Not very much news on Israel this weekend so can feed you a little gossip on what goes on in our own little pond… The US embassy has issued the following warning to US travelers heading for Oslo: REQUEST AMERICANS TO BE CAREFUL WHILE IN NORWAY ABC Nyheter 2012 01 18, NTB On Tuesday,...
Norway, Israel and the Jews
- Norwegian media is finally concerned with Syria; NGOs, unions and Labour Youth representatives seem disconnected from realityBelow you will find a snapshot of Norwegian coverage of the Syrian tragedy, where rightly harsh words have been used to describe the ongoing atrocities: Editorials 2012 03 07 Verdens Gang writes on Syria; in full. Editorials 2012 02 07 Verdens Gang writes on Syria; in full. WITH THE BACK AGAINST THE WALL It’s an outright lie as Russia claims Moscow neither i […]
- Focus SyriaLately, there has been fairly little coverage on Israel, mainly due to the horrific events unfolding in Syria. For somebody with several years worth of experience following Norwegian media’s ME coverage, it is almost bizarre to watch the media show at home as it unfolds. For several days in a row, media has shown us gory pictures of maimed persons, of endles […]
- Chicken come home to roostIn the wake of the PM’s apology to Norwegian Jews for the persecution, state terrorism and injustice suffered during WWII, many other ministers feel they have to step up to the pressure to fight anti-Semitism in Norway. This time, the buck has stopped at the door steps of Minister of Education Kristin Halvorsen. A group of Israeli-Norwegian parents has writt […]
- The Norwegian Government’s hypocrisy re-exposed: “the most evil company in the world” is the second largest share holder in “Norsk Hydro”The Norwegian Government’s hypocrisy re-exposed: “the most evil company in the world” is the second largest share holder in “Norsk Hydro” Brazilian Vale, which Norwegian Hydro has a tight partnership with, only accepts the bare minimum of social responsibility, according to a new poll where Greenpeace ranked the Norwegian Hydro partner as the “the world’s mo […]
- VG’s Hanne Skartveit: the great betrayalLifted from VG. Applause to Skartveit for this eminent oped The great betrayal Synagogue OSLO (AP) We were unable to protect our Jewish compatriots during the war. And today we are unable to give them the security they need. Do we simply not care? OpEd by Hanne Skartveit In the street where I lived for some years, just outside Washington, DC, we had a neighb […]
- One week after PM’s reassurance that nobody should live in fear in Norway – Justice Minister Grete Faremo to reassess Jewish community’s security needsLifted from Dagbladet, but also mentioned in other media. Faremo to reassess Synagogue security needs – Is in constant contact with police and the Police Security Services. The Minister of Justice Grete Faremo (Labour) is reviewing the safety precautions in place for the Synagogue in Oslo, and is in constant contact with the police and the police and the sec […]
- Rockets over Israel go untoldWhile the Norwegian media rightly now focuses on the ongoing atrocities in Syria, and even our FM has felt compelled to politely tell the naughty Assad regime off for the continuing blood bath, one may perhaps be sympathetic to editors’s decision to not cover news from Israel. However, since coverage of Israel continues to be tendentious and one-eyed, one mu […]
- Norwegian support for Israel at record highLifted from Vårt Land Record Norwegian support to Israel More Norwegians buy Israeli goods, provide financial support and join the pro-Israel organizations. By: Lise Marit Kalstad and Olav Solvang Norway set a new record in the import of goods from Israel in 2011. In the last year Norway purchased Israeli goods for NOK 722 million, the corresponding number f […]
- Norwegian People’s Aid failure to report on SyriaAt a time when the rest of the world are slowly, ever so gradually starting to notice the atrocities that go on in Syria (but also many other places on our beautiful planet), one would have thought that the Norwegian People’s Aid would at least have mentioned the word Syria, somewhere, anywhere, on its web pages. But nope, not a word, yet NRK, who cannot fin […]
- The PMs Holocaust Memorial Day speech in full“Dear all, This year marks 70 years since the “Danube” cast off from this quay, and embarked on a voyage of shame . 532 Jews were brutally stowed on board. Only nine returned. One of them was Samuel Steinmann. He is the last survivor. I’m especially glad you are here with us. Today we remember the millions of innocent people who were wiped out in History’s m […]
Armed Forces
Union leader: Use Norwegian missiles
Trade union leader Roar Flåthen is quick to condemn arms and guns as long as there are no Norwegian interests in it. But when there are potential Norwegian jobs in it, he is happy to walk over corpses to get his way. Preferably Libyan and Afghan corpses. The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions demands...
Ex-newspaper editor thinks it is hard to relate to bombing targets in public
Following story that the MoD and the defense establishment are not too keen to let the public know what our boys actually do in our name in Libya, VG now reports that army chief Harald Sunde says that the army take these allegations seriously and it does not want to be seen as withholding...
IDF king of transparency, Norwegian authorities block insight into Armed Forces actions in Libya
Who would have thought it? Norway, or to be precise, the current political leadership, who is always harping on about Israel and her obligation to be transparent in all she does, is more than reluctant to let us Norwegians in on exactly what our armed forces are doing in Libya. Aftenposten runs a concerned...
Mind the gap
What a week it has been. Bin Laden has been taken out, and the Norwegian government has had a hard time keeping up support for the Libya campaign, the one that the Socialistic left only could drum up support for, if by the same token Israel could be bombed. Apparently, it is not only...
Socialistic Left dubious moral tradeoff for bombing Libya: Use armed force against Israel
The SV annual convention goes to vote. The deranged junior partner in the current government coalition will among other proposals vote on a motion to use armed force against Israel should it attack Gaza. The motion is the blood money required to pay off SV card carrying members who find it hard to accept...
Using children as human shield is a war crime
Vårt Land features an interesting article on the ethical dilemmas the coalition forces encounter as they have to respond to dirty tactics by Gadaffi. The question is: to bomb or not to bomb sites “protected” by human shields. Cecilie Hellestveit at the International Law and Policy Institute is very clear: (unauthorized translation of excerpts...
Them and us
Scenario 1: Israel is attacked with rockets. After years of being tolerating war crimes against civil population for the sake of advancing peace and to not harm innocent civilians on enemy side, it finally decides enough is enough and hits enemy where it hurts, taking on the full risk of urban war fare, while...
Moral solution to Norwegian arms industry problem – privatize it!
The newspaper Ny Tid has recently featured some very interesting articles on the Norwegian arms industry. The articles highlight how Norway’s arms sales have sky rocketed (no pun intended!), with the red green moral supremacists issuing on average 5 new licenses a day, pushing sales upwards over 50% more than previous government. Challenged on...
Opposition criticizes Ministry of Defence’s boycott of Israel
Is the Ministry of Defence in effect boycotting Israel by refusing to allow Israeli companies to participated in bids? Hans Olav Syversen from the Christian Democrats believes it can hardly be seen in any other way, and points out that this is in violation of government policy. linkscolor = "000000"; highlightscolor = "888888"; backgroundcolor...
Is Israelphobia killing Norwegian soldiers in Afghanistan?
In the commentary above we see editor Kjell Dragnes in Aftenposten points out that the Taliban in Afghanistan are flexible and adaptable, and that Norwegian forces must be so too. Dragnes also points out that although the security of our soldiers is a complex, multifaceted issue, it does appear that UAVs (drones) are handy...