Jostein Gaarder: my op-ed was not anti-semitic only "legitimate Israel-criticism"

Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews

"Five years after the fact and Jostein Gaarder has not learned a thing. He is considered an intellectual."

Five years after having written one of the most ludicrously anti-Semitic op-ed’s in Norwegian history, Jostein Gaarder still considers it to have been an expression of “legitimate Israel-criticism”.

In 2006, author and academic Mr. Jostein Gaarder wrote one of the most shockingly anti-Semitic op-ed's in Norwegian history. The op-ed was published in Aftenposten. Here is an excerpt:

"There is no turning back. It is time to learn a new lesson: We do no longer recognize the state of Israel. We could not recognize the South African apartheid regime, nor did we recognize the Afghan Taliban regime. Then there were many who did not recognize Saddam Hussein’s Iraq or the Serbs’ ethnic cleansing. We must now get used to the idea: The state of Israel in its current form is history."

On January 27th Aftenposten published a story on how the Holocaust Centre is receiving funds to carry out a survey of attitudes towards Jews. In that context the director of the Holocaust Centre, Mr. Odd-Bjørn Fure, mentioned Gaarder’s op-ed as an example of why voices in Israel are identifying anti-Semitic voices in Norway. Here are another couple of lines from Gaarder’s 2006 op-ed:

"We do not believe in the notion of God’s chosen people. We laugh at this people’s fancies and weep over its misdeeds. To act as God’s chosen people is not only stupid and arrogant, but a crime against humanity."

Today Aftenposten publishes a letter from Gaarder where Gaarder insists that Fure is on the wrong track. Gaarder’s points are the following:

1) That he is not an anti-Semite.  [Our comment: nobody in Europe is ...]
2) That in the op-ed of 2006 he specifically recognizes Europe’s responsibility for the Holocaust and acknowledges the Jews’ need and right to have their own national home. [Our comment: European intellectuals view themselves as magnanimous.  They even recognise "Europe’s responsibility for the Holocaust" and graciously grant Jews the right to have a State!]
3) That his infamous op-ed of 2006 was far from anti-Semitic, and merely full of compassion, humanism, empathy, and what not. Is this why he writes the following:

"We call child murderers ‘child murderers’ and will never accept that such have a divine or historic mandate excusing their outrages. We say but this: Shame on all apartheid, shame on ethnic cleansing, shame on every terrorist strike against civilians, be it carried out by Hamas, Hizballah, or the state of Israel!"

Read the full piece HERE

Jostein Gaarder - a better friend to the Jewish people than Israel, by David Hirsh (2006)

Norman Finkelstein to testify at 'trial' of French Jewish philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy

Context: A Bertrand Russell 'tribunal' to try philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy for warmongering, unbridled imperialism and Zionism etc., organised by the association the Natives of the Republic (les Indigènes de la République). 

It now turns out that Norman Finkelstein will testify live by video conference from New York at the "trial" to be held this evening in Paris ...  He will be a shining star among a bunch of nonentities.

The preposterous "charges" against Bernard-Henri Lévy are :

- Advocacy of unbridled imperialism and Zionism
- Intellectual dishonesty, as a characteristic of the errors of philosophy, the accumulation of capital and power
- False accusation of an imaginary crime against Iran
- Warmongering and advocating humanitarian imperialism
- Aiding in the creation and promotion of SOS Racisme with a view to silencing autonomous movements of immigration
- Dissemination of false news likely to sow discord between Christian and Muslim religious communities.

This is not a pipe, this is not a Jew, this is a bank client

Background: Pro-divestment rally attended by NIF, EU grantees turns to antisemitism (NGO Monitor)

"The event featured an antisemitic episode, when one rally leader drank fake blood out of a wine glass – an apparent reference to the libel of Jews drinking Christian blood as wine – to highlight Israel’s alleged brutality.  The target of the rally was Dexia, a bank with an Israeli subsidiary. The use of the ugly blood libel motif – codified as antisemitic by Europe’s rights monitoring agency – raises important questions about the relationship between the BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions) Movement and antisemitism."

This is not a pipe. This is not a Jew. This is not a Star of David.  This is not the flag of the State of Israel. This is not an anti-Semite. This is a nasty Dexia Bank shareholder.

INTAL is a Belgian NGO.  One of its main activities is the demonization of Israel and the importation of the Israel-Arab conflit to the streets of Brussels.  In May last year INTAL "coordinated" a demonstration against French-Belgian Dexia Bank for doing business in the West Bank "colonies" (this is how settlements are called in Belgium).  Jews/Israelis were shown as bloodthirsty cannibalistic clowns who enjoy their glass of Palestinian blood. 
As most NGOs, INTAL receives taxpayers' money.  Charles Michel, the Minister in charge of allocating the funds was informed and has recently undertakent to look into the matter.  This is the totally surrealistic and convincing explanation INTAL has offered (translated from the Dutch) :

 "According to the clowns' own version, they symbolised Dexia shareholders - therefore [!] in no way [!] did they represent either Israel [!] or Jews [!] - who wanted to thank Jean-Luc Dehaene in a playful manner for the lucrative investments make by Dexia in the [Israeli] colonies".

