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| By israelinsider staff and partners January 7, 2006 |
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| Letter from the Norwegian foreign minister |
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Norwegian Finance Minister and leader of the Socialist Left Party, Kristin Halvorsen, has expressed regret for her announced support for boycotting Israeli products, acknowledging that this may have contributed to uncertainty about Norway's official foreign policy.
"As finance minister, I should not have advocated a policy which is not supported by a majority in the Cabinet. It is clear that this has contributed towards confusion and uncertainty around what is official Norwegian foreign policy. For this I have expressed my regrets to the Foreign Minister, the Prime Minister and the rest of the Government members. And I now express my regrets officially, in order to clarify, Halvorsen said to public broadcaster NRK on Friday afternoon.
Halvorsen said to the Norwegian daily Dagbladet on Thursday that she would urge Norwegian consumers to support her party's planned boycott of Israeli products. "It has been a long time since I bought any Israeli products," she told the newspaper.
In her Friday statement, Halvorsen said that she hopes that her regrets will be noted, and that her expressions of Thursday therefore will not harm Israeli-Norwegian relations, nor weaken Norway's credibility in the Middle East question.
The Socialist Left Party is one of three parties forming the present Norwegian coalition party, under the leadership of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg (Labour).
Her "regrets" came after the Norwegian Foreign Minister felt compelled to write a clarifying letter to his Israeli and American counterparts reaffirming that his country did not support the boycott. FM Jonas Gahr Stoere sent a letter to Israel's Ambassador to Norway, reassuring her that a boycott of Israel will never be a part of the Government's policy.
In a press release, the Israeli embassy had complained that the appeal deviates from the traditionally friendly relations between Israel and Norway. "We expect that the Norwegian Government , being responsible for the Norwegian foreign policy, will do what is neccesary to correct the situation created by the Government's members," the embassy stated.
The opposition in the Norwegian Parliament (Storting) also criticized Halvorsen's support of her party's planned boycott of Israeli goods, insisting that she withdraw what she has said, and send an unreserved apology to Israel. She must realize that she as a cabinet minister will be regarded as a representative for Norway, said Carl I. Hagen of the right wing Progress Party. Erna Solberg, leader of the Conservative Party, echoed the discomfort at the mixed signals.
Wiesenthal Center slams Norway's Israel boycott
The Simon Wiesenthal Center had described Norwegian Provincial Government of Sor-Trondelag resolution to boycott Israeli products, backed by Halvorsen, as "an act of anti-Semitism in the spirit of Hitler's 'Don?t buy from Jews' campaign of the 1930's. In a letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Stoltenberg, the Center's Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, described the Norwegian Provincial Government of Sor-Trondelag resolution to boycott Israeli products as "an act of anti-Semitism in the spirit of Hitler's 'Don't buy from Jews' campaign of the 1930's."
Samuels said the boycott is "an embarrassment to the Norwegian foreign policy, as it places Oslo in the camp of the rejectionists of the Middle East peace process and of the forces of terrorism." He demanded that Norway "go beyond its current 'denial of responsibility for the acts of a local council.??
The Wiesenthal Center urged the Norwegian Prime Minister "not only to condemn this outrage, but to expunge the racists in the ranks of his own government by expelling them and their sympathizers."
Samuels concluded by calling on "our friends in the Norwegian church, trade unions, media and fair-minded public to stand in solidarity with our protest", adding that "to do otherwise would constitute a warm welcome to Quisling," the pro-Nazi Norwegian who cooperated with Hitler in persecuting Norway's Jews.
The ADL also condemned the Norwegian ruling, saying that the 'decision only serves to exacerbate tensions and ill-will'
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