It is as always surreal to read Gerstenfeld's analysis of Norwegian antisemitism. And even more depressing than Gerstenfeld's lack of scholarship or analytical abilities are the agressive ignorance in the talkback. To sum up: the report Gerstenfeld refers to more than anything suggests that Norwegians have problematic attitudes towards muslims and gypsies. Though Norway, as most countries in Europe, have problems with antisemitism is regrettable and something that the public opinion actively is against. Gerstenfelds continuous ramblings do, however, paint a picture that is more a topic for psychiatric rather than political discussions. Pete

Agreed - let's disagree. Your opinion is fine - even if I disagree. You may or may not agree with my definition of Jewish - but the more liberal the definition is, the more people and the more differences will be included. The more conservative definition the less differences you'll see. I still think it's odd that Jews themselves cannot even understand themselves that they are an ethnic group of people. My ethnicity is Jewish/Israelite/Israeli (Israeli in the ethnic sense and citizenship) - I don't have any other ethnicity or ancestry that I know of. Genetics show actually that the vast majority of the Jews -Ashkenazim and Sephardim share almost the same genetics and their dominant DNA is Israelite. I'm not suggesting that they are "distant relatives". They Jews may have differences among them as far as DNA is concerned, but Jews among themselves are more closely related to each other than to other groups. Also I happen to live in Israel. Even though I admit - and I agree with you (it's not really a matter of opinion - it's a fact) - yes there are Ashkenazi Jews that are blonde and blue eyed and there are Sephardic Jews with very dark skin color (still identifiable as white caucasian and not as Black African). However, we need to look at the vast majority of the Jews - what is normative or representative for Jews, and what is representative among Jews in Israel is that they are white Caucasians of the Mid Eastern/Mediterranean type - they blend in -- usually, in the Middle East and the Mediterranean but they don't blend in in Russia or central Europe or Black Africa or east Asia. Group= a collection of people with a very distinct, common or similar genetics, ancestry, outward appearance, common language, culture, alphabet, religion and common history. In other words: an ethnic group. A question: how do you define ethnicity? Are Arabs, Kurds, Turks, Persians, Poles, Germans and Italians ethnic groups? What ethnicity is Benjamin Netanyahu if not Jewish/Israelite? What ethnicity is Vladimir Putin if not Russian? What ethnicity is former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi if not Italian?

I have tried to respont to your letters a couple of times, with no success. It is obvious that some topics are non-topics in this newspaper. I am sorry about that.

Why has Norway the right to exist? You see I want to criticize Norway. I care a lot about democracy and human rights and I am concerned about the Sami minority's rights. I'm no enemy of the Norwegians. I just want to have a fruitful discussion about your right to exist. And why can't Sweden or Denmark claim Norway? Why do Norwegians need their own country? You have lived under Danish rule for 436 years between 1378 and 1814. And what was wrong with the union with Sweden? I think there are no good or bad guys here. Both sides are wrong and both sides have killed each other. Only if Norway takes responsibility for the Norwegian-Swedish war can we take Norwegians seriously. Between 1905 and 1907, Norway achieved a peaceful separation from Sweden and the Norwegians favored monarchy over a republic, so you opted for Prince Carl of Denmark. It only proves you don't even have a royal house of your own. What is your national identity based on? Norway violated international law when it tried to claim Greenland which is internationally accepted as Danish territory. Not only do you not have a national identity of your own, you also violate international law. Since Oslo was Danish for centuries, should Oslo really be considered to be a Norwegian city? I think Denmark and Norway should divide Oslo into two parts. I also think Swedes should move their population into Norway to promote mutli-culturalism and to reduce the Norwegian land mass alongside the North Sea to a 10-15 km wide land mass. I also think the Sami people should have independence in Norway and I think Finland and Russia should claim northern Norway. Can we have a fruitful dialogue about these topics?

That has happened to many of us. I find that it seems to happen not because of the topic or content but specific wording that may not sit well with the specific reviewer. You might try changing some wording that you think someone else might not deem appropriate or is simply misunderstanding.

Dear Alexander, I am sorry to say this, but the stuff you wrote, that is just pure racism. "The Africans in Israel are no citizens, they are violent, aggressive, commit crimes, rape, theft, they entered our country illegally." "Arabs of Israel are citizens but they constitute a huge minority that is openly anti-Semitic and racist and hellbent on our destruction." I mean, come on, have you never heard of judging people individually? You just say that all African, all Israeli Arabs are like this. That is racism: judging people on their ethnic background, skin color, or some other marker of origin and believing that that background automatically makes them inferior in some way ("they are violent, aggressivë"). Why not live by the simple, moral idea that every individual is judged on his own actions and not on the color of his skin or ethnic background? It worked for Martin Luther King, it certainly can work for us. Either you judge people individually, or you have to accept a basic rule of racism: that all people from a certain background can be judged based on that background and based on a (stupid, wrong) prejudice abou that backgound. That these people are not entitled to an individual judgement, an individual chance to prove that they are people just like you and me. That is what anti-semites do, and that i what you do. It's called racism.

