Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister appeals for 'healing'... by attacking Rubin and Glick
In a comment in Friday's JPost, Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister, Espen Barth Eide, has appealed for 'healing' in the aftermath of Norway's terror attacks two weeks ago. But he has done so with a vicious attack on Barry Rubin (mostly) and Caroline Glick. Many Norwegians, however, have been astonished by assertions recently made in The Jerusalem Post by two of its regular columnists, Barry Rubin and Caroline Glick.Barry sounds exactly right to me. Of course, Barth Eide omits the fact that Fatah terrorists have participated in the Utoya camp for the last fifteen years. But leaving that aside, how else does one characterize the advocacy at Utoya camp of employing BDS against Israel in a bid to 'convince' it to remove its lawful blockade of an area from which thousands of rockets have been fired at it over the last ten years? Is that not supporting free access (and free access to weapons) for terrorists?
For example, Barry Rubin wrote on Monday that “...the youth camp he attacked was engaged in what was essentially... a pro-terrorist program.”
According to Rubin, the camp was “justifying forces that had committed terrorism against Israel” by advocating an end to the blockade of Gaza and recognition of a Palestinian state.
Rubin even implicitly blamed Norway’s Middle East policy for the attacks in Norway. He wrote, “If terrorist murders by Hamas and Islamists did not stop well-intentioned future leaders of Norway from considering them heroic underdogs, an evil local man could think his act of terrorism would gain sympathy and change Europe’s politics.”In other words, Rubin said that this terror attack, committed by a 'normal Norwegian boy' ought to make Norwegians do some introspection about their government's support for terror organizations like Hamas. Is Norway giving its youth the wrong message through its support for Hamas? Why is Norway not even willing to ask itself that question?
This was, Rubin claimed, an example of the “Oslo Syndrome” whereby rewarding terrorists with political gains promotes more terrorism.
Rubin and Glick have also made much of the supposed statements by Norwegian Ambassador Svein Sevje to Ma’ariv, according to which he distinguished between the motivation behind terrorism in Israel and in Norway. Glick and Rubin are not alone in doing so. Several other Israeli media have latched on to this as well.Funny that he hasn't quoted Glick yet. But let's look at what the Norwegian ambassador to Israel actually said:
On this point, of course, it was not Glick or Rubin who was at fault. The ambassador was incorrectly quoted by Ma’ariv. He did not compare the motivation behind different terrorist attacks; he simply tried to answer a question about whether the terrorist attacks in Norway would change perceptions of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He stated that many Norwegians see the conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territory in the context of the occupation and religious extremism, and that this view would probably not change after the events in Oslo and on Utoeya.
Svein Sevje said in an Israeli newspaper interview Tuesday that while the Norwergian bomb and gun rampages that killed 76 people and Palestinian attacks should both be considered morally unacceptable, he wanted to "outline the similarity and the difference in the two cases."Whether the Maariv reporter (and I hope the reporter will come forward with a recording of the interview) misquoted Norwegian ambassador to Israel Svein Sevje, remains to be seen. But if the ambassador was misquoted, isn't it odd that it has taken from Tuesday, July 26 (the date of the interview) to Friday August 5 for someone to claim that he was misquoted? If he was misquoted, why was this allowed to stew for ten days? Maybe because it took the Norwegian Foreign Ministry ten days to think of that excuse?
Palestinians, the ambassador told Maariv, "are doing this because of a defined goal that is related to the Israeli occupation. There are elements of revenge against Israel and hatred of Israel. To this you can add the religious element to their actions."
"In the case of the terror attack in Norway, the murderer had an ideology that says that Norway, particularly the Labor Party, is forgoing Norwegian culture," Sevje said, referring to suspect Anders Breivik, a Christian nativist who is opently anti-Islam and anti-immigration.
But Barth Eide's gloss shows that he completely does not get what offended Israelis about Sevje's statements. Let's look at Barth Eide's explanation again.
