Arendal in southern Norway lies more than 2,000 miles from Israel and Gaza, but visiting this tranquil seaside town with its dainty wooden houses and picturesque harbour feels unimaginably further still from the division and anger of the Middle East.
Yet, in today’s world, it seems the region’s issues can never be avoided, and so it was when politicians, journalists, business leaders and campaigners descended on this sleepy corner of Scandinavia earlier this month for Arendalsuka, the country’s largest annual political gathering – a celebratory embodiment of democracy.
Still the conflict reared its ugly head. Among the many NGO stands was one for a Norwegian pro-Israel organisation, Med Israel For Fred (MIFF, or “With Israel for Peace”).
Its tent was vandalised twice over the week. This wasn’t the first time. Last year, a pro-Palestinian activist used a marker pen to alter the wording to “Med Israel For Folkemord”, meaning “With Israel for genocide”.
Many Norwegians have long taken pride in their role as peacemakers. It was in the capital that secret negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) took place in the early Nineties, giving rise to the Oslo Accords agreed by Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat – hailed at the time and now remembered as a relic of a more hopeful era.
Bill Clinton with PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzahk Rabin on September 13, 1993 at the White House after signing the Oslo Accords (J. DAVID AKE / AFP via Getty)AFP via Getty Images
Among those visiting Arendal this year was Palestinian-American peace activist Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, who had come to speak about Hamas holding 2 million Gazan hostages.
He was stopped and questioned by the police, apparently after a warning from pro-Palestine activists who he claimed wanted to “sabotage my efforts to speak”.
Alkhatib accused the authorities of acting “like political enforcers”, writing in a post: “Norway spends billions of its taxpayer money promoting democracy, freedom, and liberal values abroad. It should start by respecting genuine freedom of speech at home rather than becoming a tool for supporters of a foreign extremist movement.”
Since the Gaza war began, relations between Norway and Israel have hit a new low. While Israel was still fighting an existential threat against Hamas in May 2024, Norway recognised Palestine as a state, repeatedly criticised Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, called for a ceasefire, condemned settlement expansion in the West Bank and joined sanctions against violent Israeli settlers and organisations.
Israel, in turn, has accused Norway of pursuing an increasingly one-sided policy and in 2024 revoked the diplomatic status of Norwegian representatives dealing with the Palestinian Authority, which led to Norway closing its representative office in Al-Ram.
The hostility has crept into almost every sphere. Norway has pushed for the suspension of Israel from international football. In polling, the majority of the public opposed Israeli participation in Eurovision. Critics claim the Norwegian Refugee Council has strayed from simply providing aid to Palestinians in need into unhelpful political activism – a claim the NGO vehemently denies.
A lot has changed since the creation of the State of Israel enjoyed substantial support in post-war Norway. The deportation and murder of around a third of the country’s Jewish population in the Holocaust was still fresh in the mind at the time.
Natalie Lisbona speaking about "De ufortalte overgrepene fra "7. oktober" ("The October 7 atrocitities") at Arendalsuka this year[Missing Credit]
But this historical understanding has weakened, according to Joel Ystebø, a Norwegian politician who helps lead the parliamentary Friends of Israel caucus.
He says over the past few decades Norway’s attitudes toward Israel and its own population of around 1,500 Jews have become greatly altered, a process that has only accelerated since October 7 and the ensuing war in Gaza.
“I’m one of many Norwegians that are embarrassed about how our government has been handling the situation in the Middle East, how our Minister of Foreign Affairs has been condemning Israel, like a default, every time there are some issues in the region. They have not been putting the responsibility where it belongs.
“And I think it belongs to Hamas. When they lay down their weapons, when they are caring more about their own civilians than hating Israel and Jews, I think that’s when we will see peace in the region. And that’s something that this government and the Labour Party has not been focused on enough.”
The change is at least in part generational, he argues. Younger Norwegians “have less immediate connection to the history surrounding Israel’s establishment, European antisemitism and the Holocaust.