Dear Harmen, Either you are a racist and an anti-Semite with a hidden agenda or simply having grave difficulties understanding written English.The Africans are de facto no citizens of Israel and they de facto entered our country illegally. A crime is a crime. And many of them did commit crimes inside Israel. Stating the truth is not racist. It's a fact. Not every African commited crimes inside Israel, but they did commit a crime - all of them, when they entered our country illegally. I would say the same about Asians or blonde and blue eyed Scandinavians. It has nothing to do with them being Africans. They are non Jews, no citizens of Israel, violent, aggressive (many of them - not all of them) and entered our country illegally Yes most Arabs of Israel are anti-Semitic - unfortunately, and they've made no secret that they seek the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state - either through demographic warfare or simply denying or stealing our land and history. Not all Israeli Arabs support this, but the vast majority. Neither Africans nor Arabs stand above the law. There is right and wrong and everybody must be held responsible for their actions independently of their ethnicity, nationality, skin color or height. I never said the Africans or the Arabs are "inferior". Where did I say that? I said that the Africans are illegal immigrants and most Arabs hold deeply anti-Semitic opinions. These are facts - not fantasies or subjective opinions. Yes every human being should be judged individually - 60.000 African illegal individuals entered our country - ILLEGALLY. And the vast majority of Israel's Arabs seek our destruction. When a civilization and a culture, nation or people are trying to preserve their ethnic and national identity and demographic majority, we are therefore speaking of the survival of a country - it's right to exist and it's right to maintain it's unique identity. That's not racist in any way, but using "democracy" as a shield and as a pretext to destroy an entire civilization with falsification and denial of history, demographic warfare, terrorism, boycotts and high treason is pure racism. If you support this, it is you who is a pure racist. Anti-Semites seek Israel's destruction. I seek no one's destruction - only to prevent Israel's destruction and to strenghten the well being of our country.

Alexander, what do you try to achieve by #94? Hateful extremists? And all this other stuff? .... Comments to #85 and #88 About historical connections: I have in my readings concentrated on the history from 1890 and onwords. I can reccomend "The Iron Wall" by Avi Schlaim. The ancient history is important to understand peoples connection to the area and relationship between the cultures in the area. But I don't think that being a jude, eg. from Ukraina, should be more important than having lived in the area for generations when taking about who should have the right to live in Israel. About a palestinian people: Ze'ev Jabotinsky said: ".. Every indigenous people will resist alien settlers as long as they see any hope of ridding themselves of the danger of foreign settlement. This is how the Arabs will behave as long as they possess a gleam of hope that they can prevent ’Palestine’ from becoming the Land of Israel...”. He looked upon the pals as a people. Not all Israeli leaders agreed, though, eg. Ben Gurion and Golda Meir did not. Since the Gaza war there has been significantly less pro-israeli articles in the norwegian newspapers, that is, in favor of the israeli political leaders. Before that war, there were many articles on the topics you mentioned. About terror attacs: I think that many of the operations comitted by IDF or by some settlers has the same impact on people as car bombs and Gaza rockets has on Israeli citizens. Shooting a rocket from a plane is not more noble than firing it from a backyard. You missed my point about the Berlin Wall: That it works does not make it right. Just take a look at the Israeli wall on the map! About participating in negotiations: They will never be fare as long as you have a strong and a week part and that is not taken into consideration. That was one of the reasons the Oslo process was no success. To blame the pals alone for lack of progress here is closing your eyes for their arguments. What has a Norwegian got to do with the conflict: I mentioned Norways connections to Israel in #73. I myself has many friends that has been on peace keeping missions in the Middle East, and we often discuss the topic. I feel it wery frustrating to see how the two peoples are trying to destroy each other. One want to do someting. This is my way of handling that, hoping that some of my writings will make a difference. I also want to visiualize that many people, not only the jewish people, are interested in what is going on in the region. You are in the world.

