• Document 15 calls on Jonas Gahr Støre to explain Senator Brownback’s letter
    "Mowgli made leader of the Bandar-log" by John Charles Dollman On August 3rd  US Senator Brownback wrote a letter, expressing concern over Israel-hatred and anti-Semitism, to Norway’s ambassador to Washington DC. While this site published the letter on August 12th, Norwegian journalists failed to find it newsworthy. Members of the opposition […]
  • NRK mentions Naqba-effect but omits war-cause
    NRK reports on the Naqba without mentioning war which caused it Journalist Laila Ø. Bakken of the Norwegian State Broadcasting Authority NRK manages to report on how Abbas’ family fled during the “Naqba”, while completely omitting any mention of the 1948 war which caused the “Naqba”. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and […]
  • Letter from Minister of Defense denies boycott of Israel, claims ‘constructive dialogue’ with Israel
    Hans Olav Syversen from the Christian Democrats refers to a letter from the Minister of Defense Vårt Land today reports that the Christian Democrats (KrF) and Conservatives (Høyre) aim to stop Minister of Defense Grete Faremo (Labor) from boycotting Israeli companies on an individual basis. The article (above) refers to a letter from […]
  • NUPI invites Freeman to speak about US-Israel relations
    When Charles W. Freeman had to resign from a position with the Obama administration in March 2009, he blamed the Israel-Lobby. On Wednesday he visited NUPI in order to speak about US-Israel relations. Vårt Land reports, in an NTB article, that Freeman has as little faith in the current round of peace […]
  • Scandinavian democracy – a guided affair
    Screenshots from Norwegian newspapers Aftenposten and DagenMagazinet Not even in Scandinavia does democracy work flawlessly. Is there an invisible hand at work? In the screenshot above (left) we see an op-ed from yesterday’s Aftenposten, with Eirik Vatnøy from Civita, a liberal think tank, asking some rather poignant questions. Vatnøy points out that it appe […]
  • Washington Post on terrorism in Norway
    Three men were apprehended this summer on suspicion of terrorism. As the Washington Post points out, we Norwegians were told that we at no time have been in any danger whatsoever. Norway ‘bomb plot’ underscores al-Qaida pitfalls In late 2009, Jakobsen went to Norway’s Police Security Service and began providing information on Davud’s activities after what he […]
  • Protected: Norway suspects Israel unethical, invests in Turkmenistan
    There is no excerpt because this is a protected post. […]
  • JP mentions Norway: Has Europe learned from its past?
    In material terms, being Norwegian is like winning the lottery. Intellectually it is like living in a carnival. Once groupthink sets in there is nobody left to comment upon how it affects us, and prominent citizens can act bizarrely with impunity . The JP, which editor of Aftenposten Harald Stanghelle tells us is […]
  • Interview with a convert reveals anti-Semitism
    In Aslak Nore book “Ekstremistan” the author predicts that in the near future, Norway will be more mulit-cultural, for good and for worse. The reader is treated to some of the latter in Nore’s interview with a Norwegian convert to Islam, who reflects upon some of her formerly held beliefs. The following […]
  • Nous allons manger des pommes de terre israéliennes », annonce notre hôte
    This blog is not about Israel or the Norwegian Jews. It is about Norway’s perception of and relationship to Israel and Jews. Yet Norway is only one little piece in a larger puzzle. It is while trying to solve this puzzle that foreigners every now and then are brought to pay attention to us up […]

Peace process prospects - Palestine holds the 'Norway' card

Norwegian ME pundits agree that the upcoming talks will fail. Here is how and why they might be right, for the wrong reasons.

According to conventional Norwegian wisdom, the logic runs like this:

The Middle East peace talks can only be successful only IF Obama applies pressure to Netanyahu BUT if Obama applies pressure to [...]

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Roger Hercz is to the newspaper Dagsavisen what Tzipi Livni said she refused to be for Netanyahu – a fig leaf of decency. In today’s paper he claims that Norway plays a larger role in the Middle East now than ever – as a midwife to the Palestinian state, and that in emphasizing [...]

What mechanisms have led Norway to a “key role” in Palestine?

Norway’s interests lie in the nordic region, with the EU, USA and with Russia. As for the Middle East, we obviously need to cooperate with OPEC.  But how is it noble and necessary of Norway to seek to be the midwife of a Palestinian state? What psychological and political mechanisms are at work here?

Aftenposten today [...]

