Ethics: Norway divests from Israel, invests in North Korea

Norway has for "ethical" reasons divested from Israel and denied Israeli companies the right to participate in bids. Aftenposten (16/09) reports that Norway now is investing – albeit indirectly – in North Korea. An official states that this is ethically unproblematic.

Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews
Aftenposten reports that Norway has invested NOK 60 million in the Egyptian telecoms company Orascom, which is the sole concessioneer of 3G mobile networks in North Korea. The company’s venture in North Korea is named Koryolink, and will pay North Korea NOK 2,5 billion over the next three years.

This is yet another case of double standards – one for Israel and one for all other countries. There are two reasons Norway can indulge in this kind of politics: 1) Nobody much cares what Norway does or does not do. Most people are unable to place Norway on the map. 2) Israel has a lot of enemies and they are very much in favor of imposing double standards upon her.

Here is the reason for why Norway will be unable to keep this up indefinately: 1) A lot of people realize that it is counter-productive to base politics on the lobbying efforts of special interest groups. 2) This site, and others as well, are amassing evidence against the government, clearly pointing out how its policies versus Israel is morally flawed as well as undemocratic – it lacks support in the electorate. Sooner or later the balloon will pop, and Humpty Dumpty will fall of the wall.

Chomsky ventures into the quagmire of Holocaust deniers - again

Source: Rue 98 (Chomsky se risque encore dans le bourbier des négationnistes by Pascal Riché)

A petition to free Vincent Reynouard, a French negationist,  who is serving a prison sentence and to abrogate the Gayssot Act was initiated by two foremost "experts" on the famous Jewish/Zionist Lobby: Paul-Eric Blanrue and Jean Bricmont (Jean Bricmont is Belgian, he is a professor at the Catholic University of Louvain).  The petition has so far been signed by 1,000 people - not a great success.  The initiators are proud that it has Noam Chomsky's backing.  This is the letter he wrote :

"I understand that Vincent Reynouard has been condemned and jailed under the Gayssot law, and that a petition is being circulated in protest against these actions. I know nothing about Mr. Reynouard, but regard the Gayssot law as entirely illegitimate, inconsistent with the basic principles of a free society as these have been understood since the Enlightenment.

The law in effect grants the state the right to determine historical truth and to punish departure from its edicts, a principle reminiscent of the dark days of Stalinism and Nazism. If the justification of the Gayssot law is to ban "horrendous views", or to protect the right to "live free from fear of an atmosphere" of prejudice and racism, then it should be obvious that, if such laws were applied impartially, they would criminalize a vast range of public discourse, which, however despicable one may find it, should certainly be permitted in a free society, and indeed is, with no question being raised.

Accordingly, I would like to register my support for the petition protesting the application of this law in this (or any) case.
September, 5th 2010."

Pascal Riché notes: "This time Noam Chomsky is much more prudent than in his defense of Robert Faurisson in 1980. When the professor of literature at the University of Lyon was prosecuted for denying the existence of gas chambers, Chomsky signed a petition defending the right of expression of the French academic, author of "historical research thorough an independent investigation into the issue of the Holocaust"."

Read the whole piece in French HERE.

Belgian NGO incites children to shoot at Israeli soldiers at the Ghent Fair

At the famous and very popular Ghent Festivities, which took place in July, a Flemish NGO had an anti-Israel stand where the big attraction was aimed at children. Young children were invited to shoot at figurines representing Israeli soldiers placed on boats floating in a small aquarium. The weapon for shooting/killing Israelis was a coin and the money thus raised will serve to fund a new hate flotilla. This incitement campaign aimed at children in view of tens of thousands of people didn't seem to meet with the disapproval of the fair organisers, the city authorities, the police or the public.  One can imagine what would have happened if kids had been asked to aim at Muslim soldiers ! We understand that the same NGOs is now looking for a larger fish tank to be exhibited at a fair to be held shortly at another Flemish city ... It has became a tradition to demonize Israel at  Ghent festivals.

Unsurprisingly, no NGO was there to draw attention to the plight of the Roma in Europe ...  In July the great and the good were not yet interested in their fate.

Norwegian politician backs vicious anti-Israel art (Cliff Hotel - an Odyssey)

Kjetil Finne's comment is interesting: "When the entire Western world believes it is uncomplicated to use the mullah-cartoons, surely I must be able to use the star of David".  What motivates and enrages him and many others in Europe is the spurious belief that the one billion plus Muslims are powerless and being threatened by Israel, the Jews and the West ...

Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews

A Norwegian politician is helping Norwegian artist Kjetil Finne display his art at the offices of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Finne’s art is based on the Cliff Hotel, which is claimed by a Norwegian woman employed at the Representative Office of Norway to the Palestinian Authority.

It’s not one piece either, but an entire collection. NRK reports:

"The exhibition “Cliff Hotel – An Odyssey” is a strong attack on the Israeli occupation and confiscation of Palestinian property. It sets out from Cliff Hotel, which in its time was an assembly point for foreign intellectuals, authors, artists and journalists. Israel used the socalled absentee law against the owners of the hotel and his Norwegian wife. […]

The exhibition “Cliff Hotel – An Odyssey” contains photographs from the occupied West bank, manipulated with Jewish symbols and political quotes.

