Bruce Wolman of Bethesda, MD, lived in Norway for more than 20 years. He reads the Norwegian press in Norwegian and offers the following exclusive report:
According to NTB, the Norwegian wire service, Norway's Finance Minister and Socialist Left party leader, Kristin Halvorsen (left) was described as a Jew-hater in an article released on the net issue of the Jerusalem Post Monday morning and later withdrawn. The article purported to describe the rising hatred of Jews in Norway.
Reporter Maya Spitzer wrote:
"Anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment has exploded in Norway - driven by the Norwegian media and intellectual elite - due to Operation Cast Lead, according to Norwegian Jewish leaders.
"During the war, Oslo was fraught with violent anti-Israel demonstrations. Numerous government officials decried Israel's actions in Gaza - including Minister of Finance Kristin Halvorsen, who led a march shouting, "Death to the Jews!" Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert, who worked in Gaza and disseminated stories about Israel's brutality, became a national hero in the Norwegian media.
"Even before the war began, local Jews were tense because of anti-Semitic cartoons, recent boycotts of Israel merchandise, and the highly publicized affair of Norwegian comic Otto Jespersen, who made anti-Semitic remarks on national television.
"This wave continued with renowned Norwegian painter Håken Gullvåg's opening a new exhibition entitled 'Requiem for the Children of Gaza' in Trondheim over the weekend. The city's mayor, Rita Otterwik, applauded Gullvåg for accurately depicting the Gaza conflict. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg also commended Gullvåg for 'painting pictures that place this [the plight of the Palestinians] on the agenda.'"
The article raised a storm in the Norwegian media. The strongest reaction was to the claim that Halvorsen shouted "Death to the Jews" during the march. This is an outright falsehood. Norway's leading newspaper, Aftenposten, told its readers that the Jerusalem Post article claimed "Norwegian society is riddled with anti-Zionist and anti-Israeli attitudes".
After Norwegian reporters inundated the Jerusalem Post's offices with enquiries, the article in question was temporarily removed from the Web site. The Post said that it would refuse to answer the Norwegians' questions, however, until its editor David Horovitz, became available. News editor, David Brinn, later said to Afterposten.no that the paper stands behind the contents of the article:
We received rather many reactions after we published the article, and we removed it for safety's sake while we checked the facts. Doubts were raised about its truthfulness, but the content absolutely agrees with reality, said Brinn.
A new version of the article was published on the web site today, but was again removed. The revised version no longer had Halvorsen shouting "Death to the Jews" but instead wrote that "Death to the Jews" was heard from participants in the march. Brinn told Aftenposten:
The Finance Minister led a demonstration against 'Operation Cast Lead' . We want to ask her why she led this demonstration and if she knew about the shouts at the demonstration. The article will return. It will be republished as soon as we have been in contact with the Finance Minister."
When Aftenposten directly asked Brinn whether the Jerusalem Post was claiming that the Finance Minister shouted "Death to the Jews," the editor responded that he couldn't hear the question due to a bad telephone connection. Aftenposten repeated the question and Brinn then cut the phone call.
The Socialist Left Party of Norway issued the following press release in English:
Kristin Halvorsen participated in a demonstration for peace in Gaza on January 8th this year. There were no anti-Jewish slogans during the event what so ever, as The Jerusalem Post alleges.
There were appeals for inter-religious coexistence and peace, calling on Israel to stop the war on Gaza. The demonstration lasted for about an hour, and was a dignified and peaceful event. A splinter-group continued a march towards the Israeli embassy afterwards. This was not a part of the official demonstration, and Kristin Halvorsen did not join this rally. She publicly denounced the violent outbreak that occurred in the aftermath of the peace demonstration.
When Dagbladet, another national Norwegian newspaper reached the Jerusalem Post reporter, Maya Spitzer, she told them:
Everything I wrote is accurate. I have received information from several sources. From Israel-Wat, from Manfred Gerstenfeld and Imre Hercz. But I don't want you to cite me on anything.
