ANTI-SEMITISM: LINK DUMP

Norway: Extreme Expressions of Anti-Israel Attitudes

A Jewish college student who reported swastikas on her dorm door drew some of them herself.

Video: A Holocaust-Denying 'Rabbi' on Iranian TV

.

MUSLIMS INDICTED FOR PLANNING ATTACKS ON NORWEGIAN SYNAGOGUE AND ISRAELI EMBASSY

OF COURSE, YOU NEED TO READ BETWEEN THE LINES OF A.P.'S STORY TO REALIZE THAT THE "THREE MEN" INDICTED ARE MUSLIMS. HOW COULD THAT BE RELEVANT? ANYWAY, I'M SURE "MOHAMMED", "ARFAN" AND "IBRAHIM" AREN'T BUDDHISTS.

3 Indicted in Norwegian Terror Case
OSLO, Norway (AP) — Three men have been indicted on charges connected with an attack on an Oslo synagogue or plotting to attack the U.S. or Israeli embassies in the Norwegian capital, the national prosecutor said Tuesday.

All charges related to the cases were dropped against a fourth man, said prosecutor Kristine Rise. He had been identified in earlier court rulings as 29-year-old Mohammed Adnan Nabi.

The others have also denied any wrongdoing, and their attorneys said the basis for the indictments was weak.

Arfan Bhatti, 30, was indicted on charges of firing gunshots at Norway’s main synagogue in September 2006, for conspiring to commit a terror attack on the embassies and on other unrelated charges.

Andreas Bog Kristiansen, 27, was indicted with Bhatti on charges of plotting to use explosives or weapons to attack the U.S. or Israeli embassies, and conspiring to commit armed robbery. Ibrahim Oezbabacan, 29, was indicted, with Bhatti, for either firing or being an accomplice to 13 shots being fired at the Oslo synagogue.

NORWAY CUTS TIES WITH HAMAS

Norway says it has severed Hamas ties (JPost)
President Shimon Peres had planned to lambaste the Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr-Store over Norway's contacts with Hamas and Hizbullah when the two men met in Jerusalem on Monday.

But he was stopped in his tracks when Gahr-Store told him that Norway had now severed the contacts it had opened with Hamas during the period of the Palestinian unity government.

Nonetheless, Peres did make the point that it was important to clarify to Hamas that no nation (in the free world) would finance terror or the firing of rockets into Sderot and the other residential areas close to Gaza.

It was essential to emphasize that the international community would not condone terror or the violation of democracy through the use of violence as practiced by Hamas, said Peres, who also noted the Hamas connection with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Hizbullah in Lebanon. There are also indications, he added, that Hamas is affiliated with al-Qaida.

Hamas’s “Developments” by Emanuele Ottolenghi (Contentions)
When Hamas and Fatah established a national unity government in March of 2007, Norway was the first Western country to recognize this new government, ending Hamas’s diplomatic isolation. Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gar Store announced today, during a visit to Jerusalem, that his government has reversed its policy and no longer recognizes Hamas.

Norway’s decision is a welcome one. Still, one cannot help noticing that, as early as April of 2006, Norway had invited Hamas representatives to visit in order “to maintain dialogue,” on the grounds that Hamas plays “an important role in developments in the Middle East.” It’s not clear which kinds of development the Norwegians had in mind. But I’m fairly sure that executing opponents in the streets in front of their families, throwing a tied-up 28-year-old cook off the roof of a fifteen-story building, and forcibly converting a Christian scholar to Islam are not “developments” at all, but war crimes or gross human rights violations.

GAZA JOURNALIST SEEKS ASYLUM IN NORWAY

Report: Gaza Journalist Seeks Asylum (CAMERA)
Alan Johnston is not the only journalist in danger in the Gaza Strip. AP reports today:

OSLO - A TV journalist who worked for the Al-Arabiya network in the Gaza Strip is seeking asylum in Norway, saying his family was threatened, Norwegian state broadcaster NRK reported.

We came to Norway because I, my wife and children received death threats, and we decided to leave Gaza, where I could not continue as a free-speaking journalist, Saif el-Deen Shahin was quoted as saying in a report on NRK's Web site.

Norway's Foreign Ministry could not confirm yesterday that Shahin had applied for asylum.

Hamas had accused Al-Arabiya of bias in favor of its rival, Fatah, in the months leading up to its takeover of Gaza.