Did Norway divest from Elbit in order to invest in Burma?

Screenshot from Development Today, July 2nd 2010

The screenshot above is from an article on Burma in Development Today. As we can read, Norway is preparing to invest in Burma through Norfund. Let us compare this to Norwegian politics on Israel: Norway has divested from Israeli Elbit, the government has forced the Armed Forces College [...]

Development Today on '...easy public dismissal of facts that contradict benign image'

In Development Today’s April edition (Screenshot above), Professor Nina Witoszek comments on the ease with which the Norwegian public dismisses facts that contradict Norway’s public image. One readily available example, unrelated to the exact topic of Professor Witoszek’s piece as it may be, is found in how Israeli academic Manfred Gerstenfeld, who has [...]

Pro-Palestinian journalist: ‘Worst attacks since Gaza war’

Aftenposten.no today runs the article “Worst attacks since Gaza war” by journalist Lars Akerhaug. Prior to becoming a journalist, Mr.Akerhaug led the Palestine Committee and raised funds for groups in Iraq fighting against the Americans. A few years ago Mr.Akerhaug was instrumental in inviting two Hamas representatives to Oslo.

The article is structured so the reader [...]

Scandinavian NGO funding and the Rhetoric of Conflict

Money can help you accomplish great things. It can also cause a lot of damage. Perhaps we Scandinavians ought to use our riches with a little less abandon.

From NGO Monitor:

Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland contribute millions of dollars annually to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that include some of the most radical groups operating in Israel and [...]

Norway gives NOK 240 million to Abbas

The article above is from Bistandsaktuelt, March 11th 2010, and titled: “Norway gives 240 million to the Abbas government“. In it we learn that the government is doing exactly what the heading says, and that Kjersti Gravelsæter Berg, a researcher at the University of  Bergen, states the following about Norwegian aid to Palestine:

If the money [...]

“Eyes in Gaza” – the politics of emotion

Doctors Mads Gilbert and Erik Fosse worked in Shifa hospital during the Gaza war, and also doubled as news reporters. After the war they proceeded to publish the best-selling book “Eyes of Gaza”, now in its fourth edition, in what with certainty must be deemed the most spectacular public relations endeavour to be [...]

…same as any other nation?

A corporate flowchart of Norwegian development aid. From Norsk Utviklingshjelps historie, by Kjerland et al.

The flowchart above is from Norges Bistandhistorie (A history of Norwegian development aid) by Kjerland, Liland, Ruud and Simonsen. The flowchart illustrates the Norwegian development aid sector as it was understood by the company Statskonsult in 1997. Why is only [...]

DT reports: Labour strengthens grip on aid budget

From: Development Today

If you want to understand Norwegian foreign policy, Development Today is an absolute must. The journal asks some of the right questions and picks up on issues that Akersgata is unable to attend to. In No.16/2009 (above) DT observes that Labour is assuming control of a larger proportion of the development aid [...]

DT: “Norway bypasses Sweden as largest Nordic donor”

Money is power. Norway has more of it than you would estimate from the size of our population (approx.4,6 million). Now investing money wisely, as Mr.Murdoch will tell you, is no easy task. How to make sure the money is invested for good, rather than evil?

Excerpt from Development Today:

Three Nordic governments dominate the top spots [...]

Al Aqsa TV tells kids “Slaughter the jews”

Norway supports the Palestinian people (pr.capita) more than any other people on earth. Yet this support appears to be completely unrelated to the actual behavior of the regimes of Hamas and Fatah. Blatant racism and incitement to murder goes virtually unnoticed by the red-green coalition government, although it has been questioned by the opposition (Progress [...]

Christian Democrats: “Horrible of Hamas to deny the Holocaust”

The red-green government has been a staunch supporter of the PA, Hamas and the UNRWA. Yet when it is revealed that Hamas rejects tuition on the Holocaust in Gaza-schools, the red-green government is silent. Perhaps Norwegians should take the criticism from Sri Lanka to heart – perhaps Solheim the Silent is indeed a fitting nickname [...]

Progress Party speaks out against Hamas’ racism

Two days ago Aftenposten’s ME correspondent Jørgen Lohne wrote about how Hamas rejects Holocaust-education in Gaza-schools. Seeing as how Norway not only heads the ITF this year but also is one of the PA’s, Hamas’ and UNRWA’s greatest sponsors, one would expect the government to react. Alas, the red-green coalition government has so far not [...]