Israel-Wat, "Israel's War Against Terror" web site, is an extremist propaganda source. Manfred Gerstenfeld, who grew up in the Netherlands, is Chairman of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and director of the Institute for Global Jewish Affairs. Last year he penned an article, Behind the Humanitarian Mask: The Nordic Countries, Israel and the Jews. Imre Hercz is a Holocaust survivor living in Oslo.
Dagbladet spoke with Hercz [photo above] and he is not comfortable with the Jerusalem Post article:
The article is just crazy and I am dismayed. I spoke with the journalist at length, twice, and I said the exact opposite. But this did not fit into her scheme.
Hercz has written a reply which he wants the Jerusalem Post to publish. He plans to send his response this evening.
I do not experience the Norwegian people as anti-Semitic or anti-Israel. There is a small part of the Norwegian radical left from the 68-generation which are that. There are some in Norway who attack Israel and America regardless. For me, anti-Semitism is when people demand something of Jews and Israel which they don't demand of others. To demand a trade boycott of Israel on account of the occupation - while at the same time not demanding a boycott of China on account of the occupation of Tibet.
Hercz is not only concerned about the Jerusalem Post article. He doubts also the objectivity of Manfred Gerstenfeld, who steadily criticizes Norway for anti-Semitism.
I doubt his objectivity and I am very tired of his propaganda war against Norway. We are about 1500 Jews in the community in Norway, and the milieu is not large. Let Gerstenfeld show his sources. I would gladly meet them myself.
Dagbladet writes that in an interview with Norway's TV2 this month Gerstenfeld asserted that "Norway is an anti-Semitic nation."
Hercz noted,
He [Gerstenfeld] has been to Norway once, and I don't know anyone who has spoken with him. I told him that it is not always so easy to be a Jew in Norway, but Gerstenfled goes much further than that.
Aftenposten interviewed Anna Sender, leader of the Jewish religious community in Norway. She doesn't believe that the article will worsen the relationship between Norway and Israel, but says it won't make the situation any better for the Jewish minority in Norway.
This type of reporting is not acceptable. It is rather unfortunate, and we don't identify with it. We have discussed this also with the newspaper.
Sender wants to see an accurate picture of Norway in the Israeli media, and finds it regrettable that the papers' readers only get half the story.
The content in the article is not correct factually. Yes, the Finance Minister went in a demonstration march, but that does not mean that she supports all the attitudes which are expressed under the demonstration....
Norway became one of Israel's biggest supporters upon the foundation of the state. Elements of the left have supported Palestinian rights since the sixties, but there remained amazing cross-party support for Israel up until the nineties. After Norwegian troops were assigned to Hebron to help keep the peace between the Israeli settlers and the Palestinian residents, attitudes in Norway gradually began to change in the wider population. The soldiers did not return with positive stories about the extremist settlers and their behavior towards the Palestinians or the troops. Once Israel turned "Oslo" into a dirty word, Norwegian support for Israel continued to decline. The Sharon regime did not help the Israeli cause, but the issue was not a major one in Norway. In the more recent years, labor unions and youth groups have tried to organize boycotts, but they have not come very far. Israel reacted very negatively to these even modest efforts and the demonization of Norway in the Israeli press picked up steam. The Gaza war, however, has unleashed a great deal of ill will for Israel and all the Norwegian politician's have been forced to declare a stand.
Since the war, anti-Semitism has not been a problem in Norway except among the very small extremist neo-Nazi groups. The government has moved against these groups in a manner harsher than the United States has with its similar groups. Hate speech is more restricted under Norwegian than American law. The right-wing Populist party, which has grown to one of the two biggest in Norway, is Israel's biggest political supporter.
Israel's attempts to portray any opposition or even support for Palestinians as anti-Semitism is bound to have a backlash and for the first time you are beginning to see this among Norwegians.
