For years Norway’s support for those waging terror against Israel has been official policy.

Yet “[t]here was a time when Norway rejected the PA's terror support. When Palestinian Media Watch revealed that Norway had funded a girls' community center that was named after terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, who led the 1978 massacre of 37 civilians, including 12 children, [Norwegian] foreign minister Borge Brende responded with moral clarity when he asserted that “[t]he glorification of terrorist attacks is completely unacceptable… We will not allow Norwegian aid to be used for such purposes… We have asked for the funds to be repaid.’”

Unfortunately, “[t]hat principled response is now absent.” Norway is silent today while “its aid money funds a PA education system that presents terrorists as role models for children., i.e., The PA named six schools after that same Mughrabi, five after Abu Jihad (responsible for 125 murders), five more after Salah Khalaf (mastermind of the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre), and even one after Nazi ally and war criminal Amin al-Husseini.”

Moreover, in March 2025, “[i]n an unprecedented letter to health authorities, Jewish leaders warn of a deeply concerning trend not experienced since World War II." 

“Dr. Rolf Kirschner, a Jewish physician with 45 years of experience in Norway's public health system and a member of the Norwegian Medical Association, explained that ‘People don't dare wear Jewish symbols like the Star of David when going for examinations, and Jewish patients fear having their names called aloud in waiting rooms out of concern that caregivers or others will discover they are Jewish.’”

There are 1,500 registered Jews in Norway with 800 residing in Oslo. Jews comprise 0.003 percent of the total population and feel very vulnerable given the Norwegian government’s strongly pro-Palestinian stance.

In point of fact, “On Alpeleg, an Israeli-Norwegian resident of over three decades, places these concerns in a troubling historical context: ‘The Norwegian health system has a problematic past and present which is undoubtedly tainted by political influence. Norway assisted the Nazis in deporting Jews to extermination camps, and today it is the only Western country that refuses to recognize the murderous organization Hamas as a terrorist organization.’”

The “Labor dominated Norwegian governments (2005-2013) played a major role in incitement against and demonization of Israel, along with Norway’s leading media and segments of the country’s elites.”

“Thirty-eight percent of Norwegians believe that Israel acts toward the Palestinians like the Nazis behaved toward the Jews. This figure was published in 2012 by the Norwegian Center for Studies of the Holocaust and Religious Minorities, a study paid for by the Norwegian government.

“In June 2011, the Oslo Municipality published a study on harassment of children in Oslo high schools. It found that one-third of Jewish high school students were harassed verbally or physically at least two or three times a month.

In 2007, Manfred Gerstenfeld highlighted the fact that

“Anti-Israeli hate cartoons are published in leading Norwegian dailies and weeklies. Some are similar in message and venom to the worst anti-Semitic caricatures published in Nazi Germany. Israeli prime ministers are shown as Nazis or with the attributes of the Devil or animals. Also the most extreme anti-Semitic views disguised as anti-Israelism can be voiced in the mainstream media [.]

“The current left-wing Norwegian government has probably taken the most accommodating position in Western Europe toward the Palestinian Hamas movement, which in its charter calls for the killing of all Jews.

“Among anti-Semitic incidents in recent years were the shooting at the Oslo community’s synagogue, an attack on its cantor, and the desecration of graves at its cemetery.

In 2009 Manfred Gerstenfeld noted that

“Again over this past year there were significant anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli incidents in Norway. Among these were anti-Semitic television satire programs, an act of the Nazification of Israel by a Norwegian diplomat, physical attacks on a pro-Israeli demonstration, death threats against Jews and a desecration of a Jewish cemetery.

“Publications by NGO Monitor reveal that the Labor-dominated Norwegian government is indirectly giving financial support to NGOs that demonize Israel. This Norwegian government’s attitude toward Israel is among the most negative in Europe.

 “There are increasing indications that the number of extreme and sometimes violent anti-Semites among Muslim Norwegians may approach or even exceed the membership of the local Jewish community. Some of these Muslims participated in the largest riots in many years in Oslo in January 2009.

In a 2011 interview, Bruce Bawer explained that contemporary Norwegian anti-Semitism is a phenomenon that he “once thought had been banished to the dustbin of history. It’s most virulent among the cultural elite -- the academics, intellectuals, writers, journalists, politicians, and technocrats. They’re overwhelmingly on the left, and intensely hostile to the West, to capitalism, to the US and to Israel.” Moreover, “[p]art of the motivation for this anti-Semitism is the influx into Norway in recent decades of masses of Muslims from Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia and elsewhere.”

In 2020, there were more than 180,000 Muslims in Norway, constituting 3.4% of the total population.

In 2017 a festival in Oslo rejected a documentary, "The Other Dreamers," about the lives of disabled children, simply because it was Israeli. The founder of the festival supported the academic and cultural boycott of Israel.

Indeed, Norway has had a “checkered history toward Jews. In 1814 Norway promulgated its own constitution. While otherwise progressive and tolerant, this document continued the prohibition against Jews entering Norway based on classical anti-Semitic stereotypes.”

Finally, “in 1851, after several years of heated debate, Norway finally became one of the last European countries to admit Jews. Norway never attracted many Jews. At its highest point the community numbered about two thousand, which was less than one-tenth of a percent of the population. However, anti-Semitic expressions were frequent.”

During World War II Vidkun Quisling served as defense minister and in 1933 he founded the Norwegian Nazi party. Quisling “played a major role in the process of robbing the Norwegian Jews of their property and in the preparatory process of sending them to the death camps. In all, close to 750 Norwegian Jews were murdered during the war.” Quisling became prime minister of Norway on 1 February 1942 and barring Jews from entering the country was reinstated.

In 2023 Norway announced a new action plan against anti-Semitism as Jews in Norway continue to experience hostile attitudes. Erling Sande, minister of Local Government and Regional Development, asserted that “[t]here is no doubt that there is a need for sustained and increased efforts to combat anti-Semitism at this time. We all have a responsibility to fight prejudice and racism. It is not the responsibility of the Jews to combat anti-Semitism in Norway, it is our shared responsibility.”

In fact, Anti-Israelism, that is, “discrimination against the Jewish collectivity, has become Norway’s most important mutation.”

Vebjorn Selbekk in his work on “Norwegian anti-Semitism cites various examples from popular books describing Jews in very unfavorable ways.” Selbekk is considered the “odd exception -- a pro-Israel newspaper editor. Four years ago Vebjørn Selbekk published Prophet Muhammad cartoons, resulting in countless death threats.” Yet, he continues to champion Israel.

Hanne Nabintu Herland, “a historian of religion, accused Norway of being ‘the most anti-Semitic country in the West’ and attacked the government in Oslo for ‘biased support for only the Palestinian views.’”

Indeed, “[t]he degree of anti-Israelism in Norway today on the state level, in the media, in the trade unions and at the universities, colleges and schools is unprecedented in modern Norwegian history.”

Since the October 7th massacres in Israel, Norway has criticized Israel's actions, particularly regarding the siege on Gaza and asserted that Israel’s response to the Hamas attack was disproportionate.

In May of 2024, Norway formally recognized the state of Palestine, which further strained relations with Israel.

Norway, as well as Belgium and Spain, “would do well to come to their senses with this move that is counter to international law.”

The embrace of terror-supporting countries against Israel by the Land of the Midnight Sun is a terrible blight. Fjords may be a major tourist attraction of the country but what of the country’s soul?

Eileen can be reached at [email protected]

Image: Anders Beer Wilse