Norway is West’s most anti-Semitic and anti-Israel country, historian says
(JNS.org) A major Norwegian historian and diplomat accused her own country of being “the most anti-Semitic country in the West” and attacked it for “biased support for only the Palestinian views” at a Jerusalem event on Tuesday.
“The degree of anti-Israelism in Norway today on the state level, in the media, in the trade unions and at the universities, colleges and schools is unprecedented in modern Norwegian history. The powerful individuals that have pushed for these negative and biased attitudes in Norway are today responsible for creating a politically-correct hatred towards Israel that today portrays my country internationally as the most anti-Semitic country in the West,” Hanne Nabintu Herland said during a panel discussion.
Two thousand Jews live in Norway today. Herland also quoted several studies showing that “Jew” is the most often used curse word in Oslo schools, that a third of Jewish children feel they are being continuously harassed for being Jewish, and that 12 percent of Norwegians feel “strong anti-Jewish prejudices” and view Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as “analogous to Nazi actions against Jews.”
Deputy Head of Mission Vebjørn Dysvik, who represents the Norwegian Embassy in Tel Aviv, rejected Herland’s claim of anti-Semitism and said Norway does not tolerate the phenomenon. Nevertheless, he said “the occupation of the Palestinians is the defining factor in the relationship between Norway and Israel.”
“This is precisely what we protest about Norwegian politicians and diplomats—that they make it a one-issue relationship, one-dimensional, and define it in what we think are unfair terms,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor, according to the Times of Israel.
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Prosor UN letter condemns Syria’s Israel aggression as Russia warns of missiles
(JNS.org) Israel’s United Nations representative Ron Prosor has written a letter to Hardeep Singh Puri, President of the UN Security Council, condemning the crossing of Syrian tanks into the Golan Heights demilitarized zone.
On Monday, Syrian gunfire from its side of the border struck Israeli patrols. The Prosor letter was sent the same week as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Syrian rebels have obtained 50 Stinger shoulder-launched missiles.
“The actions of the Syrian forces are a grave violation of the 1974 Separation of Forces agreement between Israel and Syria. This represents a dangerous escalation that could have far-reaching implications for the security and stability of our region,” Prosor wrote. According to the letter, on July 28 Syrian forces also crossed into the area of separation, and on Sept. 25 Syrian forces fired mortars that exploded in the area of separation.
“In the face of these continued violations, Israel has shown maximum restraint. However, Israel views the continued violations of the Separation of Forces agreement by the Syrian military forces with the utmost concern. The international community and the Security Council should address this alarming development without delay to prevent further escalation,” Prosor wrote.
In the meantime Lavrov told reporters in Amman, Jordan on Tuesday, according to AFP, that “those who are supplying arms to the opposition are delivering systems that are not intended for defense. There is confirmed information that on Syrian territory there are over 50 Stingers… You know perfectly well what Stingers are intended for, all the more so that the leaders of the (rebel) Syrian Free Army have repeatedly said that civilian planes will be a legitimate target.”
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CNN: Obama takes 69 percent of Jewish vote, nine points down from 2008
(JNS.org) President Obama won 69 percent of the Jewish vote in the 2012 election, according to a CNN exit poll, representing a nine-point drop from the 78 percent he garnered in 2008 exit polls.
Richard Baehr, chief political correspondent for the conservative American Thinker, told JNS.org “As best I can tell, the shift in the Jewish vote didn’t shift any states.”
“If the Jewish vote was 9 percent more Republican than it was in 2008, when the estimates were 78 percent… maybe it kept the race a little bit closer there than it would have otherwise been, but it didn’t put Romney over the top,” he said.
Exit polls showed 66 percent of Florida Jews voting for Obama in 2012.
Perhaps further deemphasizing the significance of the Jewish vote is the country’s increasing number of Hispanic voters, an area where some polls had Romney losing by as many as 50 percentage points, Baehr said. But ultimately, he said it is “the result that mattered, not how one group votes.”
“Even though there was a decline in the number [of Jewish votes for Obama], that it didn’t come into play into shifting any states is not a good sign for those who try to create an image that it were a very important part of the overall electorate,” Baehr said.
Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) Executive Director Matt Brooks said in a statement that the exit poll on the Jewish vote showed how the Jewish community “spoke loudly and clearly regarding their concerns about the policies of the Obama administration.”
National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) President and CEO David A. Harris, speaking exclusively with JNS.org after major television networks called the race for Obama on Tuesday night, said he “and the clear majority of American Jews” are “reassured by having President Obama in office for another four years.”
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Most Israeli officials congratulate Obama, but Danon says Israel must not ‘cave in’ to his demands
(JNS.org) Most Israeli officials congratulated President Barack Obama on his reelection Tuesday, starting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The strategic alliance between Israel and the U.S. is stronger than ever. I will continue to work with President Obama in order to assure the interests that are vital to the security of the citizens of Israel,” Netanyahu said in a statement, despite reported tension between the two leaders over how to deal with Iran.
President Shimon Peres said “During his four years in office, the president contributed immensely to the security of Israel.” Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren said the relationship between Obama and Netanyahu “is completely fine” and that he doesn’t “expect any change regarding Israel in Obama’s second term.”
“The two countries have intimate, strong relations, we have mutual interests—the resumption of the peace process immediately without preconditions; on the Iran issue where our differences have been reduced significantly recently, we work together to make sure Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons,” Oren said.
World Likud Chair Danny Danon, however, was not as diplomatic. “Israel must not cave in to Obama’s demands; his re-election attests to the fact that the responsibility of furthering Israel’s interests lies with Israel and Israel alone,” Danon said. “We cannot trust anyone but ourselves,” he added.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org