– We are now back to the time of Der Stürmer when Jews were described
as dangerous snakes and tentacles that suffocate the entire globe.
Another week is behind us, and the gravity of the situation is beginning to sink in. Our Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, chose to stand with far-left radicals and Islamists who hijacked Kristallnacht, with which they have absolutely nothing to do, to promote their own political projects against Israel. He could have chosen to stand with the Jews in the synagogue. All the fine words to those he was surrounded by, he can use 363 days of the year to convey – not on Kristallnacht, not on Holocaust Remembrance Day. November 9th is the day Jews commemorate Kristallnacht and the beginning of the Holocaust – nothing else. When Norway’s Prime Minister stands with such forces on this particular day, it is difficult to take it in good faith. The message was, of course, received in Israel: Now both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister have become personae non gratae.
Gahr Støre and Foreign Minister Barth Eide have, through their hostile attitudes towards Israel, burned all bridges and destroyed the little credibility Norway had as a peace broker. The most astonishing thing was Støre’s candid explanation to DN that it was Barth Eide who advised him to request a visit to Israel! His claim of a promise from the Israeli President to be invited only shows a lack of elementary knowledge of Israeli politics. The current president is highly controversial in Israel; he has a very tense relationship with the sitting government.
The fact is that Jonas Gahr Støre chose to stand with those he perceives as his voter base rather than standing with us Jews. It is under his leadership, especially since the October massacre, that antisemitism has become acceptable in our country. It now seems as if the racism clause only applies to select groups. A frightening example is illustrator and author Tiril Valeur.
Tiril Valeur – inspired by Der Stürmer?
A well-known tactic from the Nazi era was the way they used propaganda. They managed to awaken aggressive and action-oriented antisemitism throughout society, both in Germany and other European countries. The result was the Holocaust. The goal of today’s agitation is to remove Israel from the world map, as on the Palestine Committee’s map. Thus, they are one step closer to making Israel and the West free of Jews. Where are we Jews to flee when we can neither live where we are nor in Israel?
One of the Nazis’ most important propaganda tools was caricatures disseminated via the newspaper Der Stürmer. In Norway, we have Palestine activist Tiril Valeur (Holter-Andersen) from Kristiansand, who, in addition to writing and illustrating children’s books, produces antisemitic drawings that should be punishable in any country in Europe. Like Der Stürmer, she draws Israel (read: the Jews) as a snake with the message: «Save humanity from Israel».
In other illustrations, she accuses Israel of both antisemitism and of being behind all terrorism and (furthermore, allegedly) the civil wars in Sudan and in Africa in general. In another drawing, she falsifies Jesus’ Jewish identity. In one illustration, it says: «Israel is the evil bigger picture, and until you see how far and wide their tentacles reach, you have not understood what Israel is.» With «their tentacles,» Tiril Valeur stumbles from Israel over to the Jews.
It is striking how Tiril Valeur’s antisemitic illustrations seem to live up to the intention of Der Stürmer. As in Der Stürmer no. 10 of 1935, one can recognize the Jewish snake. In Der Stürmer no. 39 of September 1936, p. 7, the ideology that harmonizes with Tiril Valeur’s illustrations in Norway is described:
«The further activities of Der Stürmer will contribute to ensuring that every German, down to the last man, with hand and heart, will join the ranks of those whose goal it is to crush the head of the serpent Pan-Judea under their heels. He who contributes to realizing this, helps to eliminate the devil. And this devil is the Jew.»
Ervin Kohn, former head of the Mosaic Religious Community, also reacts strongly to Valeur’s illustrations and describes them in plain text on his Facebook page: «This is classic conspiratorial antisemitism.»
It seems that the limits of freedom of expression are very flexible when it comes to vulgar Jew-hatred. Imagine if Tiril Valeur’s drawings were directed at Muslims and not Israel! Tiril Valeur brings to the fore a hatred that all decent people should fight.
The fact that such antisemitic activity has long gone under the radar of the PST (Norwegian Police Security Service) testifies to how accepted Jew-hatred has become in our society and what kind of (de)prioritization the PST has on Jonas Gahr Støre’s watch. Where is the Center for Studies of the Holocaust and Religious Minorities and other so-called anti-racist centers that are financed with public funds?
Antisemitism comes from above
Antisemitism does not come from the grassroots of society. It is a poison that is transmitted to the people from the society’s elites. We are now back to the time of Der Stürmer when Jews were described as dangerous snakes and tentacles that suffocate the entire globe. There is little to suggest that most people understand how influenced they are by the propaganda they are exposed to daily. Nor is there anything to suggest that many of our elected representatives realize the problem they themselves have created by, among other things, turning the media landscape into a monolithic, state-funded «ministry of truth» – an ideological monopoly on information dissemination with both the means and the power to shape and steer public opinion – and thus democracy – to where they themselves wish.
The state-paid, Norwegian media has a long tradition of disseminating negative and distorted notions about «the Jew.» Even after the October massacre, it is not the PLO and Hamas that are the problem, but always Israel, which is portrayed as the one committing the very crimes that the PLO and Hamas themselves commit against both Israelis and their own Arabs.
NRK, like Norway’s Tiril Valeur, portrays Israel as a criminal «apartheid state» just as «the eternal Jew» was portrayed in European media about 90 years ago as hostile and dangerous to humanity. The days when one criticized Israel and the Jews on an equal footing with others are unfortunately over. Why is it so difficult to show concern for the population in Gaza without linking it to crimes Israel has never committed or to an alleged occupation of a country that has never existed?
Tiril Valeur summarizes this in one of her drawings: «Israel finances, plans, and incites civil wars, terrorism, and crimes against all of humanity.»
The Jews should consider fleeing Norway
We experience the situation and the development in Norway over many years, and especially after the October massacre, as intolerable, degrading, and frightening. We wonder why so few politicians choose to stand up and say that enough is enough. We will have to struggle for a long time with the effects of both a lack of understanding from the authorities and the media’s eagerness to influence and incite. They have their own agenda that for the time being does not coincide with the interests of the majority of people.
With politicians who do not take responsibility, media that is paid to conduct one-sided propaganda against Israel, and illustrators who seem to compete with Der Stürmer over who demonizes Israel the most, there is hardly any hope for a future for us Jews in Norway. An ever-increasing proportion of Australia’s and Europe’s Jews are on their way to Israel for fear of the escalating antisemitism and violence from Islamists and their friends. Norwegian Jews should consider packing their suitcases before it is too late again.
