Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza sparked a sharp rise in incidents of violence and anti-Semitic statements in Norway. Thus, some Jews are claiming that anti-Semitism is “a very healthy disease” in the country, and is on the rise.
Other Jews, however, say that outside a limited minority of problematic groups, the country is anything but anti-Semitic.
Dr. Imre Hercz, an octogenarian Holocaust survivor who has lived in Oslo since 1952, has written in Norwegian newspapers that some Norwegian politicians’ habit of singling out Israel for criticism constituted prejudice and anti-Semitism. But he believes this political error in judgment does not mean Norway itself is anti-Semitic.
“It’s not right to say that Norway is anti-Semitic,” insists Hercz, who was born in Hungary. “Most people are not anti-Semitic. I love Norway. I love Israel. Official Norway has been very good to Israel, has helped Israel and sold oil to Israel.
“There’s a problem with the leftists, who hate America too, and with some youngsters who demonstrate against Israel but won’t demonstrate against China or Iran. But these are few. The problem is not as big as you think.”
Recent incidents included violent anti-Israel demonstrations against Operation Cast Lead during which dozens of demonstrators were arrested for attacking pro-Israel protestors.
According to Michael Melchior, 55, the titular chief rabbi of Norway and a former Knesset member, the claim that Norway is anti-Semitic is false and “achieved by taking a complex reality and willfully painting a bleak picture.”
For example, he says, “I walk the street in Oslo wearing more than just a Star of David” — Melchior sports a beard, dark suit and black kippah — “without being bothered. The same goes for my son, the rabbi of the synagogue in Oslo, and my grandchildren.”
However, according to Erez Uriely, an Israeli biologist who has lived in Norway since 1992, Jews in Norway “are scared to wear a kippah outside. … In schools, the word ‘Jew’ itself is a pejorative term.”
Uriely says widespread anti-Israel sentiment in Norway began at the start of the second Intifada in 2000, but he did say egregious anti-Semitic “incidents are rare.” — jpost.com