Shahin said only about 10 percent of journalists in Gaza dare to carry out their profession. The rest have stopped working because of pressure and fears for their lives, Shahin was quoted as saying in the report posted Thursday. The report said Shahin was beaten up and threatened after describing the kidnappers of BBC reporter Alan Johnston as criminals.

NORWAY SENDS $10 MILLION TO HAMAS

Norway resumes aid to Palestinians (AP)
OSLO, Norway - Norway resumed direct aid to the Palestinian administration with a $10 million transfer, after it became the first Western country to recognize the new Hamas-led coalition, the foreign minister said Thursday.

“We hope our contribution will help ease the social crisis the Palestinians are now going through,” said Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere. He said the aid will be used to pay wages for civilian public servants.

Norway recognized a new coalition, which included Hamas and the moderate Fatah party, when it took office in March, and earlier this month announced it would resume direct aid.

“The critical situation in Gaza has many causes, but social need and desperation draw in a negative directions,” Stoere said. “It is especially important for the Palestinian authorities to receive economic aid from the international community.”

WHY DON'T THEY JUST SEND THEM ROCKETS TO FIRE AT ISRAEL?

NORWAY IGNORES BOYCOTT, FINANCES HAMAS

Norway prepares first direct aid transfer to PA government (Haaretz)
Norway is set to make the first transfer of direct aid to the Palestinians’ new government, the foreign minister said Monday - more than two months after the country broke with most Western nations by recognizing the Hamas-led coalition. “Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad has now structured a financial account by which we can channel our support,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said.

Norway soon will transfer U.S. $10 million to that account, Stoere said. “I urge others to follow,” he said.

WILL THE U.S. BE FAR BEHIND?

New Palestinian funding plan may ease crunch.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad’s plan to use an outside account under his control to collect Arab funds to pay government salaries and other bills may ease a year-old Western embargo, diplomats said on Friday.

But the plan, which hinges on the United States making clear to banks and donors that they can send funds into a Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) account, will not in itself fill the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority’s funding void nor give it the direct control it seeks over its own finances.

U.S. officials said they were considering Fayyad’s request, which if approved could send a signal to Arab donors to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in promised funds. But Washington said the underlying financial sanctions against the Authority remain in place, including a ban on bank transfers.

HERE'S A BETTER IDEA:

Hamas Wants War - David Frum
International aid to the Palestinian territories has actually risen since Palestinians elected a Hamas government in January 2006. The Palestinian areas received $1.2 billion in official aid in 2006, up from $1 billion in 2005. America's contribution rose from $400 million in 2005 to $468 million in 2006. Aid from the EU and other international organizations also increased handsomely, and the UN has called for still greater increases in aid in 2007. The Palestinian areas now receive more than $300 per person, per year, making them the most aid-dependent population on Earth. (The people of sub-Saharan Africa receive only $44 per person per year.)

What if the incentives changed? Suppose that each Hamas rocket cost the PA $1 million in reduced U.S. and EU aid? The 80 rockets fired over recent days would mean $80 million less in salaries, food, aid, subsidies of all kinds. The next 80 rockets - another $80 million gone. For the first time, Hamas' adventurism would exact a serious and predictable cost. Such a cost would do more than any number of U.S.-trained Fatah gunmen to restrain Hamas. But if the aid continues - if the world continues a policy of sending money to the Palestinian territories, no matter what the Palestinian government does - Israel, Gaza and the world stand just one well-aimed rocket away from war. (National Post-Canada)

NORWAY WARNS OF PALESTINIAN CIVIL WAR

NEWS CERTAINLY TRAVELS SLOWLY TO NORWAY. THIS "WARNING" COMES A FEW YEARS TOO LATE. PERHAPS THEIR FOREIGN MINISTER SHOULD CHECK MY BLOG NOW AND THEN.

OF COURSE THEIR SOLUTION ISN'T TO HOLD THE PALESTINIANS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS OR SUPPORT FOR A TERRORIST GOVERNMENT. NOPE. THE SOLUTION IS TO SHOWER THEM WITH MORE MONEY, DESPITE THEIR USE OF SUCH "AID" TO BUY WEAPONS TO DESTROY ISRAEL.

Norway warns of risk of Palestinian civil war (Financial Times)
Norway, the country that played a key role in the Arab-Israeli peace process of the 1990s, has warned that the Palestinian territories risk “chaos” and “civil war” unless Europe deepens contacts with the Palestinian government and grants more aid.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Jonas Gahr Støre, Norwegian foreign minister, said that, as the Palestinians’ biggest donor, the European Union played a crucial role in the struggle to provide workable institutions for the West Bank and Gaza.

