With Friends Like Norway, Who Needs Enemies?

From the desk of Filip van Laenen on Mon, 2006-01-09 10:51

kristin-halvorsen.jpg
Kristin Halvorsen

It is striking to see how Norwegian politics differs from Danish politics. Europe is turning Muslim and the major threat to European secularists comes from extremist Islamists. While the Danes have been engaged in a conflict with Muslim extremists, the left-wing Norwegian government parties are appeasing them by fighting the Jews. Last Thursday Kristin Halvorsen (45), the Norwegian Minister of Finance, said that she is in favour of boycotting Israel.

Halvorsen, who is also the leader of the Socialist Left Party (SV), told the newspaper Dagbladet that she never buys Israeli products, such as oranges, and that she supports all Norwegian municipalities and provinces that boycott Israel. Halvorsen prefers Cuban oranges instead.

On 15 December the province of South-Trøndelag officially called for an economic boycott of Israel. The boycott entails that the provincial authorities will no longer buy Israeli products. They have also called on the province’s 270,000 inhabitants to do the same.

The boycott was initiated by the far-left Red Electoral Alliance (RV). It received the support of all three Norwegian governing parties – the Labour Party (Ap) of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Halvorsen’s SV and the environmentalist Center Party (Sp). It was also supported by a provincial councillor of the right-wing Progress Party (Frp) of opposition leader Carl I. Hagen.

The center-right Oslo newspaper Aftenposten remarked sardonically that South-Trøndelag is in “the good company” of Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Syria and Iran, the only members of the Arab League that still strictly apply the 1951 Arab League economic boycott of Israel. The 1951 boycott was based on the 1922 decision of the Fifth Arab Congress to boycot all commercial activities of Jews in Palestine. Aftenposten pointed out that clearly South-Trøndelag wants to be more radical than most member states of the Arab League.

Halvorsen’s outspoken support for the boycott caused a row in the government last week. Fearing that Norway’s role as a traditional mediator in the Middle East could be in jeopardy, Oslo was quick to stress that boycotting Israel is not its official policy.

 

Though Prime Minister Stoltenberg’s Labour Party also voted in favour of the South-Trøndelag boycott, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre felt compelled to write a letter [pdf] to his U.S. and Israeli colleagues to make it clear that “it has never been and will never be the position of the Norwegian government to advocate [a consumer boycott] against Israel. Norway is a friend of Israel based on long historic ties. On this basis we will continue to support the peace process and be available to the parties in the Middle East to help bring the process forward.”

Stoltenberg called Halvorsen to account, as did Åslaug Haga, the leader of the Center Party, the third party in the Norwegian government coalition. She, too, criticised Halvorsen for having cast doubt on Oslo’s position as a neutral mediator, although her own party also voted for the South-Trøndelag boycott. On Friday Halvorsen offered her apologies, acknowledging that as a member of government it is her duty to voice the official government position.

To make amends it is possible that the parties will revoke the boycott decision of 15 December at the next session of the South-Trøndelag provincial council. However, that will be all window dressing. The Norwegian government parties want to boycott Israel, while insisting that the Norwegian government does not. Indeed, the SV still intends to launch a pro-Palestinian “solidarity campaign” later this month. This campaign will call for… a consumer boycott of Israel. Gry Larsen, the leader of Young Labour, the youth section of Stoltenberg’s party, also endorses such a boycott, though she is Gahr Støre’s political adviser and may even have helped him write his letter to his American and Israeli colleagues. In the letter he says: “Norway is a friend of Israel.” But with friends like Norway, who needs enemies?

Update

With Friends Like These, 10 January 2006

Islam does not force

Submitted by Infidel (not verified) on Wed, 2006-02-01 22:48.

Islam does not force conversion, it just instutuionalize all non-muslims as second class citzens.
What is a dhimmi? What is the Jiyza tax.
Yet this still does guarantee the muslim mob will not come for you if they want what you have.
AS for you discussion on Israel..I think the Muslims should all leave Lebanon if they believe that the Jews should leave Israel. Prior to civil war in the 1980's more than 60% of Lebanon was Christian, so once the Muslims leave enmass from there I will agree that the Jews should leave. Also give Iran back to the Zoaristans and Pakistan back to the Hindus and Indonesia back to the buddist why your at it.

