One hundred famous Norwegians call for cultural and academic boycott of Israel

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http://www.ejpress.org/article/47417

One hundred famous Norwegians call for cultural and academic boycott of Israel

by: Cnaan Liphshiz Updated: 23/Nov/2010 16:13

Egil Drillo Olsen, coach for the national Norwegian football team, recently wrote in Aftenposten, the country’s second largest paper, that the call to boycott Israel was “in line with what 90 percent of the world’s population believes. There cannot be many other opinions.”

OSLO (EJP)---One hundred famous Norwegians, led by the country’s national football coach, have signed a petition demanding a cultural and academic boycott of Israel, accusing its educational institutions of “playing a key role in the occupation” and equating it with apartheid.


A Norwegian ex-premier denounced their boycott call.

Egil Drillo Olsen, coach for the national Norwegian football team, recently wrote in Aftenposten, the country’s second largest paper, that the call to boycott Israel was "in line with what 90 percent of the world’s population believes. There cannot be many other opinions."



The petition is the last item in a string of similar and high-profile initiatives to have taken place in Norway over the past two years. It was signed by coach Olsen and 99 other public figures from the arts and culture, who stated that a boycott is "necessary" not only to help Palestinians, but also to "support Israelis opposing the occupation."



Norwegian former Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik called the boycott call "unhelpful" and "not representative" of the current government’s policy.



Bondevik, who presided over the Norwegian government for seven years over the period 1997 until 2005 on behalf of the Christian Democratic Party, added he wished to "reassure" Israelis that "boycott is not an issue in Norway."


Commenting the boycott call, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told EJP: "Those who call for a boycott against Israel are in effect boycotting the peace process by automatically and unequivocally endorsing the Palestinian position and pushing them further away from the negotiating table." "We expect the Norwegian government to condemn this boycott," he added.

But Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, a senior researcher of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionist trends in Scandinavia, alleges Norway is a "pioneer" in the Western world promoting boycotts and hatred against Israel.

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