallow. Shallow. That’s my picture. Maybe to be censored. Yes, I think this absolutely about this sad place. And on top of that, a country/nation of Israel-haters with notable exceptions…
Hey, hang on, everyone associated with this site is Norwegian! And we have an opposition. It’s the current establishment and segments of the media and academia.
Christian
I hear you Christian, and know you are doing the best you can.
But why do you think these books sell so well, and “Gaza’s Tears” is popular? Maybe NRK is just giving the public what it wants.
That said, there’s no discounting the role of the elites as well. You show that every day, to your credit, while too many in Norway look the other way, in fear of standing out from the consensus.
Israel should sever diplomatic relations with Norway and boot out Norway’s embassy from Israel, until such time as the Progress Party comes to power.
From Wikipedia: “Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis,..”
In contrast, for a documentary, in 1948 the World Union of Documentary wrote this precise definition:
“…all methods of recording on celluloid any aspect of reality interpreted either by sincere and justifiable reconstruction, so as to appeal either to reason or emotion, for the purpose of stimulating the desire for, and the widening of human knowledge and understanding, and of truthfully posing problems and their solutions in the spheres of economics, culture, and human relations.”
The focus is on “justifiable” and “truthfully”.
The selective presentation of information in “Tears of Gaza” is the hallmark of propaganda and NRK is violating the viewers by caling it a documentary.
In a truly democratic country this would have had consequences.
Christian, your point is perfectly clear. What you do is a great favor to your country. Just let me explain how I see the issue.
Everything that comes out from Norway these days appears to me as a one big drive of collective punishment towards Israel (and the Jews). If Norway has problems with the policy of the past-present-future Israeli governments, there is the whole rich diplomatic infrastructure to express that.
Norway has chosen a different approach that starts with the government and government owned/sponsored organizations such as the NRK and goes via the universities down to trade organizations etc. to lambast and hurt Israel obsessively in every possible turn. Especially all initiatives of boycotting Israel via the livelihood of Israeli citizens are a perfect expression of collective punishment.
Norwegian anti-Semitism hurts Israelis not less than the Israeli policy in the territories hurt Norwegians. Should Israel boycott the import of Norwegian salmon etc. to Israel? Or the import of Volvo, Scania or Sony-Ericson as a result of the Sweden/Malmo situation? Would Israel ever limit an appearance of a Norwegian academician in an Israeli university? Never (and I should add, over my dead body)! Such would remind me of the Nazis. I don’t believe in collective punishment in general. Norway blames Israel for that (incorrectly), but Norway itself uses it and continues to threaten Israel with collective punishment.
Today evening and tomorrow is the Israeli holocaust remembrance day. I’m sure the Norwegians (even the Norwegian government) would not like to see during the next one a totally one-sided and provocative view of Norwegian anti-Semitism showing for instance Norwegian ministers associated in demonstrations crying for Israeli blood or politicians calling for bombarding Israel. It can be made, but it would not be fair against people like you, Christian.
Yes today is Yom HaShoa, a day to remember those Jews who were murdered because they were Jews. I lit the candle and recited Kaddish for all the Jews murdered because of ignorance, fear and hatred shown by those responsible.
Europe supposedly has a day of remembering all peoples murderd, courtesy of the holocaust. It hardly receives and recognistion today. To think that when a Pole managed to escape from the Nazis with undoubted proof od the cold blooded slaughter of Jews, men. women, children and babies, no action was taken. Churchill, Roosevelt and stalin showed their other face to people’s suffering by doing nothing. We all know that they spurned the idea of bombing the railway lines as they were not a miloitary target..
So much for western civilisation. When we are accused of paranoia, perhaps we have good reason.
Yes Martin, you have provided the spoken truth, yet the same elements still exist by those who claim they determine proper morality.
[...] the chutzpah to call the film a documentary. The Norway Israel and the Jews blog covered the airing of “Gaza’s Tears” with an analysis of ongoing anti-Israel media bias, and included Ambassador Michael Eligal’s [...]