David Horovitz, the editor of the Jerusalem Post, has been on a crusade to paint any foreigner who doesn't accept Israeli hasbara as either naive, irrational or anti-Semitic. I would suggest you see his op-ed of the other day, but then I wouldn't want you to spend the $3.95 the Post is now charging to view it.
RE: "The right-wing Populist party, which has grown to one of the two biggest in Norway, is Israel's biggest political supporter."
IN THE U.K.: "Neo-Nazis For Israel?" by Max Blumenthal, Senior Writer for The Daily Beast, 01/09/09
"While much of the neo-Nazi fringe remains opposed to the existence of Israel, the whites-only British National Party recently declared its full-throated support for Israel's attack on Gaza. The shelling of Gaza City by Israeli forces has brought joy to the heart of BNP head of legal affairs Lee Barnes: "This sort of 'disinfecting' process whereby Israel is required to sterilise areas of radical Islamist support … is what all nations have to do in order to eradicate Islamist cells who have managed to take over territory either within or on the edges of their borders," Barnes wrote on his blog on January 4. He continued, "Get used to the casualties — for without them any nation so infected with Islamism will surrender, rot away into liberal apathy and then dies as it is taken over."
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to huffingtonpost.com
This is what comes of snorting zio-caine at work. And she won't even remember she wrote it.
A lot of Israelis kill Arabs. When the Norwegian press reports these Israelis' crimes, the Israeli press prints lies about Norwegians.
Why don't you speak about thousands of Muslim terrorists living in the midst of Norwegian cities and poisoning your liberties?
Nazism today is like toothbrush innovation.
There is none. The same basic concept works – fascism, militarism, racial supremacy, chauvinism, etc.
And Israel has all these qualities, hence Neo-Nazis should just suck it up and convert to Judaism as a cover. They can follow the trend those Russian immigrants are setting.
Fake It For The Fascist In You! – New slogan.
One thing that stays hidden from the logic of even phil and the rest of good people is that, saying death to jews, as much as it is a falsehood, is still more human than actually killing palestinians. come on people why can't anyone see how Israel's actions are worse than anti semitism?
This is a remarkable story.
I have always been amazed at how deeply these types of Zionists want to be despised. They never seem to have enough enemies to satisfy themselves, so they ceaselessly try to make new ones.
The Israelis even managed to piss off the Fijian UN soldiers I met while in Israel. I believe that one big reason that Israel is disliked by many Europeans is that so many Eurpoean kids serve as UN troops, or work and travel in Israel.
So much attention is paid to anti-Semitism, but Israelis aren't exactly friendly.
Dutch politician Andreas van Agt has been subjected to similar attacks.
The normal Zionist debate mode is scurrilous and ad hominem.
The British National Party, following the lead of the belgian fascists,converted years ago to full-throated support for Israel and all-purpose Muslim-bashing. It never reacts to stories erroneously describing it as 'anti-Semitic', since it has no particular objection to individuals joining it because they imagine that it is 'anti-Semitic,' but it is not anti-Semitic;' it regards 'racially conscious Jews' as allies in the global fight to preserve white supremacism on the basis of keeping and extending the existing white colonial states and their various regional and sub-regional networks of domination over non-white peoples and nations. I have spelled this out explicitly, but I do not claim you will find it so spelled out anywhere in their literature, it is just the obvious inference which one needs to make regarding all such parties. I believe it is also true of the French neo-fascists, Le Pen's occasional provocations notwithstanding. It is hardly even a matter of subtlety; the tactic is simple enough, you can call it coat-trailing if you like, but the point is, they will flirt with 'anti-Semitism' for form's sake, but mass neo-fascist parties all over the world are all pro-zionist, because they see being so as an aspect of being pro-white.
That's a good point, Rowan. Although there are plenty of real Jew-haters on the far right, the actual organizations have tended to dump anti-semitism. They tend to regard Moslem immigration as they greatest threat, so they relate to Israel's position against "Islamofascism" and see pro-Zionism as a way to consistently endorse ethno-nationalism for their own countries.
