Scandinavians rebut anti-Semitic charges

Scandinavian journalists didn't let Israeli scholars get away unanswered with accusing their countries and media of anti-Semitism and Israel-hatred at a Jerusalem symposium Tuesday on the Nordic nations' attitude to Jews and Zionism.

By closing Gaza to reporters when international organizations speak of a humanitarian crisis there, Israel was "inevitably rendering itself suspect to human rights violations" and "inviting hostile treatment," said one Danish reporter.

The five journalists attending the event hosted by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs took the stead of the Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Danish ambassadors, who all declined their invitations.

The anti-Scandinavian content reverberated abroad. "It's a traditional deflection tactic aimed at diverting attention from the real problem, which is Israel's abuse of Palestinians," Kare Willoch, who presided as Norway's prime minister in the 1980s, told the Norwegian daily Dagsavisen.

The 50-odd listeners, mostly veteran immigrants from Western Europe in their 60s and 70s, received each statement by the foreign guests with disapproving mumbles.

The English-language event opened with Zvi Mazel, a former ambassador to Sweden who spoke of a "deep-rooted" anti-Semitism in Sweden. Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the U.S.-born director of the Wiesenthal Center in Israel - which cosponsored the forum - spoke of Norway and Sweden's failure to prosecute Nazi war criminals.

The third speaker, Manfred Gerstenfeld, a Dutch-born JCPA researcher and media analyst, displayed cartoons from mainstream Norwegian press, portraying Ehud Olmert as a Nazi guard at a death camp, and of an ultra-Orthodox Jew engraving "thou shall murder" into an alternative Decalogue.

Louise Stigsgaard Nissen, Middle East Bureau chief for the Danish daily Berlingske Tidende, first inquired, "Why can't one criticize Israel as one criticizes the U.S. without being called an anti-Semite?"

Zuroff insisted Israelis usually do accept harsh criticism when anti-Semitism is not suspected. Gerstenfeld replied, "One cannot criticize Israel for things other countries also do while refraining from criticizing those countries."

At a certain point, the guests began to argue aloud with the Scandinavians - who argued right back. "It's good to see some action around here," one JCPA regular said. "Usually these lectures end with a few approving nods and calls of hear, hear."