This is a guest post by Christian Tau of NIJ.
Most Norwegian books are dearly priced and contribute to nothing except the prestige of their authors, yet still manage to capture the public eye. Meanwhile Eirik Eiglad’s recently published “The anti-Jewish riots in Oslo” is receiving no publicity whatsoever. For the sin of contrasting too sharply with Norway’s “goody two shoes” image of being a humanitarian superpower, Eiglad’s book is being quietly ignored to death.
This is a guest post by Christian Tau of NIJ.
Norway FM Jonas Gahr Støre toured the Middle East between January 16th-20th, visiting Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Israel, Egypt and UAE. The topics of Støre’s meetings in the different countries as well as the manner in which he was received shows us a Norwegian foreign policy bathed in the gold sheen of hypocrisy. The manner in which the Norwegian media reports on Støre’s tour reveals how this hypocrisy is rooted in a bedrock of popular denial.
In the wake of the failed academic boycott attempt at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NIJ reports that “Norwegian business tycoon Olav Thon has decided that due to the politicizing of NTNU he will no longer finance a professorate at that institution.” More here. Meanwhile, in case you don’t know who Mr. Thon is, or how much he is worth, here is some background from Forbes.
It’s good news. Dare I say, it’s great news. Here’s Ha’aretz (the typos are theirs:)
An academic boycott of Israel in Norway was averted on Thursday, when the executive board of the University of Trondheim unanimously decided to reject the controversial move. “The vote resulted in total victory,” said Professor Bjorn Alsberg, a member of the board of the Trondheim-based Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Alsberg, a chemistry professor, led a campaigned at the Norwegian city against the boycott.
Read the rest. Meanwhile, here’s a note from Kristian of the truly excellent NIJ blog, left in our comments, but deserving of the widest possible audience:
“What we just have seen is as rare as it is beautiful, with people standing up against an organized network of resourceful people who have been demonizing Israel for decades. This was a Norwegian thing and in the end, only Norwegians could solve it. Yet we could not have done so without all the international support. My heartfelt thanks to all of you.
Stay beautiful!”
A few developments in recent days could reasonably lead one to conclude that, come Thursday, the Board of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) will vote against the proposal for a blanket boycott of Israeli academia, culture and research. Perhaps most significantly, as relayed by the indispensable NIJ blog, Norwegian Minister of Higher Education and Research Tora Aasland, a member of the Socialist Left Party, “sees a boycott as a violation of legal practice.”
Continue reading ‘NTNU Boycott Campaign: Will They or Won’t They?’
According to The Scientist magazine, which can be considered an authority on such matters, the Weizmann Institute of Science, located in Rehovot, Israel, comes in at number two on a list of the ten leading international academic institutions working in the life sciences. That ranking will doubtless be received with justifiable glee at the venerable Institute, but I wonder how it will be interpreted at another academic institution which didn’t make the list: the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), located in the city of Trondheim.
Continue reading ‘A-ha! Norwegian University is Latest Focus of Academic Boycott’
The Israeli scholar Manfred Gerstenfeld, who has written widely and authoritatively on antisemitism in Nordic countries, has just published an important essay analyzing developments in Norway over the last year. He asks a pertinent question:
Continue reading ‘Another Year of Antisemitism and Anti-Israelism in Norway’
Back in December, I reported on the story of the Norwegian comedian with a line in slapstick jokes about the Holocaust. One result of Otto Jespersen’s stab at comedy was the condemnation of the PFU, Norway’s press authority.
The Israeli scholar Manfred Gerstenfeld, who has written widely and authoritatively on antisemitism in Nordic countries, has now brought his own complaint to the PFU concerning TV2 - the same station which broadcast Jespersen.
Below is the translation of an article by Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld published in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenbladet on January 23rd. An expert on contemporary antisemitism, Dr. Gerstenfeld is Chairman of the Board of Fellows at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
Last September my new book in English Behind the Humanitarian Mask: The Nordic Countries, Israel and the Jews was published. It provides many details of how the Nordic countries’ moral pretenses and supposed concern for humanitarian rights often hide darker attitudes. This is particularly true regarding Norway and Sweden. I also listed some of the book’s key aspects on Norway in the Jerusalem Post last December. This article gave attention as well to new developments including the weak reactions of Norwegian civil society to the anti-Semitic remarks of the comedian Otto Jespersen.
An almighty row has broken out in Norway following a monologue by comedian Otto Jespersen - and broadcast on national TV - which resulted in a man who lost nine relatives during the Holocaust phoning the police.
Continue reading ‘Did You Hear the One About the Jews, the Fleas and the Lice?’
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