Religion is not a nationality

Submitted by Aman on Thu, 2006-02-02 04:26.

Islam treat all citizen equally, and by the way Taxes on Muslims are more than that of non Muslims in a Muslim country
and you are still mixing between religions and nationalities.
The Palestinians are the people of Palestine while the westerns, the Russian, the European, and the Ethiopian Jews do not have the right to take the land of Palestine, because they have their nationalities and their countries.

I'm an Israelite

Submitted by Flemish American on Sun, 2006-01-15 01:09.

You might be closer to the truth than you think Bob.

http://www.wonderfulworldtomorrow.org/booklets/COG_Book_US_UK.pdf

At the link I list above, an argument is made that the Jews of today are only from the tribes of Judah & Benjamin and many Europeans and Americans are true Israelites.

Lord, grant me the strength to change the things I can;

the serenity to deal with the things I cannot change;

and the wisdom to know the difference.

A matter of religion

Submitted by truth serum (not verified) on Sun, 2006-01-15 13:56.

Aman says:

"It shouldn't be a matter of religion; it should be a matter of nationality."

For once I agree with you Aman.

It shouldn't be a matter of religion but unfortunately it is.

Do you really think Islam spread by people willingly embracing it? Islam was spread by the sword. Lands that once belonged to peoples of many different faiths were CONQUERED by Mohammed and his followers. They LOST. Was that fair then? Of course not. Wars for dominance are never fair.

The rest of the world is not demanding that all Islamic lands be given back to their original owners. Many Hindus that were once in Pakistan or Bangledesh would really benefit from that argument. They have either left...or they are dead.

Your lecture on tolerance would be better served on someone else. Perhaps to Saudi Arabia who won't even allow a Christian bible into their country. Maybe Pakistan could benefit for they jail and imprison so-called blasphemers of Mohammed. I really, really wish you could have lectured those Muslims who chopped off the heads of three Christian girls in Indonesia.

Palestinian Right

Submitted by Aman on Sat, 2006-01-21 03:04.

The Israeli Invaders say that Palestine is for them because
3000 years ago there were Jews there!!!
This is the same RULE that " Bob doney " is making fun of
But I have said something different:
Who has the right to live in Palestine: The Palestinian refugees; who have been kicked off their land OR
The Russian and the European Invaders who claim that this land is for them just because their religion "Judaism" is that of the people who once lived in the region 3000 years ago.
Again: Jewish faith is not a nationality.
Actually it's well known that: there is no pure nation or race, so what about a religion anybody can join or leave?

Tolerance is a main principle of Islam

Submitted by Aman on Sat, 2006-01-21 03:00.

Tolerance is a main principle of Islam, this was not a lecture"truth serum", this is the truth. But that doesn't mean that 1, 2 billion Muslim are Angles, some Muslims don't obey Islam, some commit crimes, you can't judge a religion depending on few people's behavior.
it's also unfair to mention only the crime of one side "if it was true" without the mention of the other's side crimes. Dirty wars are wars between two dirty sides, aren't they?
Islam is against killing of innocents, civilians, women, and children.
I'm sure that Jesus" like all the prophets" was also against killing and aggression, but what about Hitler? He was a Christian. Does this means that Christianity is a bad religion?
I think that intolerance is ten thousands times more spread in west than in Muslim countries. Yes there are intolerant INDIVIDUALS in Muslim country, but in contrast, there are WESTERN COUNTRIES which launch attacks against Muslims. USA invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, and killed thousands of civilians, England and the rest European countries contribute in the war in one ore both of them. The Serbian Soldiers have slaughtered the Muslims in Bosnia while the Dutch peacekeepers were watching the massacre. What a tolerant Europe !!!

Palestine is for the Palestinians

Submitted by Aman on Sat, 2006-01-21 02:55.