The history of 1890 and onwards is completely insufficient since Jewish history is 4000 years old. If you want to know China's history and China's right to it's land, you shouldn't start in the early or mid 20th century - you should start at the very beginnings of Chinese civilization. The bottomline: we Jews are no foreigners or intruders in Israel or the Middle East. We are the native, ancient and historical population of Israel - we are a Mid Eastern ethnic group of people that has returned to the Middle East - where we come from. We are as much native to the Middle East as everyone else. Actually more since we have lived in the Middle East longer than Persians, Turks, Arabs and Kurds. I have to check your statement regarding Zeev Jabotinsky but he himself admitted that Israel is the ancient homeland of the Jewish people. It's strange how the Arabs can be the natives of Israel when they arrived in Israel in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. He didn't look upon the "Pals" as the natives since they didn't call themselves "Pals" back then. They considered themselves to be Arab speaking Moslems of the Turkish province of Syria. Golda Meir simply stated the truth - based on historical facts. You still haven't responded to talkback nr 81. I wonder why... Arab terrorists are relentlessly targetting Jews. IDF is not relentlessly targetting Arabs, but Arabs involved in terrorism. The majority of the Arabs killed by the IDF had themselves killed Jews if they hadn't been stopped. There is no moral equivalence between racist genocidal terror attacks and self defense. Why isn't the Israeli security fence/wall right? It's our historical homeland, "Palestinians"/Arabs/Moslems don't belong there - they are an invading foreign civilization, the land is legally ours according to the San Remo treaty of 1920 and the Anglo-American treaty signed 3rd of December 1924. 78% (Jordan) of the British mandade was cut off, stolen from the Jews and given to the Arabs and 80-90% of the "Jordanians" are "Pals". You didn't answer my questions. The fact that you are interested in this conflict gives you no right to interfer. We are not trying to annihilate anyone but we are defending ourselves against the Arabs. End your moral relativist hypocrisy and start looking at facts. Yes you're welcome to be frustrated about not being able to erase the difference between good and evil and between facts and fantasies. We Jews have 4000 years of history in Israel whereas the "Palestinians" have none.

...since all your statements in nr 98 have already been answered several times and you still haven't answered my questions in talkback nr 81. Regarding Jabotinsky: I have to check your statement, but he himself admitted that Israel was/is the ancient Jewish homeland. Even if we pretend that one single Jew (Jabotinsky) made that statement, it doesn't change ancient and modern Mid Eastern history. His statement doesn't change the ancient and modern history of M. East and Israel. The Jews are the natives of Israel - not the Arabs. Arabs didn't refer to themselves as "Palestinians" until after the Six Day War, June 1967. Are you saying that Arabs, 45 years ago, went through a miraculous anthropological transformation in one day and discovered they were "Palestinians"? They day before they were either Egyptians or Jordanians. Arabs rejected the term "Palestinian" since they saw that as a "Zionist invention". The Arabs, most of them arrived in Israel in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, considered themselves to be Arab speaking Moslems in the (former)Turkish province of Syria. I think instead we should discuss Norwegian anti-Semitism, anti-Israel sentiments, boycotts of Israeli goods and products, boycotts of Israeli guest lecturers and visiting Israeli professors and the systematic silencing of pro-Israeli sentiments, daily anti-Israeli articles in Norwegian newspapers, the Norwegian government's support for Israel's enemies and the Norwegian government's hostility to Israel and the fear experienced daily by Norwegian Jews and Norwegian racism to Jews and other minorities. I'm deeply worried about the Norwegian Jews and other minorities as well. I'm worried about the Sami people and I seriously think we should debate whether or not Norway has a right to exist as a nation state.

1.History does not begin in 1890. It began in the ME more than 3000 years ago. 2. IDF operations most certainly do NOT have the same impact on people as car bombs and gaza rockets! The first targets specific people involved in the terrorism you mention (but do not call by name), many times after an attack. The second is indiscriminate, whenever they can. It happens many times after they declare a cease fire (without Israeli agreement), then shoot, and accuse Israel of breaking the so-called cease fire when Israel retaliates. Hence the Israeli phrase "we cease, they fire". A rocket shot from a plane is aimed at terrorists. Firing a rocket that cannot be aimed, indisriminately, is NOT the same. It has nothing to do with "noble". 3. You missed my point about the Berlin wall. The Berlin wall was for offense; a Russian move against the West. The Israeli wall is for defense; against terrorists. It works. What are you complaining about? That bus bombings have stopped? 4. The Pals have walked away every time they came close (too close for them) to an agreement. Now they call for preconditions as a stalling tactic. You also should not consider them weak, as much of the arab world supports them, along with Iran. Let them treat the talks seriously; you have fallen for their PR. 5. Israelis feel very frustrated. Here is a group calling themselves "Palestinians" who have less connection to the area than the returning Jews, who have rejected every attempt at a peace treaty, who insist on their right to kill Jews and teach this to their children, who insist the WB will be judenrein, who still want to destroy Israel and push the Jews into the sea...and people like you are incredibly blind to the reality. You have an automatic affinity to those who fashion themselves as 'underdog'. 6. Norway has always said it is for peace. This means seeing both sides for what they are, not only one side for what it says while ignoring the other. If Israel listens to people like you it could be destroyed. Sorry; no sale. Peace.