Europe Reverts to Type - The EU's response to anti-Semitism? "No comment." (WSJ)

"As part of his defense, Mr. De Gucht insisted he was only offering his "personal point of view," and not those of the European Commission as a whole. He shouldn't be so modest. He has his constituency. It's why he remains in office. It's why Europe's future is beginning to look increasingly like Europe's past." (Bret Stephens is right - De Gucht enjoys widespread support in the EU as Belgian newspaper stated:  De Gucht broke taboos re the Jewish Lobby and Jewish irrationality)

"But whatever Mr. De Gucht's motives, the more interesting phenomenon has been the European non-reaction. "No comment," says a spokesman for German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. "Our position on anti-Semitism is very clear but we have no comments on other people's statements," says a spokesman for Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. "High Representative [Catherine] Ashton is confident [De Gucht] didn't mean any offense, and that he apologized," says a spokeswoman for the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. "He made personal comments for which he expressed his personal regret and there is no further comment to make," says a spokesman for the European Commission."

Source: Wall Street Journal (Europe Reverts to Type - The EU's response to anti-Semitism? "No comment.", Bret Stephens)

If a top European mandarin mouths off about Jews and the rest of Europe's political class acts like it's no big deal, does that make them cowards, accomplices—or just politically astute? Probably all three.

Earlier this month, Karel De Gucht, the European Union's trade commissioner and a former foreign minister of Belgium, gave an interview to a Flemish radio station in which he offered the view that the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations were sure to founder on two accounts: first, because Jews are excessively influential in the U.S; second, because they are not the sorts to be reasoned with.

"Do not underestimate the Jewish lobby on Capitol Hill," Mr. De Gucht said, dispensing with the usual fine-grained, face-saving distinction about the difference between a "Jewish" and an "Israel" lobby. "This is the best organized lobby, you shouldn't underestimate the grip it has on American politics—no matter whether it's Republicans or Democrats."

Yet again ... EU Commission President "vigorously" condemns anti-Semitism

What should José Manuel Durão Barroso be doing - condemning anti-Semitism or condemning anti-Semites ?  Who are the anti-Semites the Commission constantly pledges to fight Or is it just a question of nice but empty words ?  (See: European Union invites extremist Muslim representatives to interfaith dialogue)

EJP : In a Jewish New Year greeting, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said Europeans need to condemn anti-Semitism.

"For us all, fellow Europeans, remembrance means to vigorously condemn any forms of anti-Semitism, racism and discrimination on the basis of belief," Barroso writes in a letter to Rabbi Levi Matusof on behalf of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE). "Be assured of my commitment and determination in pursuing that cause," he adds.

Barroso’s comments come only days after European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht made remarks on the Jews perceived as anti-Semitic, in an interview with the Belgian Flemish radio. De Gucht launched a diatribe about the power of the ‘Jewish lobby’ in the U.S. and appeared to indicate that Jews are irrational when it comes to the Israel and the Middle East conflict "because there is a belief among most Jews that they’re right."  A European Commission spokesman said last week that President José Manuel Baroso will not sanction Commissioner Karel De Gucht for his comments on Jews he made in a radio interview, despite calls that he be fired. "On the basis of the reassurances given by Mr De Gucht to President Barroso, the president considers that the incident is closed," the spokesman said. Earlier, the Commission stressed that De Gucht’s remarks were "personal comments" that in no way reflected the position of the EU regarding the Israeli-Palestinian talks and the Middle East peace process.

The double standards and selective silence of the Red Cross

Yet another European NGO engaging in Israel and Jew bashing.

Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews

The Norwegian Red Cross has never managed to visit Hamas’ hostage Gilad Shalit, who is rotting in a underground cell somewhere in Gaza. The closest the Red Cross has come was in March, when their general secretary Bernt G. Apeland called for Norwegian Jews to be investigated for war-crimes. Some of them, the Red Cross suspected, might have served in the IDF. [Red Cross suggests Norwegian Jews be tried for war-crimes]

Only the month before NTB reported that Norwegians had signed up to fight for the Somali outfit Al-Shabaab. Yet this information did not prompt the Red Cross into calling for investigations. This is a typical example of the double standard which is imposed upon Israel – when Norwegian Jews are suspected of having served in the IDF during the Gaza operation, the Red Cross calls for the Jews to be investigated for war-crimes. Yet when it is verified that Norwegian Muslims are partaking in Jihad for Al-Shabaab, the Red Cross has no comment. In March 2010 this site wrote Bernt G. Apeland of the Red Cross and pointed this double standard out for him. We received no reply. [Letter to Bernt G.Apeland of the Norwegian Red Cross]
Now NRK is again telling us of how Scandinavians are being recruited to fight for Al-Shabaab. Perhaps it is time to send Mr. Apeland another e-mail.

Contrast with this treatment by the Red Cross of Hamas operatives:
Israelis to protest Hamas outside of Red Cross Jerusalem compound : A protest movement called "The Wheels of Justice," composed of residents of Jerusalem, will stage a vigil outside of the East Jerusalem headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Monday to protest the presence of three wanted Hamas leaders in the building. The protest will be continued on a weekly basis, said movement leader David Ish Shalom, until Israeli security forces move to arrest the three men. The fugitives in question, Ahmad Atoun, Khaled Abu Arafa, and Muhhamad Totach, are all representatives of Hamas’ Change and Reform list in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), and have camped out in the Sheikh Jarrah building since the June 30 arrest of Hamas MP and former Al Qassam Brigades leader Muhhamad Abu Tir.
Read the whole piece HERE