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The King's ‘No’: Anti-Israelism and Antisemitism in Norway after the 7 October Massacre
Author(s): Brekke, Torkel
Editor(s): Freedman, Rosa; Hirsh, David
Date: 2024
Topics: Israel Criticism, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Main Topic: Antisemitism, October 7 2023 attacks + aftermath, Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism: Left-Wing
Abstract: In the days following the 7 October massacre, the Israeli flag flew in solidarity with the traumatized nation in many Western cities. In Norway, however, it turned out to be difficult to publicly express sympathy and compassion with the victims of Hamas' terror and mass murder. Why did the Labor Government of Norway and the city councils of Oslo and other cities go out of their way to tone down expressions of sympathy? Why were condemnations of Hamas mostly half-hearted or absent? This chapter explains these reactions by exploring certain peculiarities of Norwegian political history. It looks at how a significant movement on the extreme left in Norway worked to mainstream radical anti-Zionist ideology from around 1970, it looks at the crucial role of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) in the mainstreaming of this radical ideology and discusses the relevance of wider global anti-Israeli and antisemitic trends on the left after the year 2000.