It's strange that "truth serum" agreed that" it's a matter of nationality not a matter of religion" but then wrote
"The rest of the world is not demanding that all ISLAMIC LAND be given back to their original owners. Many Hindus that were once in Pakistan or Bangladesh would really benefit from that argument."
WRONG AGAIN:
The Muslims living in what is now Pakistan and Bangladesh are the original people of the subcontinent (as same as the Hindus); they didn't invade the region, "as the Israelis did ". The people of the Indian subcontinent decided to divide their country into two parts one for Muslims and the other for Hindus (whether you agree with that or not) and that made millions of Muslims to immigrate to the Muslim part, and millions of Hindus to immigrate to the Hindus part.
In Palestine the situation is completely different:
People came from all over the world "Europe, USA, Russia, and Ethiopia", Claimed that Palestine is for them; just because they are Jews. they kicked most of the original people out of Palestine, killed and tortured thousands of Palestinians, and now they still deny the right of the Palestinian refugees to come back again to Palestine ( although the UN resolution Nr.194 give Palestinian refugees this right ) , while they welcome any man of any nationality if he was a Jew. Is that FAIR? You haven't answered yet!!

Islam was spread by convincing

Submitted by Aman on Sat, 2006-01-21 02:52.

Islam didn't spread by sword as "truth serum" says. First of all Islam refuses to force anybody to change his religion, and that simply because:
Faith is something between you and God, and nobody has the right to interfere in this relation, and
Logically, it's worthless to force anybody to adopt any religion, belief, or even an idea. Believing in something means being totally convinced. A man threatening you with a gun can force you to say that he is an angle but he will never be able to make you think of him as an angle, Right?
As an example, the region "which is now Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine" was under the rule of Romans, and at that time the people in the region were Christians. The Romans refused to let the new religion ( Islam ) to spread between the people , so the Muslims fought the Roman army in order to offer Islam to the people NOT to force them to become Muslims; and what assures this is that the Muslims Comprised the minority of the people for hundreds of year after the defeat of Romans , and till now there are Christians in Lebanon ( 30% of the population), Syria ( 10%), Jordan and Palestine (10%).
What about Indonesia
No Muslim army reached Indonesia ever, so how could you explain that the people of this country -which is the biggest Muslim country in population (300 million, 90% Muslims) - became Muslims.
The answer is easy: few Muslim merchants visited the country hundreds of years ago, and now there are 270 million Muslims in Indonesia.
Everyday there are people embrace Islam in Europe and USA; they aren't forced, are they?

Aman claims Palestine belongs to the Jewish people

Submitted by Anti-aman (not verified) on Sun, 2006-01-15 00:53.

Aman, here is some history of Israel for you from Wikipedia.

"The earliest known mention of the name 'Israel', probably refering to a group of people rather than to a place, is the Egyptian Merneptah Stele dated to about 1210 BCE. For over 3,000 years, Jews have held the Land of Israel to be their homeland, both as a Holy Land and as a Promised Land. The Land of Israel holds a special place in Jewish religious obligations, encompassing Judaism's most important sites — including the remains of the First and Second Temple, as well as the rites concerning those temples. Starting around 1200 BCE, a series of Jewish kingdoms and states existed intermittently in the region for over a millennium. Recent archeological evidence suggests that the kingdoms of King David and King Solomon may have existed.

Under Babylonian, Roman, Byzantine, and (briefly) Sassanian rule, Jewish presence in the province dwindled due to mass expulsions. In particular, the failure of the Great Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire resulted in widescale expulsion of Jews (see Siege of Jerusalem). But the Mishnah and Jerusalem Talmud, two of Judaism's most important religious texts, were composed in the region during this period.

The Arabs conquered the land from the Eastern Roman Empire in 638 CE. The area was ruled by various Arab states (interrupted by the rule of the Crusaders) before becoming part of the Ottoman Empire in 1517.

