Norway and Israel's Island of Peace Massacre

I went to sleep last night and woke up this morning seeing black, after reading about the bomb explosion in the Norwegian government building and the island shooting attack, which together left at least 92 people dead.

Many of us in Israel have personally experienced terror of this kind, and just reading about this attack in distant Scandinavia brought out all my repressed anger and deep-seated concern for the welfare of my own children.

What immediately came to mind was the 1997 Island of Peace Massacre, in which a Jordanian soldier opened fire on a group of Israeli school children who had come to visit an Israeli-Jordanian park at the confluence of the Jordan and Yarmouk Rivers. Seven 11-year-old girls were murdered in the incident.

Of all the countries in Europe, perhaps Norway is least friendly to Israel. There are even those who belong to Norway's Socialist Left Party, the junior partner in the Norwegian government, who have called for military action against Israel is it acts against Hamas, notwithstanding the incessant targeting of Israeli civilian targets by Hamas (see: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/03/norwegian-socialists-to-vote-on-bombing-israel/). Perhaps this senseless act of terror in Norway will lead to better understanding of the constant threat of terror with which Israel lives.

My deepest condolences to the people of Norway, particularly to those who have lost loved ones.

Norway's SV Party: Use Armed Force Against Israel If It Attacks Gaza

Norway's Socialist Left Party, also known as SV, which is the fourth largest political party in Norway and a member of the governing coalition, is voting on a motion to use armed force against Israel if it should attack Gaza (see: http://www.israelwhat.com/2011/03/26/socialistic-left-dubious-moral-tradeoff-for-bombing-libya-use-armed-force-against-israel/). The rationale behind the motion of the SV Party, which is led by Kristin Halvorsen:

"The credibility of the world community in its confrontation with the Gadafi regime is undermined when there is no reaction against other states in the region who commit injustices against civil population. The greater world community must therefore also react against Israeli air attacks on the Gaza strip."

Remarkable! Hamas and friends can fire more than 50 mortar shells in a single day at Israeli civilian targets, as they did this past Saturday, and shoot Grad missiles at the Israeli cities of Beersheva, Ashdod and Ashqelon, as they did this past week, yet Israeli should be bombed by NATO should there be retaliation.

In voting on this motion, the SV Party is joining ranks with Turkey, whose deputy prime minister, Bülent Arınç, also called for airstrikes against Israel (http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/03/21/turkey%e2%80%99s-deputy-prime-minister-calls-for-airstrikes-on-israel/).

Obviously, Norway's closet anti-Semites couldn't care less about acts of terror against Israeli civilians; however, I wonder how they feel about acts of terror against female journalists in Gaza. Read the following from an article in today's Jerusalem Post, entitled "Gaza cops use ‘beatings, stun guns’ on women reporters" (http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=214092) by Khaled Abu Toameh, which describes the fear and oppression perpetuated by Hamas in Gaza:

"A number of Palestinian women journalists complained on Sunday that they had been beaten and tortured by Hamas security forces in the Gaza Strip. They said the assaults occurred in recent days when they and their colleagues tried to cover pro-unity rallies in different parts of the Gaza Strip.

. . . .

Later, Hamas security personnel raided the offices of a number of media organizations and confiscated equipment and documents. Among the offices targeted were Reuters, CNN and a Japanese TV network.

One of the female journalists, Samah Ahmed, complained that a Hamas policeman in military uniform stabbed her in the back as she tried to leave the al-Katiba Square, where pro-unity protesters were staging a sit-in strike. She said that she and another female journalist, Asma al-Ghoul, were later also beaten with clubs before they were taken to detention.

. . . .

Jihan al-Sirsawi, another woman who works as a journalist in the Gaza Strip, said that the police officers who attacked the demonstrators beat her severely. 'They used electrical shocks against us,' she said. 'They beat me so strongly that I lost consciousness and fell to the ground. I woke up only 15 minutes later.'”

Norway's SV Party is obviously unmoved by rockets and missiles aimed at Israeli civilians, and apparently they are also indifferent to the torture of journalists, honor killings, persecution of Christians and murder of political dissidents in Gaza. Afterall, if they were to acknowledge the horrors perpetrated by Hamas and friends, how they possibly continue to demonize Israel and maintain their constituency.