Thank you for your comments. 1. I agree. I guess the oldest findings is about 10.000 years old. I know that the jews have a special connection to the area, but, when the jews went out looking for a homeland in the 1890s, Argentina was also an option. 2. If you look at PTS (Post traumatic stress) in children in Szederot and Gaza, you will find many similarities. When children in Gaza panic when they see bright stars, something is very wrong. 3. Of course I know the difference between the Berlin Wall and the Israeli wall. What I complain about is that the Israeli wall is not made just for security reasons. Every one looking at the map will see that. 4. I don't agree. Not according to my studies. About PR: The Israeli budget here is enormous, more than 20 million dollars per year in the US alone. 5. Who feels most connected to the area is an impossible question to answer. Pals that have lived in the area for generations will certainly have a strong connection to the area. With the resent history in mind it is no supprice to find extremistic views like that. But I feel that can rapidly change given the right conditions. But II feel that some groups, like some parts of Hamas, would prefer a high conflict level. They need that to stay in power. About peace treaty: It is a difference between peace and "lack of war". 6. "If Israel listens to people like you it could be destroyed." That is your opinion, not a fact. I am afraid it could be the opposite, that todays policy can destroy your country. A recent survey showed that Israel was no. 3 from the top of the most disliked nations in the world, alongside North Korea! It has not always been like that. It does not have to bee like that. Could it be that you do something wrong? As Hanna Arendt said: "Stop and Think".

1. They considered a few places as a possible homeland, but decided on Israel for obvious reasons. The arabs, on the other hand, insisted they were NOT Palestinians, but arabs owing allegiance to the surrounding countries. In 1948, if you said Palestinians you meant the Jews. At that time most arabs called themselves Southern Syrians. They discovered the word Palestinian in the 1960’s. 2. Yes, PTS in children is a tragedy. The cause is the same. But the parents can easily resolve the issue. If the arabs will stop shooting at Israel, Isreal will not return fire. Very simple; even too simple to have such an easy solution yet it is ignored by the world. You realize of course that pogroms, the killing of Jews, began way before Israel was established. Most would put it in the 1920’s in Hebron. 3. The IDF has been taken to court (try taking an arab army to court in their own country, let alone Hamas, PA or Hezbollah) and they are moving the fences. But the wall is a direct result of arab actions (see #2 above). And it is working. 4. And what ‘studies’ have you done? Just list the items the arabs had agreed to in any agreements, and check off those of which they followed through. You might also look more closely at their ‘preconditions’ which are conditions they know Israel will not accept. And from where is the $20 million per year?! I see it as $250K annually. (see paragraph 5: h t t p : / / digitaljournal. com / blog / 16219) 5. But not as many Pals have lived there for generations as you think. While the first came with the Moslem conquest of 676AD, many came in the early 1900’s (when the economy improved after more Jews came in the late 1800’s), and more in 1948 when Jordan needed moslems to take the place of the Jews they kicked out so the Jews wouldn’t come back. And most ‘refugees’ are not true refugees as they have never set foot in “Palestine”. The definition of a “Palestinian refugee” is different than the definition of any other refugee in the world. And as long as Hamas (Hezbollah, etc) wants to kill the Jews, Israel cannot make peace with any faction that allies itself with terrorists. ‘Bad cop, good cop’ won’t work. 6. I don’t think many Israelis want to take the chance that you are wrong. The question is not one of popularity among nations (look at the UNHRC), but of pure, simple survival. Could it be that Israel is doing something right and you don’t see it? I don’t think that Haiti, Japan, and many other nations would castigate Israel given the emergency assistance it has provided. I suggest you follow your own advice: stop and think! 7. I still see you as myopic, bordering on blind, not seeing the reality of Hamas, Hezbollah, et al, who place their own people on the front line in order to create sympathy, when radical change of the situation is in their hands.

Interesting rhetorical trick here. The problem is, of course, that you lack the knowledge of where most Norwegians and the Norwegian government actually stand in the Israel/Palestine conflicts. The right to exists, for example, is univocally supported by all political parties in Norway. Basically, the most common Norwegian position is: critical of settlements on disputed land, against violence towards civilians (from both sides) and human rights violations, critical of islamist extremism (Hamas etc), support of Israeli right to self-defense (but not as an excuse to build settlements).