Throughout the centuries, the size of the Jewish population in the land fluctuated widely. Circa 1881, in the region approximating present-day Israel, the Jewish population numbered approximately 20-25,000 of a total population of 470,000. By 1944, an official British census showed that in Jerusalem, Jews were more numerous than Muslims and Christians."

So, by your own logic, that you have repeated again, the Jewish people have more right to live there than the Arab Palestinians do. You are arguing that since the Jewish people are the original "Palestinians," it is their land.

Objectivity

Submitted by truth serum (not verified) on Thu, 2006-01-12 16:32.

Aman says:

"why attacking the boycott of a country, which occupies the land of the Palestinians, and kills innocent civilians everyday?! Boycott is very gentle reaction to the organized Israeli terror."

Taking an objective viewpoint on the matter...are not the Palestinians equally just as quilty of killing innocent Israeli civilians everyday?

You are wrong truth serum

Submitted by Aman on Fri, 2006-01-13 01:51.

How could you say that Israel and the Palestinians are doing the same?
Israel is occupying Palestinians land, while the Palestinians are people under occupation, and under all of the laws and constitutions, they have the right to defend their land.
Israel has a very strong army with different kinds of weapons including 300 to 400 nuclear bombs "which can destroy the whole world not just the west bank and Gaza", while the Palestinians don't have any thing to defend themselves,
Do you believe that Israel has used F 16 fighters to bombard buildings inside the city of Gaza "which is the most crowded place in the world "? If they want to kill a Palestinian man; they target him with rockets wherever he was, and they don't care how many children and women will get killed during this.
Palestinians tried negotiation with Israel, but after 58 years of suffering they got Gaza strip, which is less than 2% of their land, and the liberation of Gaza was under the resistance strikes, not as a results of negotiation.
Who blames the French resistance which liberates France from the Nazis, why blaming the Palestinian resistance? If Europe and USA want to stop the resistance, they should END the occupation first. Israeli occupation is the only reason for the Palestinian resistance. Occupation is the real terrorism.

Circles

Submitted by truth serum (not verified) on Fri, 2006-01-13 15:34.

Aman,

Wrong? Wrong about what? I seem to recall suicide-bombers and some rockets taking out more than their fair share of innocent Israeli women and children.

This is an endless argument that only goes around in circles. I am sick of this whole affair. It is endless.

As far as I am concerned...the so called Palestinians(Egyptians and Jordanians} should have either all gone to those countries or settled down a long time ago and got on with their lives. If they had, they would now be worried more about what college to send their child to and what model car they were going to buy this year.

You call it 'occupied land' I call it 'conquered land'.

Israel should not give back any land. If they should then the rest of the world should give back all the land that has been conquered since the beginning of time. The rule has always been... the land goes to the people who can hold it.

Negotiations? It take two to negotiate. The Palestinians didn't just negotiate to themseleves. They have been meaningless. The Palestinians have never honored a truce and never will. And the reason they won't, is because it's not about land at all...It is first and foremost about ego and Islam. Muslims can not abide the humilliating fact that they were beaten by Jews.

Jungle Rule

Submitted by Aman on Sat, 2006-01-14 02:17.

Truth serum says: " The rule has always been... the land goes to the people who can hold it."
What a logic, but wait a minute; Let's apply this rule on you,
If your neighbor took your house because he's stronger than you; then DO NOTHING, don't even call the police because you don't deserve your house!!!!
If a thief took all of your money, you can't even demand to get it back, REMEMBER, you couldn't hold the money in the first place!!!!!
And If a strong man kidnapped your daughter ; just leave her to her destiny.
When applying this nice rule Internationally: I'm sorry, but this will make 80% of the countries to disappear from world map, Germany will absorb Switzerland, Luxemburg , and Liechtenstein ; USA will occupy both Mexico and Cuba. And China of course will simply swallow Taiwan.
I forgot to tell that we have also to get rid of the UN, the courts, the policemen, the lawyers, the judges and every authority .
You know, your rule is nothing but the RULE OF JUNGLE: If you aren't strong; just wait to be killed, or as in deep seas: big fish eats small fish .
In your comment; you have also denied the Palestinian Identity, but be sure that there are 10 Millions Palestinian around the world " who don't agree with you", and they won't give up until they get their basic right to live in their state; Palestine.

