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
- 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
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
...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:
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?
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!