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It’s been just over a year since Hamas brutally attacked Israel, and just over a year since I published an article observing that while the U.S. and EU had long categorized Hamas as a terrorist group, Norway had long refused to do so. On the contrary, members of Hamas had been invited on multiple occasions to travel to Oslo, at the expense of Norwegian taxpayers, and welcomed by people at the highest levels of government as honored guests. Not until October 11, after four days of immense domestic and international pressure, did Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre agree to change his country’s official position on Hamas – only to announce, two days later, that, despite his volte-face on Hamas’s status, Norway would not only keep sending truckloads of taxpayer money to that gang of thugs but would be increasing its annual “aid” payout by $7 million. Which, of course, could only be interpreted as a reward for Jew-killing.
Seven months later, on May 22, I reported that Norway, along with Ireland and Spain, was on the verge of rewarding Hamas even further – namely, by recognizing Palestinian statehood. (That recognition came into effect on May 28.)
Since moving to Norway a quarter-century ago, I’ve observed many times that the overwhelming majority of the Norwegian people are unusually decent and civilized, but that there’s one significant exception to that fact. And that exception is the widespread hostility toward Jews and Israel. Over the years, respected Norwegian politicians, authors, and commentators have written newspaper op-eds, or said things on TV, that could have been drafted by Goebbels himself – and instead of being canceled, they’ve been celebrated.
Or take the case of the Holocaust Center. In 2006, the former residence of Hitler’s wartime Norwegian puppet, Vidkun Quisling, was turned into a museum and research center whose purpose was supposedly to memorialize and study the Shoah. The Center, however, began almost at once to shift its focus from wartime Jewish suffering to the purported prejudice against Muslims in the Western world – and in Israel – today. The Center even employs a scholar, Cora Alexa Døving, who, as I wrote in that May article, “whitewashes Islamic anti-Semitism” while labeling people who legitimately criticize Islam as racists and conspiracy theorists.
In that same article I also noted that according to a new survey, most Norwegians considered it reasonable to equate Israel’s treatment of Palestinians with Nazi Germany’s treatment of Jews. No surprise there. On this front, the contrast between the Norwegians and their cousins across the Skagerrak in Denmark has long been quite remarkable – in fact, downright puzzling. In the 1940s, while Danish police helped save Jews from Nazis, Norwegian police helped Nazis round up Jews. During the 2006 Muhammed cartoon crisis, Denmark stood firm for free speech while Norway caved to Muslim outrage.
Why, I asked in my May article, is Norway so awash in anti-Semitic and anti-Israel bigotry? Citing research by the Norwegian group Med Israel for Fred (With Israel for Peace), I pointed out that Norwegian schoolbooks and the Church of Norway both promote these prejudices, and that, as polls have shown, Norwegians love, trust, and believe in the UN – where the democratic state of Israel has been demonized for decades by the representatives of dictators – more than any other people on earth. (As I write this, the top story at the website of NRK, Norway’s taxpayer-funded broadcast service, is about a new UN report claiming that Israel has killed civilians and tortured health professionals.)
I made the further point in my May article that Israel’s response to the October 7 Hamas attacks, while recognized by sane observers as perfectly justified, would make “a perfect case study” for a class in Peace Studies – a preposterous academic discipline, founded in Norway by a Jew-hating, anti-American Maoist named Johan Galtung – according to whose twisted teachings the proper reaction to Hamas would have been not military retaliation but thoroughgoing appeasement and the recognition of Palestinian sovereignty.
Now comes another chapter in this long, ugly story. On October 9, Israel’s ambassador to Norway, Avi Nir-Feldklein (who served simultaneously as his country’s ambassador to Iceland), tendered his resignation. He also made an announcement: Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had no plans to send a replacement in the foreseeable future. This is rather big news. Israel and Norway are both major democracies. Exchanging ambassadors between such countries is ordinarily a routine matter. But these are not ordinary times. “The relationship between our countries,” Nir-Feldklein told the Christian newspaper Dagen (a rare outpost of pro-Israel sentiment in the traditional Norwegian media), “is really in crisis.”