Pro-Palestine activists protest in Oslo last year ahead of a 2026 World Cup Group qualifier match between Norway and Israel (Gorm Kallestad / NTB / AFP via Getty)NTB/AFP via Getty Images
That is one reason Ystebø nominated Yad Vashem for the Nobel Peace Prize. He believes remembrance is not merely about the past but about understanding why Jewish fears concerning security and sovereignty remain so powerful.
There are also demographic reasons at play, says the member of the Christian Democrat arty. “There has been a lot of immigration from Middle Eastern countries and also, unfortunately, people with a radical view on Islam — representatives from a pretty radical theological standpoint — that has been influencing some communities in our country.
“So it’s been an issue. But I think the main reason why we’ve been seeing so much antisemitism and hate against both Jews and Israel in our country is because our politicians have not been aware enough of the history, and also aware of how important it is to take a stand when it comes to antisemitism.”
His criticism matters because it captures something increasingly visible from Israel: Norway may still describe itself as committed to peace, but many Israelis no longer regard it as an impartial interlocutor.
That creates the first problem for Norwegian diplomacy.
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Norwegian parliamentarian Joel Ystebo (Joel Ystebo)[Missing Credit]
Conrad Myrland of MIFF believes the Norwegian press and broadcasters are to blame. “I see it mainly as a result of biased media coverage for the last 40 to 50 years. They have systematically been biased against Israel, always giving large over-coverage to news that can portray Israel in a negative light, and not bringing the Israeli arguments for why, and also not bringing the nuance and the debate within Israeli society.”
He adds: “The whole narrative in academic circles and in the mainstream media in Norway is that Israel failed the Palestinians by not pulling completely out of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, and Israel is to blame for there being no two-state solution. But the fact that Palestinian leaders have rejected two-state solutions when they have been offered is almost never mentioned.”
Myrland is particularly concerned about the education system.
“I recently analysed the schoolbooks that are used in upper primary school and in high schools, and you see the same tendency there. For example, one book can have a 15-page chapter about the Middle East, and it’s all about conflicts connected to Israel.
“Iran is not mentioned. I think only one of 12 schoolbooks mentioned Iran as an actor in the conflict at all. Only a few of them mention Hamas.”
Yet the attitudes of Norwegian media and academics are not the full story.
Ordinary Norwegians on the streets of Arendal and Oslo had a very different perspective.
One man said he blamed social media and its indoctrination of the young for the intense hostility towards Israel. Another said Norway was more focused on the Ukraine war.
A Norwegian woman said she believed Israel is subjected to a form of moral scrutiny that other countries rarely experience.
In her opinion the Jewish state is the target for an older European fixation on Jewish wrongdoing.
Rally by Med Israel For Fred (MIFF, "For Israel For Peace") outside Norwegian parliament, October 15, 2023 (MIFF)[Missing Credit]
It is clear that the Norwegian establishment takes pride in its role as a small country which listens, mediates, funds humanitarian projects and supports the international system.
The government itself says that “the two-state solution is the only credible path to peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians”.
One man said he believes Norway’s problem may not ultimately be that it cares too much about Palestinians. Nor that it criticises Israel too strongly. Nor even that individual Norwegian policies are necessarily wrong. The problem may be that Norway has become too certain that its moral intentions prove the wisdom of its policies.
Myrland, the CEO of MIFF, remains optimistic that the country’s good intentions may in his view be put to better use eventually.
“I think it can change over time. Antisemitism is a lie, and MIFF’s task in Norway is to fight this lie. We do this through a lot of community contact. We have 26 local branches with more than 150 events every year.
“We have a large reach on social media and our website, and also in the media.
“Of course, we are fighting an uphill battle. It’s not solved in one or three years, but I refuse to give up in the long run.
“After October 7, there was rapid growth in those who say that they only side with the Palestinians.
“But you also see that those who only side with Israel, or mostly side with Israel, have been quite stable and have also grown a little bit over the years.
“So it’s not that Israel has lost strong friends after October 7. It’s more like they have got a few more, but on the pro-Palestinian side, the wave of new support was much stronger.”
Who knows? Maybe at next year’s Arendalsuka the vandals will spare his NGO’s stand. There is hope.
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