History's Rule

Submitted by truth serum (not verified) on Sat, 2006-01-14 12:34.

Aman,

It is not my rule but history's rule.

The Palestinians LOST a long time ago when ARABS attacked Israel.

It was the Arab League that created and gave the the name "Palestinian" to those people. So who was it really that rid them of an identity...me? Think again.

The Palestinian's lives have been used by those same Arab nations as a political football. They stand on the sidelines and yell...'go get em boys!' It's sickening for me to think of how many Palestinian lives have been waisted as the fodder for their hatred.

Aman, you are an idiot.

Submitted by Anti-Aman (not verified) on Sat, 2006-01-14 10:27.

The Jews were there long before the Muslims, so by your own logic, it should belong to them.

you're not Anti-Aman You're Anti-Truth

Submitted by Aman on Sat, 2006-01-14 21:14.

The name you've chosen shows how intolerant you are; but any way, I don't care about you at all.
you were using the words:" Jews, Muslims", and this is totally wrong.
First, the land belongs to people not to a religion, and that means;
Palestine belongs to the Palestinian people, whatever their religion is.
When Islam spread in the region, the majority of the Palestinian people was Christians, but through time; large numbers of people embraced Islam, and now the majority of the "same" Palestinian people is Muslims, but of course there are also Christian and Jewish Palestinians. While the majority of the Jews living now in Israel are not Palestinian; most of them are Europeans and Russian "who came recently ", and those new comers don't have the right to live in Palestine; it's NOT their land; their lands are where they came from.
Only Palestinians" of all the religion" are the people of Palestine.
The majority of French people for example are Christians, but if a Christian French man embraced Islam; does this mean that he lost his french nationality.
And in contrast; if a man from India decided to become a Jew does this give him the right to live and poses a land in occupied Palestine!!!
Is it fair that the "Muslims and Christians" Palestinian refugees; who have been fired by Israelis from Palestine; are not allowed to come back to their land, while anyone from any country in the world can live in occupied Palestine, just because he is a Jew!!!
It shouldn't be a matter of religion; it should be a matter of nationality.
Jewish faith "and any faith" doesn't equal nationality.

Your Truth is not the onlu truth

Submitted by Robert Miller (not verified) on Wed, 2006-02-01 21:46.

"Jewish faith "and any faith" doesn't equal nationality" That's true, but why then muslims, as the Nazis, hate the Jews? BECAUSE RELIGION OR PROPAGANDA LETS NO PLACE FOR REFLEXION.
Question: Who are the ancestors of the "Palestinians"?
Answer this question and you will know why both, Jewish and Palestinian, claim the same land.

to robert miller from nermin

Submitted by nermin on Wed, 2006-02-01 22:26.

th eancestor of both jews and muslims are the same , prophet abraham.so tehy are cousins...there was never ever any hate between muslim or jews till 1948 when jes occupied palestine by the help by britain and then both and uSA and all europe....the jews aim to replace nation by nation so now palestins live in exile while 4 million palestinians are living occupied while the all the land is opened to any jews from any part of the world to return...now do you want palestinian to love the jews . why you cannot feel others...do you imagine what those palestinas suffer....again muslims has never done anything tojews ..hitler was chrittian and the jews was suffering in alll europe living in cantoons but they fled to our islamic countries especially north africa to live with us in peace...have you ever heard about compaling of any of tehm from us..no ..and the proof is taht still jewish community still live till now in our countries and among us although their dream land isarel is available but they prefer tolive with us and you can deduce taht tehy never complain from muslims .the people you hate most..

Pack your bags

Submitted by Bob Doney on Sat, 2006-01-14 21:23.

their lands are where they came from.

Right, folks! Pack your bags! We're all going home. Everybody's got to go back where they came from. Aman says so. Mind you East Africa is going to be a bit crowded: do you think they've got room for 6 billion people?