Nir-Feldklein’s resignation wasn’t entirely a surprise. In May, immediately after Norway officially recognized Palestinian statehood, his government summoned him home in protest. In a July telephone interview with VG, Norway’s largest daily, Nir-Feldklein, who was still in Israel, stated bluntly that Gahr Støre had chosen sides, and by recognizing Palestinian statehood was sending to the people of Gaza the message that “terror pays. So why should they stop?” Gahr Støre’s action, Nir-Feldklein maintained, had caused the Israeli people to lose all trust in Norway; the two countries’ relationship, he said, had never been worse and was, indeed, in “deep crisis.” He also asserted, quite reasonably, that Norway, by its action, had forfeited its ability to serve as a broker in Middle East peace negotiations. (For my part, I would argue that Norway long ago forfeited its right to pretend to be a neutral mediator, but I’m not a diplomat.)
To be sure, Nir-Feldklein’s resignation was accompanied by what can only be described as an exceedingly generous statement on his X (formerly Twitter) account. “Today,” he wrote, “is my last day as the Ambassador of Israel to Norway.” Describing Norway as “a beautiful country with wonderful people,” he declared that it had been “a privilege to represent my beloved country in Norway, despite the diplomatic crisis,” and expressed the hope “that the future will bring better days to our relations and [that] once again we will do wonderful things together.”
Pretty thoughts. But I have the feeling that Nir-Feldklein’s office in Oslo will be vacant for some time to come. And why should it be otherwise? For decades prior to October 7, the role of Israeli ambassador to Norway was a thankless one, requiring the officeholder to bite his tongue while his hosts spewed bile about the only democracy in the Middle East. And after his nation was invaded and over 1000 of his countrymen savagely slaughtered on October 7 by people who Norway still, as of that day, refused to identify as terrorists, Nir-Feldklein woke up pretty much every morning to see his people and his prime minister viciously smeared by the Norwegian government and media. Why, other than masochism, permit oneself to endure such abuse even as your country is fighting for its life? It’s good Norway’s leaders finally get at least a taste of the blowback that they so richly deserve. May every Western government that refuses to stand up for Israeli freedom against the evil of jihad receive the same treatment.
Puzzles me too. The Scandinavians seem to be intelligent people, but are prone to being brainwashed. Still thinking in terms of Nazis.
It’s the smugness that makes them unbearable. Norway and Sweden call themselves “humanitarian superpowers” without the slightest sense of irony (which they so lack they probably think it refers to pressing clothes).
Scandanavian’s including Denmark are progressive far left socialists. You are so right about the ” It’s the smugness that makes them unbearable”
Extreme arrogance. I know I worked for a Danish company.
This article, honest in its attempt to delineate Norway’s problem, misses the point. Different solutions present themselves to the same problem. Norway has chosen the course that others take all the time on a less systematic basis. Norway has chosen the solution that imposes on them the least cost. Criticizing the Jews costs them almost nothing. Why should they care if 7.5 million Jews in Israel don’t like their policy! On the other hand, 1.3 billion Muslims could be very angry with tiny Norway if it supported Israel. There is no principle here. Only cost calculations.
Allow me to take this opportunity to direct you to The Principle of Least Action, a law of physics that is inviolable. We have been slow to understand how physics affects our psychoogical and social lives, much to our disadvantage.
Come to think of it, Norway has oil wealth, just like the Arab block. With this kind of insurance, they can say to the world GTH!
Minnesota has more than just a large Muslim immigrant community behind its anti-Semitic Congressional delegation. it has long been a major destination for Norwegian immigrants.
During the 1930s and 40s, Minneapolis was the most antisemitic city in America,, followed by Detroit (Henry Ford and Father Coughlin) and Boston (Joseph Kennedy). Even service clubs like the Rotary Club barred Jews in Minneapolis (so did the local AAA automobile club). Nazi lover Charles Lindbergh’s family was from Minnesota and his father was a Congressman from that state. Given that Minnesota is home to Ilhan Omar, Tim Walz, Amy Kobuchar and Keith Ellison, Detroit has Rashida Tlaib and Boston has Elizabeth Warren, little has changed.
I don’t mean to be rude but I have to ask why you would move to Norway and choose to live there? ( I am not asking for personal or family info). Can people be “ decent” and also be Jew hating? I really do not think so.
We Jews don’t hate the muslims, who hate and kill us, us like Norway hates Jews.
Some cultures cannot be repaired. From what I’ve read before and what you describe, Norway is one. The US may very well be another soon. We shall see in November.