He added that, although the EU and US had partly altered their stance since the formation of a Palestinian unity government on March 17, both needed to provide greater support for the new authority, in which ministers from the radical Hamas movement are in the minority.

“I hope European ministers will seize this opportunity, and I just fear that if we don’t…What is the alternative? The alternative is Hamas government and civil war - chaos,” he said.

“If Palestinian efforts to create something of unity are met by a constant message of ‘It’s not enough, you have to do more’, then I fear that parties on both sides will say: ‘Why should we make the effort?’”

EU officials point out that despite the ban on direct aid to the Palestinian Authority last year the 27 nation bloc delivered €700m in aid to the Palestinians last year – more than ever before. Much of the aid was given through a temporary mechanism intended to keep vital services going while circumventing government mechanisms.

Mr Gahr Støre said that while 15 per cent of the money going to the Palestinian territories in 2005 was for humanitarian purposes, by 2006 the proportion had climbed to 55 per cent. “You cannot run an economy where more than half of the income is for humanitarian purposes,” he said.

He added that Norway’s decision to normalise relations with the PA after the formation of a government of national unity meant only that Oslo was “engaging” with the new administration rather than moving closer to Hamas.

ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACKS UP 50%

Report: Anti-Semitic attacks up 50% (JPost)
Global anti-Semitism is spiraling upward, driven by xenophobia and cultural clashes in Europe and by increasingly virulent anti-Zionism in the Arab world, according to a comprehensive study of anti-Semitic incidents released by a Tel Aviv University research institute on Sunday.

"Once, when we were talking about anti-Semitism we were talking about [desecrated] gravestones," Dr. Roni Stauber of TAU's Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism told The Jerusalem Post. Now the main targets are religious Jews, since "they are identifiable" to attackers, he said.

There was a dramatic rise "in physical, verbal and visual manifestations" of anti-Semitism in 2006, according to the Roth Institute, which prepared the report. It was funded by the World Jewish Congress.

In all, 590 incidents of violence or vandalism were recorded in 2006, a 15 percent increase from 2004 and a seven-fold increase from 1989.

The 2006 figures also represents a 31% increase from 2005, when anti-Semitic incidents declined after several years of increases.

"In two countries - France and Norway - chief rabbis are calling on Jews not to step outside with Jewish symbols on their person," said Prof. Dina Porat, who edited the report along with Stauber....

The breakdown of anti-Semitic incidents worldwide is heavily tilted toward Western Europe, which witnessed 54% of them, followed by North America - whose Jewish population is over five times the size of Western Europe's - with just 17% and the former Soviet Union with 13%.

Britain, with 136 "major violent incidents," saw a 20-year high in 2006. France, with 97 such incidents, witnessed a 45% increase and the French-speaking regions of Canada saw a doubling of violent attacks over a year earlier.

NORWAY TO DIRECTLY FUND HAMAS

Norway: We're going to directly fund Hamas (JNW)
Norway, the country whose politicians seized the chance to incubate and spawn the Oslo Accords that cost thousands of Israelis their lives and limbs, has chosen to defy Europe and the United States and break the boycott imposed on the Palestinian Authority when it became Hamas-controlled. The small but prosperous Scandinavian country, which has boasted of being first to "recognize" the restructured Hamas Authority, announced Thursday it intends to resume direct aid to it.

Looking proud and pleased as he made the announcement in Oslo, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere shook the hand of visiting PA "FInance Minister" Salam Fayad, who praised Norway's willingness to embrace the "Palestinian" cause once more.

Norway would maintain its annual support of $100 million to the PA, Stoere pledged.

Fayad, who simply ignored international demands that the PA's Hamas members renounce terrorism, recognize Israel and honor agreements the PA previously signed with the Jewish state - demands which, if met, would open the way for masses of money to flood the PA from around the world - bemoaned the "misery" and "poverty everywhere" experienced by his people, and called for banking restrictions to be removed from the PA treasury. When that happens, he declared, "Palestine [sic] will be ready for business."

NORWAY FIRST TO RECOGNIZE NEW HAMAS LED P.A. GOVT.

Hamas-Fatah Deal Signed, Norway First to Resume Support (INN)
(IsraelNN.com) Hamas and Fatah officially signed a power-sharing agreement Saturday. Norway became first country to announce its recognition of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority government. Norway was home to the original back-channel talks between left-wing Israeli politicians and the PLO when it was still illegal to meet with the terror group and later hosted the Ill-fated Oslo Accords, which created and called for the arming of the Palestinian Authority.