• 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 […]

University of Oslo debates whether to boycott... Israel

At the University of Oslo, it's time to debate whether to boycott…Israel

And so once again it is time, this time at the University of Oslo, to debate whether or not to boycott Israel. The fact that Israel is mainly populated by the only people Norwegians have helped try annihilate is generally not [...]

NTNU academic goes easy on Sayid Qutb, is harsh on west’s ‘war on Islam’

NTNU is one of the most prestigous universities in Norway. It is also home to a handful of academics who are extraordinarily keen on assigning blame to the USA and Israel. As for the interviewer above, Kim Dino Saur, this is actaully his name. He says himself it was just “a matter of time” before [...]

Flight of the (Norwegian) Intellectuals

From Amazon: Twenty years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini called for the assassination of Salman Rushdie—and writers around the world instinctively rallied to Rushdie’s defense. Today, according to writer Paul Berman, “Rushdie has metastasized into an entire social class”—an ever-growing group of sharp-tongued critics of Islamist extremism, especially critics from Muslim backgrounds, who survive only [...]

Repeat of motifs

It’s the same song and dance. Norwegians behave badly, then just drift away and pretend nothing happened. The media lets them get away with it too, because we all got to stick together as a nation when criticized by nasty foreigners. Here are a few cases:

Sidsel Wold and the disappearing tapes

Israeli academic Manfred Gerstenfeld edits [...]

Premium Price, Poor Performance: The Mads Gilbert effect on health care

From Harvard Business Journal

The facsimile above is from the Harvard Business Journal and shows how different countries score on price versus performance in health care. As we can see the USA scores high on price, but not all that high on performance. Meanwhile Norway, underlined in red, scores high on price and not so [...]

Manufacturing consent: Norwegian journalists on 'Bibi'

In today’s Verdens Gang (VG) daredevil author Aslak Nore writes an editorial on Israel where he, surprise surprise, voices skepticism against Netanyahu. To such an extent is right-wing extremism rampant in Israel, Nore writes, that intelligent young people flee the political field and are driven into commerce. The political scene under Netanyahu has [...]

Mads Gilbert stops doctors from going to Afghanistan

Norwegian soldiers fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan have too few doctors backing them up. Aftenposten today reveals that this is in part due to the efforts of maoist anesthesiologist Mads Gilbert, who rose to  fame after he doubled as a news reporter/doctor during his stay at Shifa hospital in Gaza, which Hamas used as a [...]

Question of the week: 'How do I avoid hiring an applicant of the wrong descent?'

Business newspaper E24 counsels employer on how to avoid giving jobs to supporters of Israel

E24 is a Norwegian online newspaper covering finance and business. It offers a regular “agony aunt” column where readers are advised on how to proceed on tricky management issues. The screenshot above is from E24 on April 13th, where a [...]

Funnyman Jespersen says Magpies are 'Israelis of the air'

VG on funnyman Otto Jespersen

The screenshot above is from last weekend’s edition of Verdens Gang (VG), Norway’s largest daily. It includes an interview with Norwegian funnyman Otto Jespersen, who speaks his mind on ten different issues. No.7 attracts our attention (see below). Unauthorized translation: “I enjoy watching the rich bird-life in my garden, but [...]

Opposition suggest muslims show solidarity by wearing star of David

Progress Party suggests carrying star of David in solidarity with Norwegian Jews

Leader of the Oslo section of the Progress Party Christian Tybring-Gjedde suggests that muslim students wear the star of David to show solidarity with Norwegian Jews. This is in part a hamfisted idea – one should hesitate before suggesting that minorities identify themselves [...]

Op-ed: ‘Jews are the new jews of Europe’

A recurring topic is that of Europe’s muslims as “the new jews”, with miniscule similarities being turned into virtual likenesses. Norwegian author Herman Willis made every point there is to make on this issue years ago, but that’s yesterdays fish and chips and every day we have to fight the battle again. Here [...]

Anti-Semitism is Norwegian problem, not 'muslim-problem'

There is a lot of focus on muslim anti-Semitism right now, and rightly so. As NRK’s Tormod Strand has disclosed, muslim children have brought anti-Semitism back into the Norwegian schools. Yet Kristin Halvorsen of the Socialist Left has a point when she says anti-Semitism is not a “muslim-problem” but a “Norwegian problem”.

Anti-Semitism in Norway goes [...]

Johan Galtung finds Gaza 'a replay of the Warsaw ghetto'

The Russel Tribunal for Palestine is supported by among other Ilan Pappe, Ken Loach and John Pilger. There is also a Norwegian onboard, Mr. Johan Galtung – above behind the rostrum at what appears to be a Turkish university. Below you see a section from a transcript from his lecture, where Mr.Galtung identifies Israel’s policies [...]

Is Afghanistan like Warsaw?

During Cast Lead, Hamas successfully hid behind their own civilian population. Their diabolical strategy left approximately 1400 Palestinian civilians dead. Now Norwegian politician Bjørnar Moxnes from Red (Rødt) claims in an op-ed in Dagsavisen that 2500 Afghan civilians have been killed during combat operations. While it is uncertain where Mr.Moxnes has this figure from, it [...]

Danish newspaper Politikken settles with plaintiffs over cartoon dispute

Aftenposten: Politiken apologizes for Muhammed cartoon

Aftenposten today reports on how Danish newspaper Politiken has settled with muslim groups who were upset by Politiken’s re-publishing of the Muhammed cartoon in 2008. While Politiken does not apologize for having published the cartoon, nor promises to refrain from doing so again, the newspaper does apologize to “everyone [...]