I was not raised to hate Muslims. I came to my hatred of Muslims after a lifetime of terrorism.
Some hatred is justified.
The anti Israeli mindset in Norway goes way back to the establishment of the country.
With the exception of Trygve Lie, who is why the Norwegians are so devoted to the UN, they have been anti Israel in that waste of time and money body from the early ’50s, ever eager to criticism Israel and Israeli actions while condoning the genocidal statements and behaviour of the muslims around them.
Norway has a history of supporting facsists ie. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier Divison Nordland tand heir support for today’s Islamofacsists should be no surprise.
Norway banned Jews entirely until 1851. In 1929, it banned kosher meat processing on “humanitarian” grounds- odd in a country that harpoons wales and lets the Sami bite testicles off of reindeer. There were never more than 2,000 or so Jews in Norway (who strive to keep a very low profile and assimilate- unlike their Muslims who now number 400,000) and yet Jews and Israel are a hateful idee fixe for Norway- much like they were for the Austrian paperhanger Quisling so readily embraced.. Their next move will probably be to hive the Nobel Peace Prize (already degraded by awarding it to Yasser Arafat, Peanut Dhimmi Carter and Barack Hussein Osama) to UNWRA, whose members worked hand in glove with Hamas on October 7th.
I would also add, Bruce, that both the Swedish and Norwegian Social Democrats are the direct descendants of the National Socialists that were allied of Nazi Germany during the thirties and in wartime – although the Sweish remained neutral, but gave Germany the steel that was needed for the war effort, and Norway was actually invaded rather pacefully. Speaking of anti-semite and anti-christian paganism, they probably shared the Nordic mithology, so dear to Hitler and his early Thule Society.
In Sweden, Prime Minister Olaf Palme compared the United States to Nazi Germany during the Vietnam War, and Israel to Nazi Germany during the 1982 War in Lebanon. Interestingly, Sweden had a Social Democratic government throughout the Third Reich. It sold iron ore and ball bearings to Nazi Germany, allowed Nazi troops transit over Swedish soil, and laundered gold and currency looted from Jews and governments in occupied Europe. Throughout most of WW II Sweden’s “neutrality” tilted toward the Axis and that only changed when it became obvious that Germany would lose the war.
You DO owe your long time readers a sincere piece on why you chose to LIVE there.
Finland is the greater and more Jew-friendly Nordic nation. Norway failed the, erm, Quisling.
That’s why the Nazi invasion of Norway should be called “The North Anscluß.”
It would appear that the Norwegians have chosen to apply selective memory loss. Perhaps it’s politically inconvenient for them to remember the Jews who were arrested, deported, and sent to concentration camps following the Nazi occupation of Norway in 1940. And they probably don’t like to be reminded of the Norwegian collaborators who assisted the Nazis during WWII.
Bruce states: ” In the 1940s, while Danish police helped save Jews from Nazis, Norwegian police helped Nazis round up Jews.”
My family (half thereof) hails from Finland, and it’s a comfort knowing that Finland’s record during the war years – as a German ally no less – was one to be proud or in most respects , not least in it’s defence of its Jewish people.
The Enemy of My Enemy: The Story of Jewish Soldiers in the Finnish Army Who Fought Alongside Nazi Germany
“In July 1942, Heinrich Himmler, the head commander of the SS, came to Finland with a special mission in mind. He sought to obtain the consent of the Finnish authorities to deport the Jews and arrange for their transfer to concentration and death camps. Marshall Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, the commander in chief of the Finnish army, informed him that “no Jewish soldier from my army will be transferred to Germany. Over my dead body. The same holds true for their relatives and family members because it could affect the soldiers’ motivation.” Finland’s prime minister had the same thing to say to Himmler: “Finnish Jews are loyal citizens and we will not allow anyone to violate their legal rights.”
Finland’s Mannerheim steered his country brilliantly through the Second World War. The country was in the thick of it, but retained independence. The US Postal Service, years ago, issued a postage stamp honoring Marshall Mannerheim ( google it).
Yeah, the arrogance of those blood-sucking Norwegians over the decades has truly been the eighth wonder of the world. They’ve been suckling at the public teat of the United States for decades. Just who do they think they are? Go get ’em!
Well, I guess this means no more King Oscar sardines and Norwegian lox for us.