I found it incredibly ironic that Israel and the Jewish community were so outraged over the success of the right in Austria, when those far right parties are the only ones who seek to halt Moslem immigration.
(Hint: the "new anti-semitism" and vehement criticism of Israel in Europe isn't coming white right-wingers.)
"isn't coming FROM white right-wingers"
The middle term which I should have included is this, which I am prepared to bet is the inside explanation that recruits get when they ask about this question: "our view is that the Jews should live in their own country and deal with their own problems, and let us who live in our own country deal with ours."
Disingenuous to a fault, of course, but tempting to the newbie.
Ho hum…
Everyone hates the Jews..old news.
Now, I wonder why everyone hates the Jews. Let me think.. Jews-Israel, Jews- Israel…Israel= genocide, Israel= death,Israel= destruction, Israel= world parasite…..could it possibly be because of Israel? Could that be it!
Naw, it's got to be because we all just hate jews because they are the only innocent people on earth since 000BC. They are like Christ and the true chosen and prophets of the world so naturally we have crucify them.
Unfortunately this Gerstenfelder guy has been given significant traction by some Norwegian media. His assertions are clearly ludicrous. Apart from a few neo-Nazis there simply is extremely limited anti-Semitism in Norway. There exists some traditional anti-Semitic ideas among some recent immigrants, but in general all Norwegians have a very vivid memory of the 2 World War (even two generations removed we call it The War) and Holocaust has a prominent place in that history. Each year a large number of Norwegian youth go on so-called "White Bus" trips to Auschwitz and other camps.
Historically the main change of mind on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict came with a former (and to be again) Norwegian Prime Minister Kaare Willoch, who in 1984 (I think it was) went to the West Bank and Gaza. He is of the war generation, and was extremely shocked of the degradation and oppression of Palestinians.
His conversion for the first time legitimised a principled opposition to the Occupation in Norway and has made what was fringe opinions then mainstream today.
He of course has gotten his fair share of ridicules anti-Semitic accusations, but has always been at pains to formulate himself precisely. In his late 70ties, he is still a forceful debater on this issue in Norway.
It is rather sad to see how the right wing in Israel is slowly but surly chipping away on what was once an important taboo – anti-Semitism. Keep this up, and shortly this term will end having any meaning whatsoever and an important defence will be lost.
The British National Party, following the lead of the belgian fascists,converted years ago to full-throated support for Israel and all-purpose Muslim-bashing…
People may wonder why I single out the Belgian fascists. I am thinking in particular of the Vlaams Bloc in Antwerp, and my guess would be that, because this is the European centre for the diamond business, there was more unaccountable money sloshing around there than anywhere else to bribe them with.
The fascists are used as a punching bag. First they are accused of hating the Jew and being responsible for Hollywood's six million, then in case that doesn't get everyone hating them, they are accused of being the true spirit behind Israeli actions today. Has anyone really looked into what Fascists believe or are we just throwing words around?
Kjetting,
I concur with your comment.
And I am glad you mentioned that Willoch has played an important role in widening and legitimizing opposition to the Occupation. He has taken many hits for his honest assessments.
Gerstenfeld, like Abe Foxman in the US, shows how easy it is to set oneself up as an expert on anti-Semitism and then use that position as a platform to further one's own political views. Being called an anti-Semite by these people is almost becoming a badge of honor. It is a shame, for as you concluded, shortly this term will have no meaning whatsoever.
Because it doesn't sound to me like Rowan actually knows what Fascists believe rather he is giving us what he thinks Fascists believe which is good enough for people like David F.
"…but I do not claim you will find it so spelled out anywhere in their literature" RB
This is just another example of the intellectual sleight of hand commonly employed by Zionism supporters. The subject of the protest, Israel's criminal behaviour, is ignored, and those who are protesting are made to appear the villain of the story.
The story's focus has been shifted from Norway's understandable outrage at the Israeli terrorist attack on Gaza to Norway's defending itself against charges of anti-semitism!