The French notice how "viscerally anti-Israel" the Guardian is

Even the French realise that the Guardian's hostility to Israel is unparalled in Europe.  Luc Rosenzweig writes in the influencial French blog "Causeur" that :

"the Guardian is the most viscerally anti-Israel newspaper published outside the Arab-Muslim world".

Surely this statement must mean something coming from  France where the media is pretty hostile to Israel too.  But the Guardian seems to surpass everybody.

Le souk des fuites diplomatiques, Qui veut tuer les négociations au Moyen Orient ?

Recommended:
- http://cifwatch.com/ - Monitoring and exposing antisemitism on the Guardian newspaper's 'Comment is Free' blog.

- British Foreign office, BBC, European liberal-left devastated by leaked revelations on Israeli settlements, Guardian furious at “weak” and “craven” Palestinian leadership, Robin Shepherd

- The Guardian, Jonathan Freedland and Karma Nabulsi: now we know... (Simply Jews)

Norway: Jew hatred in Trondheim

Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews (Judenhass in Trondheim)

In last week’s edition of Morgenbladet, a man wrote of how he, upon visiting a cafe in Trondheim, was slapped for the sin of refusing to be ashamed of having relatives in Israel. In this week’s issue, a Norwegian Jew writes of how he was repeatedly insulted and criticized in Trondheim for the sin of wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the star of David.

Unauthorized translation of the reader's letter to Morgenbladet above:

"Also I have have experienced similar disrespect and direct attacks upon my person, solely because I have worn a t-shirt with the religious symbol of the star of David (But it was not yellow as it may-haps should have been?) I expressed absolutely nothing: the attacks and hateful expressions were made for the sole reason that I wore this religious symbol. I was spat upon, harangued and vilely harassed. And the worst was that people in the vicinity followed suit: either with spiteful smiles, shouts and comments, or indirectly by looking away.

Read the whole article HERE

Organizer of Belgian unity march wears Palestinian keffieh ...

Belgium is going through a major political and institutional crisis and has been without a government for seven months.  Five young men called for a demonstration today to demand that politicians break the stalemate and form a coalition government.  One of the organizers,  Simon Vandereecken, was wearing a keffieh, the famous Palestinian scarf worn by arch-terrorist Arafat.  By the way, the rally call was "Shame, No Government for Our Country After 200 Days".  Protesters were not wearing keffiehs...

French Minister attacked by Gaza mob over Gilad Shalit

In spite of France unrelenting long-standing support for Palestinians, this is the second time a French Minister is physically attacked by Palestinians.   In 2000, a Palestinian mob attacked then French P.M. Lionel Jospin [photo] because of his condemnation of Hezbollah attacks against Israeli targets in southern Lebanon.  See Angry Palestinians stone French PM.  Recently Lionel Jospin co-signed a letter with other Europeans condemning ... Israel and asking for sanctions (a nice word that means punishment).  Robin Shepherd wrote about this : Israel should ban all 26 former European leaders calling for sanctions against Israel, UN imposition of Palestinian state by April.

Source: Arutz Sheva

French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie was attacked by a mob in Gaza on Friday morning. Her attackers were enraged over statements she had allegedly made the day before supporting human rights for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Alliot-Marie was mobbed as she entered Gaza, with a crowd surrounding her car, pounding on its windows, and throwing shoes at the vehicle. One person jumped on the car. Two children were pushed in front of the first car in Alliot-Marie's convoy, forcing the convoy to a stop while the attack continued.

One sign at the rally had a picture of Alliot-Marie with a red cross over her face. Others called on the foreign minister to leave Gaza.

Hamas police eventually stopped the furious protest and allowed the convoy to continue. Hamas leaders expressed sympathy with the rioters, saying Alliot-Marie's comments regarding Shalit reflected a “total bias toward Israel.” Alliot-Marie was not hurt in the attack.

She had met Thursday with the parents of Gilad Shalit. The kidnapped soldier, who Hamas claims to have in custody, holds French citizenship. Alliot-Marie assured his parents that “France has not forgotten Shalit,” and said she would insist that the European Union ask Hamas to allow Red Cross representatives to visit Shalit, as required by international law. 

According to AFP, trying to 'justify' the incident, the Gaza mob may have mistakenly believed that Alliot-Marie termed Shalit's captivity a “war crime.”  Shalit's father Noam had called on France to push the EU to condemn the kidnapping as a war crime, and his statement was wrongly attributed to Alliot-Marie on Israel Radio's Arabic-language website, an AFP reporter said. This has not been corroborated.