Norwegian PM Under Israeli Fire for Attending Pro-Palestinian Event Over Jewish Ceremony

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched a fierce attack on Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, accusing him of “antisemitism” and “hostility toward Israel” for participating in an event organized by the Norwegian Center Against Racism with support from the Norwegian Committee for Palestine, instead of attending a celebration organized by the Jewish community in Norway.

In a statement issued Sunday evening, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said Støre “set new records in moral degradation and antisemitism,” as it described, claiming that “he chose to participate in an event where the memory of the Jewish tragedy during Nazism (Kristallnacht, 1938) was exploited as a weapon against the Jewish state, Israelis, and Jews.”

It added that “the Prime Minister’s refusal to attend the Jewish community’s celebration insulted the memory of Holocaust victims, especially the more than 750 Norwegian Jews killed by the Nazis,” considering the event he attended as “an exploitation of the Holocaust tragedy to incite anti-Zionism.”

However, contrary to Israel’s claims, Støre affirmed during his speech at the event that his government “will continue to protect and support Norway’s Jews and all minorities,” adding: “Norway must be a country where anyone can proudly say: I am Jewish,” according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

The Norwegian Prime Minister is known for his critical stance toward Israeli occupation policies, having repeatedly expressed his rejection of the genocidal war in the Gaza Strip and criticized the ongoing blockade preventing humanitarian aid from reaching approximately 2.4 million Palestinians besieged for 18 years.

Despite the ceasefire agreement announced on October 10, Israel continues to violate the accord daily through bombings, bulldozing, and preventing the entry of humanitarian supplies, amid warnings of worsening catastrophe in the devastated enclave.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel—with American and European support—has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, involving killing, starvation, destruction, displacement, and arrests, ignoring international appeals and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt its actions.

The genocide has resulted in more than 239,000 Palestinians killed or injured, most of them women and children, with over 11,000 missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and famine claiming the lives of many—mostly children—alongside widespread destruction and the erasure of most cities and regions of the Strip from the map.

Source: Quds Press