Bob Doney

Such a pretty face... Why do

Submitted by dinah lord (not verified) on Wed, 2006-01-11 18:29.

Such a pretty face...

Why do I see evil there?

I wonder how she will like covering up her pretty face with the burka?

Not the Same

Submitted by Aman on Thu, 2006-01-12 02:27.

why attacking the boycott of a country, which occupies the land of the Palestinians, and kills innocent civilians everyday?! Boycott is very gentle reaction to the organized Israeli terror.
Please distinguish between criticizing Israel and criticizing Jewish faith. Europeans are always afraid of criticizing Israel, because of this intended mixing between criticizing the aggressive polices of Israel, and Anti-Semitism .and this negative attitude of Europe helps Israel to slaughter more and more Palestinians.
I 'm against Israel, but at the same time I believe in Moses as a prophet of God, and I respect the Jewish faith. There is no antagonism between these facts

May I suppose that the

Submitted by Xavier Meulders (not verified) on Tue, 2006-01-10 21:48.

May I suppose that the author of this text regrets the fact that he doesn't live in the Southern part of the Skagerak (Denmark), instead of the extreme left-winged country of Norway? ;-)

Maybe we can introduce "our" Louis Michel there in Norway? He's got already a lot of experience when it comes to 'boycotting' other countries (in his case Austria, as you would still remember from a few years ago). Maybe Norway will become now his preferable country when he wishes to ski? After his 'own' other socialist-minded 'paradise' Wallonia of course...

With friends like Norway,

Submitted by DanishDynamite (not verified) on Tue, 2006-01-10 18:45.

With friends like Norway, you can expect proper support when it counts.

Yes that's right, Norwegian newspapers have joined the "Jyllands-Posten Muhammed cartoon" fray.
A christian Norwegian newspaper, Magazinet, has printed the 12 notorious caricatures in solidarity with Jyllands-Posten. Another Norwegian newspaper, Dagbladet, has posted the cartoons on its webpage, also in solidarity.

http://magazinet.no/default.asp?menuid=&linktype=2&linkid=21839

With friends like Europe,

Submitted by Ray Elliott (not verified) on Mon, 2006-01-09 16:07.

With friends like Europe, the U.S. doesn't need any more enemies. Let's face it, the reason Norway is anti-Israel is the same reason that France and Germany are anti-U.S. The "old world" has become dominated by Islam.

Islam has accomplished this using several methods; threats of violence, threats of cutting off oil supplies, threats at the ballot box (when you count the undocumented, how many are there?) and threats of not supporting the welfare structure (will they work when you are old?).

A good discussion Mr. Belian, would be "how to stop Eurarabia from happening".

Domination

Submitted by Bob Doney on Sat, 2006-01-14 16:57.

The "old world" has become dominated by Islam.

I would just like to say how pleased I am that the old Wicked Witch, Communism, is dead, and to welcome in the new one, Islam. So all we have to do is wait for a large house or a bucket of water to finish off the new Wicked Witch. By the way, is the Emerald City part of Eurabia, or in some other part of Fairyland?

Bob Doney

Norway boycotts Israel

Submitted by jonathan van tilleghem (not verified) on Mon, 2006-01-09 15:31.

Boycotting the only democratic regime in the Middle East is discrimination. I suggest to boycott Norway for such behaviour. What Norwegian goods are on our markets?

Not all Norwegians want to boycott Israel

Submitted by Filip van Laenen on Mon, 2006-01-09 23:19.

To answer your question first, besides fish (like e.g. salmon), Norway produces a lot of oil, so there's plenty of opportunity to boycott Norway :-)

However, to the point, I want to stress that not all Norwegians support a boycott of Israel. In fact, if you look at the political parties, SV and the extreme-left like Rød Valgallianse (RV) call for a boycott of Israel. SV got the support of 8.8% of the electorate at last year's elections, and RV 1.2%. You should compare that to the 22.1% that voted for the Progress Party, a party that openly supports Israel (and rather would boycott the Palestinians). The parties in between in general call for a dialog, and stress the traditional friendly relations between Norway and Israel.