The Minister of Finance shouted "Death to the Jews"! No? OK then, but by criticizing Israel the Norwegian rabble rousers have incited incipient anti-semitism in those who are so predisposed or emotionally susceptible (expect gravestone toppling etc soon). Whatever, the anti-semitic angle is still the focus of the story. Either way the protestors are reduced to defending their bona fides. The implication is that criticizing the criminal behaviour is anti-semitic, (itself a term with little meaning but pleanty of smear power).
It always works, the media never do a double-take.
The jpost reveals itself to be less of a reporter and more of an partisan obfuscater by peddling this distracting "red herring".
Its a con.
I would also like to know more about the "splinter-group" that is said to have taken up the chant after the demo had concluded. Their behaviour doesn't resound with spontaneity, seems more like it was planned earlier. I wouldn't be surprised if it was found to be staged by pro-zionist elements.
That's what I would do if I was a Zionist. :-)
I don't know how much anti-Semitism there is in Norway, but I doubt that there is much. Jews aren't really much of a topic in Finland or Sweden if my experiences are tyoical. Oddly enough, a Swedish Marxist friend if mine did complain about the Wallenbergs' influence in the media.
@Laurie:
I've long since given up trying to get people to use fascist correctly. ;)
When I see it, I usually just assume it means "too right wing or conservative nationalist for my taste."
You are right, and it should be only used to describe an authoritarian national revival movement involving a charismatic dictator figure. I don't think it can be applied accurately to Israel, Hamas, Iran, or any of the other governments we discuss here.
I would also like to know more about the "splinter-group" that is said to have taken up the chant after the demo had concluded. Their behaviour doesn't resound with spontaneity, seems more like it was planned earlier. I wouldn't be surprised if it was found to be staged by pro-zionist elements.
That's what I would do if I was a Zionist. :-) Posted by: moonkoon | April 01, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Maybe it's the same apocryphal outfit that is always reported as chanting "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas."
Good point, moonkoon. Agents provocateurs seem to be very common at either right-wing protests or anti-Israel protests.
"I found it incredibly ironic that Israel and the Jewish community were so outraged over the success of the right in Austria, when those far right parties are the only ones who seek to halt Moslem immigration.
(Hint: the "new anti-semitism" and vehement criticism of Israel in Europe isn't coming white right-wingers.)
Posted by: David F."
It's not really so ironic as it is not so beneath the principle–Austria is too soaked with its Nazi past–it would make too many around the world put 2 & 2 together to =4" Nazism is Zionism in reverse.
Todd,
The Wallenbergs haven't been Jewish for a number of generations.
Swedish Marxists may be justified in protesting Wallenberg influence in the economy and media, but not because they are Jewish.
Bruce,
The person who made the statement is almost 70, so age may color his perspective on the Wallenbergs. But he did say that Swedish Jews tend to gravitate to the media as they do elsewhere.
This "you're an anti-semite" scam is not new, it has been a cornerstone of Zionist propaganda from the getgo.
"At the very outset of the Palestine question, the Anti-Defamation League's publication, "The Facts", sought to place an anti-Semitic label on the activities of such friends of justice for the dispossessed in Palestine as Barnard College Dean Virginia Gildersleeve, U.S. presidential emissary Kermit Roosevelt, and former American University of Beirut President Bayard Dodge. The publication's May 1948 issue charged: "Their espousal of the Arab League cause and opposition to Zionism has been marked by the increasingly hostile attitude toward the Jewish people themselves. While anti-Zionism and sympathy for the Arab cause are not necessarily indications of anti-Semitic prejudice, there are many whose pro-Arab utterances and activities have contained sufficiently expressed or implied anti-Semitism to give cause for genuine alarm. "
This same strategy to discredit critics of Israel or defenders of Palestinian human rights has been employed by the ADL ever since."
-Dr. Alfred M. Lilienthal
link to washington-report.org