Norwegian media ridicules and misquotes Israeli editor

"The only problem was that Gerstenfeld never made the comments for which he was quoted. He never said that "Norway is the most anti-Semitic country in Europe". Neither did he say that "Norwegians are barbaric and uncivilized". These comments were invented by Norwegians, in order to make Gerstenfeld look bad. (...) To the extent that Norwegians will remember Gerstenfeld it will be as the ridiculous Israeli who tried to use the old accusation of "anti-Semitism" to intimidate and silence perfectly legitimate criticism of Israeli atrocities."

"Norway does not get a lot of attention from the outside world. We’re just like New Zealand with more snow. Things more or less work and we coexist peacefully with our neighbors so there isn’t much to write about. For example, Norway is a member of NATO and has been allied to the USA for more than half a century. Yet history books covering USA’s foreign policy have a tendency to omit Norway altogether. This is painfully embarrassing for a small nation which looks to the West for protection and considers USA its closest ally. So on the few occasions when Norway does get mentioned we do get our knickers in a twist.

In 2008 the Israeli political scientist Manfred Gerstenfeld published the book "Behind the Humanitarian Mask: The Nordic Countries, Israel, and the Jews (2008)". The book consisted of essays on historical and modern expressions of anti-Semitism. Nordic elites, the book suggested, "are imbued with humanitarian racism", camouflaging and morphing classical anti-semitism into "legitimate criticism" of the world’s only Jewish state – Israel, which the media and politicians set impossibly high standards to while at the same time turning a blind eye to the vices and evils of Israel’s enemies.

Not exactly the sort of book Norwegians were waiting for; we prefer people to focus on the many nice things about our wonderful country. For instance, Norwegian development aid now constitutes 1% of our GDP. How come Gerstenfeld couldn’t have written about that, instead of making nasty insinuations about anti-Semitism? Nonetheless there were the beginnings of a painful debate. People started referring to the book. Some insisted that there might be something to it and called for self-scrutiny. Perhaps Norway wasn’t so perfect after all ?

Then Manfred Gerstenfeld agreed to an interview with Fredrik Græsvik from the Norwegian TV channel TV2. Subsequently on March 1st, 20 Norwegian newspapers quoted Gerstenfeld as saying that "Norway is the most anti-Semitic country in Europe" and "Norwegians are barbaric and uncivilized". The quotes spread like wildfire throughout the nation and across the border to Sweden, a nation which had as little reason to love Gerstenfeld as Norway had.

In the wake of the newspaper articles there were vicious talkbacks. Blood-maddened bloggers tore to the cyber surface. How dared he? Could this obscure Israeli, this think-tank employed buffoon, possibly be serious? But there was more than anger and indignation in the air. There was a liberating sense of relief. The Israeli editor of that most unwelcome book was nothing but a racist, Norwegian hating scum-bag ! No need to read his book then. No need for a debate based on such a very silly person's book. And so it all died down and "Behind the humanitarian mask" slipped from view and the Norwegian media could get back to the legitimate criticism of Israel at which they so excel.

The only problem was that Gerstenfeld never made the comments for which he was quoted. He never said that "Norway is the most anti-Semitic country in Europe". Neither did he say that "Norwegians are barbaric and uncivilized". These comments were invented by Norwegians, in order to make Gerstenfeld look bad. Here is the letter from Gerstenfeld to the CEO of TV2, and here is the reply from journalist Fredrik Græsvik, in which he sort of apologizes and sort of is very cavalier about the whole thing.

But already now this is non-news, the stuff of which yesterday was built. To the extent that Norwegian will remember Gerstenfeld it will be as the ridiculous Israeli who tried to use the old accusation of "anti-Semitism" to intimidate and silence perfectly legitimate criticism of Israeli atrocities.

But now you know, at least. And that’s something."

Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews

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