He did not compare the motivation behind different terrorist attacks; he simply tried to answer a question about whether the terrorist attacks in Norway would change perceptions of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He stated that many Norwegians see the conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territory in the context of the occupation and religious extremism, and that this view would probably not change after the events in Oslo and on Utoeya.In other words, what Sevje really meant is that Norwegians will continue to sympathize with 'Palestinian' terrorism despite the fact that they have now experienced terrorism themselves up close and personal. Are we Israelis supposed to take solace in the fact that this is what Sevje really meant and not that Breivik's motivation differed from Hamas' motivation? Really?
What Barth Eide ought to do is to say that Norway will conduct some self-examination and consider how its own actions might have contributed to the perception of a 'normal Norwegian boy' that terrorism was an okay way to deal with those with whom one disagrees. That introspection ought to start with an examination of Norway's policies of support for Hamas and the 'Palestinian Authority.'
But of course, none of that will happen. Norwegians are holier than we are and they never make mistakes. Just ask any representative of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Anders Behring Brievik, Barry Rubin, Caroline Glick, Espen Barth Eide, Jonas Gahr Store, Svein Sevje
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:31 AM
5 Comments:
I thought Rubin was rather reserved. the comment I left on Pajamas Media was not. What the Norwegians fail to understand is this is not over. There are many people that are very upset at their country. If they don't learn their lesson this time... they will have another chance.
It is noxious the Norwegians distinguish between types of terror. They understand it when Israelis are murdered: they are revolted when Norwegians are murdered. It is noxious when Assad terrorizes and murders his own people, when the arabs butcher the Jews, and when a neonazi kills socialist campers.
as I recall, the Norwegian foreign minister too, a man named Jonas Gare Store [spg?] said much the same as his ambassador in Israel. That is, it was OK for Hamas to slaughter Jews, since they have a good cause. But Breivik was wrong to slaughter "leftist" Norwegians because his cause was bad.
The main point is that the Norwegian govt approves and has long approved the tactic of mass murder and slaughter of civilians. But when that tactic is used against member of Norway's governing party, then it is not good, it is not justified. It is all so simple, Jonas.
It is outrageous that Norwegians are okay with Jew murders. I guess they are only acting in accordance with the longstanding antisemitism of Norway. So sad.
The country itself makes me want to wretch. BLEGH!
A Swede gave me a great word or phrase -- it might be one word in Swedish -- "homeblind"...
...The people who suffer from this condition have an inability to see anything wrong with how they do things, or to see that what they do is harmful.
The USSR 'fell' but the dust from that wall blew the radioactive evil far and wide. Today the tenets of marxism reside in the hearts of socialists everywhere. Such are the hearts and minds controlling cultural & political institutions all over the West. 20+ million dead and still counting -- that doesn't include the brain-dead.
Stalin won.
Norway was always chummy with Communism. Now they carry on with the tenets of atheistic (pardon me, "secular"), murderous (pardon me, "shunning & shaming"), totalitarian (pardon me, "politically correct") Communism under a modified banner. Same old doctrine pasted over with a Nordic smile.
And why not? They have their comfortable endowment of billions in oil wealth, same as the Saudis. And they can let the destroyers into their Utopia because they never ever plan to actually live with them. No way.
Plenty of room for "Them" in their own little no-go zones. So what if the outsiders rape and pillage? Those things won't happen to the elitists' children, so why would they care what happens to others?
That attitude, more than anything else, shows the nomenklatura-thinking involved here. What happens to Israel is of no consequence when compared to keeping their totalitarian ideology cemented in place.
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has stated that Norway will be recognizable after the terrorist attacks, that our answer is more democracy, more tolerance and more togetherness...
Gag me.
More "totalitarian democracy" is what he means -- whether or not he knows it. The training of 'Palestinian' terror 'youths' will continue, as will funding for Hamas.
No surprise that Norway gets the prize for the most anti-Semitic country in Scandinavia. It's anyone's guess which place becomes Judenrein first, Sweden or Norway.
This is beyond sad. It is deaf to Reason. It is intent on destroying what it cannot tolerate. Notice that those who preach "tolerance" are the most intolerant of all.
It is merciless toward those who deviate.
It will continue to breed more monsters but will become more effiecient at cutting them down.
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