Britannia Radio

Monday, January 05, 2009

 

ADL Concerned About Norwegian Anti-Semitism

Foreign Confidential....

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has expressed concern about several recent instances of anti-Semitism in Norway, including a nationally broadcast remark by a Norwegian entertainer who made deeply offensive statements about the Holocaust.

On a November 27 program on TV2, the entertainer Otto Jespersen remarked that, "I would like to take the opportunity to remember all the billions of fleas and lice that lost their lives in German gas chambers, without having done anything wrong other than settling on persons of Jewish background."

In a subsequent program, Jespersen tried to make light of the remark, claiming it was made only in jest. But he exacerbated the situation by repeating other classic anti-Semitic canards.

"These new manifestation of anti-Semitism in Norway are disturbing, and their seeping into the mainstream through entertainment and pop culture is clearly unacceptable," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor.

In a letter to Wegger Christian Strommen, the Ambassador of Norway to the United States, ADL noted that it had reached out earlier this year to his government about unspecified expressions of concern the League had received regarding anti-Semitism in Norway.

The recent national broadcast of anti-Semitic sentiments, Foxman wrote, reinforced those concerns and underscored the need for action.

"We call on your government to make clear that such anti-Semitic hate speech has no place in Norwegian society," Foxman wrote. "We urge your government to speak out against Jespersen's expressions of anti-Semitism, so it is clear to the Norwegian public that such hate speech is unacceptable."

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry. 

BACKGROUND: Manfred Gerstenfeld says Norway has a long history of anti-Semitism. Hewrites in the Jerusalem Post:

In 1929 a great majority of [Norway's] parliament voted to forbid shechita (Jewish ritual slaughter) - several years before Hitler's Germany did so. It is still forbidden, although hunters, including government ministers, can legally kill animals in as cruel a manner as they want. Last year Norway aimed to kill 1,000 whales, but succeeded in finding only 500. If all needs for kosher beef were met by local shechita, it would require at most several tens of cows annually.

During the war, the Norwegians were the ones who rounded up Jews and robbed them before shipping them off to Auschwitz. After the war, emergency help was given to what the Norwegians called the two "hardest-hit groups" - fishermen and residents of the northern part of the country. The Jews, however, were robbed further by the Norwegian democrats. During the restitution process, they had to pay for the administration of those of their assets recovered from the looters. About 10 years ago a senior Norwegian Nazi official proudly told a Jewish visitor that he had no regrets, and still had paintings and furniture taken from Jews.

In the new round of restitution in the mid-1990s, several authorities did their utmost to avoid paying. Berit Reisel, the only Jewish member of the commission of inquiry, states that she was threatened by chairman Oluf Skarpnes, a former Justice Minister. He told her that if she didn't go along with his proposed report, it would cost her dearly as far as her life and health were concerned. Reisel added that a few days later she was attacked on a street in Oslo.

After the beginning of the second intifada, several Jewish children were harassed in school. The aggression was supported by teachers on several occasions. Since then, the Jewish community has kept a low profile. When asked by the press, its leaders will admit there is anti-Semitism, but claim that critics overstate it. They usually remain silent on the anti-Semitic aspects of anti-Israelism.

Norwegian hate cartoons often mix anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism. Some are straight-out anti-Semitic, such as one which appeared in the Labor movement daily Dagsavisen in 2003. It portrayed a Jew with a long beard reading the new Ten Commandments, including "murder, kill, liquidate, execute." During the Second Lebanon War, anti-Semitic incidents in Oslo were the most severe in Europe. The synagogue was shot at, the cantor was attacked on a main street and the Jewish cemetery was desecrated. The Jewish community's president Anne Sender was thereafter quoted in a European Jewish Congress report speaking of the considerable "atmosphere of intimidation and fear."

Anti-Israelism has been built up systematically in Norway by trade unions, media, some prominent Christians and politicians. The demonization is classic: major media report negative things about Israel while obfuscating or omitting Palestinian suicide attacks or declared genocidal intentions. The main counterforce is a small group of Christian friends.

Click here to read Gerstenfeld's entire report.