The Norwegian newspapers Dagbladet and VG today reported that three employees in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Norway committed a serious blunder which may have consequences for the Norwegian-Israeli relationship. The Norwegian diplomats have sent out an email, actually a chain-letter, containing some 40 photos that compares the situation of the people living in Gaza with that of the Jews during the Second World War. The tone of the email is apparently very anti-Israel. This is quite a diplomatic scandal, and something which rarely happens. Dagbladet writes:
Det er tre norske ansatte ved den norske ambassaden i Riyadh, ambassadør Jan Bugge-Mahrt, ambassaderåd Torgeir Fjærtoft og sekretæren som har videresendt sterkt israelskkritiske synspunkter fra sin epostaddresse i Utenriksdepartementet.
(There are three Norwegian employees at the Norwegian Embassy in Riyadh, embassdor Jan Bugge-Mahrt, embassy-council Torgeir Fjærtoft, and the secretary which have sendt viewpoints very critical of Israel from their email address in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. – My translation)
As the mail was sent using the email address of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign affairs, it thus becomes an official Norwegian message. The incident has caused several representatives of the Norwegian Storting to demand official excuses from the Norwegian Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Jonas Gahr Støre. Given the seniority and status of at least two of those responsible for this, it seems to actually be more than a small blunder!
The reactions to the damaging email in Israel have been strong, among other in Jerusalem Post. Especially given the pro-Palestinian position taken by Norwegian media, this is extremely unfortunate for Norway, and serves to reinforce the impression of Norway as firmly anti-Israel internationally.
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