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Friday, January 6, 2006

Earlier I noted a Norwegian County's boycott of Israeli goods: More Arab than the Arabs -- Norwegian County Boycotts Israel. It seems Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen has been quite vocal in her support of the boycott (all errors in original):

Norway Post: Finance Minster supports boycott of Isareli goods

Halvorsen says a boycott will visualize the displeasure with Israel's policy towards the Palestinans.

- My goal and that of the Socialist Left Party is that Norwegian consumers will avoid goods and services from Israel and make other choices in the stores, Halvorsen says to Dagbladet.

At the end of the month her party will start a solidarity campaign for Palestina. A campaihgn which receives the full support of the finance minister.

- It is a long time since I bought any Israeli products, she says.

The Norwegian government's official policy is that such a boycott is not the best method, and the initiative comes as surprise to Forerign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere.

He says that Norway will not boycott Israel financially.

- This not the Government's policy, the Norwegian Foreign Minister says to NRK Radio.

Indeed, this has sent the Foreign Ministry scrambling, and I'm told that Halvorsen has since apologized for her statements. See:

Foreign Minister reassures Israel

Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere has sent a letter to Israel's Ambassador to Norway, reassuring her that a boycott of Israel will never be a part of the Government's policy. This is in reaction to Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen's stated support on Thursday of a boycott of Israeli products.

The Norwegian Foreign Minister also wrote a separate letter to US Foreign Scretary Condolleezza Rice, enclosing a copy of his letter to the Israelis...

Also, Aftenposten: SV's boycott call embarrasses government

Norway's prime minister and foreign minister were busy with damage control tasks late this week, after one of their government's coalition parties called for a boycott of Israeli products. And just when Israel's own prime minister was lying gravely ill...

...Israel's ambassador to Norway immediately appeared on Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK)'s nightly news, to complain about and criticize the boycott call. Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre felt compelled to send a letter to the Israelis, in an attempt to clarify that the government doesn't condone a boycott and remains a supporter of Israel.

Political researcher Sverre Lodgaard said Friday that Halvorsen's party's boycott now limits the government's ability to criticize Israel when needed. "The government will get much more limited room for negotiation after this," he said.

Which is interesting, because notably, Norway has dropped its use of the EU's terror list:

The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday said Norway's continued alignment with the EU list of banned individuals and organisations could cause difficulties for Norway in its role as "neutral facilitator in certain peace processes" stating that Norway will no longer align itself with any other list than that published by the UN. The statement further said that Norway wanted to intensify its involvement in various peace processes, with the recognition of the international community including the EU and the US, but wanted to avoid a situation that makes it difficult for Norway to have contact with any of the parties to a conflict.

Full text of the press release issued by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday follows...

(via the EU Referendum blog)

Ironically enough, this effort for Norway to take its own path in order to be a credible international arbiter simultaneously removes a great measure of the moral authority they have to do so. Who trusts a judge who can't call a terrorist a terrorist?

6 Comments

Hey, where's my "hat tip"? ;-)

Hear ya go...

/tip!

"- It is a long time since I bought any Israeli products, she says."

I just hope she does not use the usual Intel, Motorola, HP etc., products, nor the medical inovations.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1136361024955&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

"Intel Corp. unveiled two new platforms Thursday for the next generation of home personal computers and laptops, based on the dual-core processors manufactured in Haifa using the company's 65 nanometer process technology."

Norway - these people are quite slow. It seems that the news of disengagement from Gaza have not been digested yet. In a year or two they will suddenly start hailing us...

As a Norwegian-American I am disappointed by the actions of my grandparents homeland.

Among those rejoicing at this news are the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army. It's septuagenarian leaders run a revolutionary govt from Utrecht, in the Netherlands, while Norway has been hosting the "peace talks" that have been ongoing for almost as long as the longest communist insurgency in history. The CPP/NPA are really wards of the Dutch and Norwegian welfare states, whose terrorist fund raising operations suffered a big dent when they were both put on EU and US terror lists. I guess the Norwegian govt wants to re-open the spigots from some Euroleft sources to help them foot the bill!

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