To make one obvious thing clear, and Gregory House said it best: Everybody lies. For every person in the survey who admits to antisemitic points of view, there is an unknown portion who lied about their true attitudes. The survey…
Author Archive for Kafka
Antisemitism in Norway, part 1 (of several)
by Kafka • • 5 Comments
Today, the Norwegian Holocaust Center published the results of its survey on antisemitism in Norway. We will surely write more about this as we study it closely, but for now let’s look at how Norway’s “newspaper of record” dealt with…
NTB’s incomplete version of history
by Kafka • • 3 Comments
Reporting that some schools on the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip will be offering Hebrew lessons, fake news organization NTB highlights the Israeli “blockade” of Gaza. It may be worth comparing the NTB article with this one from the New York Times,…
“Minister of justice” to Jews in Oslo: too bad
by Kafka • • 3 Comments
The synagogue in Oslo – already one of the most fortified structures in Norway – applied to the government for additional funds to secure its congregation. They asked for NOK 21 million but got NOK 7 million. After all the…
Letter from a 17-year old Jewish boy
by Kafka • • 5 Comments
Aftenposten today published an op-ed from “Daniel,” a 17-year old Norwegian student who happens to be Jewish. He feels surrounded by antisemitic attitudes, ranging from comments by a fellow video game player (“just pretend they’re Jews when you aim at…
What Karsten Tveit’s award really signifies
by Kafka • • 13 Comments
Odd Karsten Tveit wins the Gullruten lifetime award for his propaganda news coverage from the Middle East. When it comes to correspondents in the Middle East sent by NRK (the governmental broadcasting organization financed by a surcharge on owning a…
Ambassador Sevje is the real victim
by Kafka • • 6 Comments
Norwegians are so damn touchy. Svein Sevje, the Norwegian ambassador to Israel’s largest city (the Norwegian government knows better than the Israeli people where Israel should have its capital), presents a litany of complaints to the Jerusalem Post. He complains…
Kristin Halvorsen’s real game
by Kafka • • 14 Comments
At the debate at Litteraturhuset, (college drop-out) Kristin Halvorsen, appeared officially as the minister of (mis) education (SV is nothing if not Orwellian), but really as a representative of SV and the “red-green” coalitition. Kristin Halvorsen knows it, SV knows…
Vinmonopolet’s foreign policy
by Kafka • • 3 Comments
The current Norwegian coalition government has pretty much demolished any diplomatic credibility it once had by self-righteously chastising Israel at every turn. The Palestinian leadership – who are not fools – are thankful for the useful idiocy Norwegian officials provide,…
Galtung lets it rip
by Kafka • • 18 Comments
Johan Galtung takes credit for inventing the notion that peace is a desirable condition, making it clear that his field of work (“peace studies”) is the one true pursuit of humankind’s nobler instincts. All those other fields – like history,…
Sidsel Wold, never to be confused by facts
by Kafka • • 15 Comments
As expected, there is a lot of praise for Günter Grass’s missive in rhyme against Israel’s imagined plans to annihilate Iran with a pre-emptive nuclear strike. One interesting perspective comes from Sidsel Wold, for several years the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation’s…
NTB/Aftenposten: Hiker at Utøya manhandled by police
by Kafka • • 2 Comments
The only thing more pathetic than NTB’s attempts at news reporting is Aftenposten (and others’) willingness to uncritically relay the “news” as if it actually had some factual value. This latest item in Aftenposten rather makes the point. The headline,…
Norwegian hospitality to Israel: Suffer bitch!
by Kafka • • 14 Comments
Almost as certain as death and taxes, NRK will not let any opportunity pass by to portray Jews as victims or Israelis as whiners. NRK Østlandssendingen headlines a piece with “The Israeli embassy feels discriminated,” and goes on to cover…
Støre in hole, keeps digging
by Kafka • • 5 Comments
Question from Torkil Åmland of the Progressive Party to foreign minister Jonas Gahr Støre: Will the foreign minister retract his previous condemnation of Israel’s reaction to the border violation on June 5th this year, and instead condemn the Syrian government’s…
Jørgen Jensehaugen phones it in
by Kafka • • 0 Comments
Jørgen Jensehaugen is what passes for an “expert” on Middle Eastern affairs in Norway. Apart from an IB from Rome, his main qualification is that he worked as a research assistant for Hilde Henriksen Waage and has his degrees in…
Støre: DMT is my alibi (+ a bit of Hilde Henriksen Waage)
by Kafka • • 4 Comments
Clearly, we have underestimated Støre’s political acumen. In Dagsnytt 18, he (of course) expressed great consternation at reports of antisemitism but (of course) wanted to separate antisemitism and anti-Israeli attitudes. It was for the sake of the Norwegian Jews, he…
Willoch is a Palestinian
by Kafka • • 6 Comments
Willoch might want to take a look in his Norwegian passport, where it will explain that acquisition of another country’s passport requires that he submit his Norwegian passport to the nearest diplomatic post. I hope he does, so he can…
The 36 bravest kids in Oslo schools
by Kafka • • 8 Comments
“Mapping of knowledge and attitudes about racism and antisemitism – a survey of students (8th through 10th grade) in the Oslo schools” was published yesterday, with very little attention from the mainstream press. Next week, delegates from unnamed American Jewish…
Expect a raucous debate in Tromsø
by Kafka • • 6 Comments
It’s a wonderful thing: The United Nations Association in Tromsø is hosting International Week, where participants “among other things … will learn how to make a wallet out of a milk carton, learn Esperanto or origami, and go bird-watching.” Straight…
NRK: Jerusalem of no Jewish significance
by Kafka • • 5 Comments
NRK featured a short article about Jerusalem Day, noting that 40,000 turned out in parades to commemorate, as NRK put it, the “conquest of East Jerusalem.” NRK helpfully points out that East Jerusalem primarily “houses” Palestinians. In fact, Yom Yerushalayim…