The Beginner's Guide to "Norwegian Media Antisemitism"

After my previous article about a Norwegian journalist who claimed that Israel targeted Gazan children on purpose, I was contacted by a Norwegian journalist on Twitter.

To sum up his complaints:
1. It's not fair to say we're antisemitic.
2. 'Israel' does not equal 'Jews'
3. Israel bashing is not antisemitism.
4. We should be able to criticize Israel without being called antisemites.

Based on his responses to my follow-up questions, here's a few guidelines to the beginning "Norwegian Media Antisemite".

1. Always put things in quotes

If you accuse Israel of genocide, remember to put it in quotes.  That way you are not accusing Israel of genocide, you're just standing by while others are doing it.

Norwegian TV reporting about "Genocide".
It's okay, it's a quote!

"Israel committing genocide in Gaza"
It's just a quote!

Your readers will get the message, don't worry.

2. "It seems" is your best friend

For example, you want to accuse Israel of targeting children, but you know they didn't.  "It seems" comes to the rescue: "Not only were children in the line of fire, they seemed to be a target."

It might seem I'm calling Norwegian journalists antisemites, but I'm really not.  It just seems that way.


3. Let the real antisemites do the work for you

NRK interviewed Max Blumenthal about United States-Israel relations and started off by asking "What is wrong with Israel"?

Blumenthal was more than happy to oblige by explaining why Israel is just as bad as Islamic State, and the Norwegian news-anchor in question did not bother to contradict or question him in any way.

Norwegian TV interviewed a little Palestinian girl who explained the Jews constantly try to kill her.  Really?  Did anybody try to attack this poor little girl?  We don't know, because Norwegian journalists, didn't bother asking.

No need to bring the other side.  Say, an Israeli kid that Palestinians actually tried to kill.


4. Don't forget, you're attacking Israel, not Jews

We all know Israel is the Jewish state, so you can use the phrase "the Jewish state" when describing Israel (*)  But use the phrase "the Jewish state" only when it's something good or neutral.  Never ever when attacking Israel.

But don't forget, you can lecture Israel by referring to religious sources.  They're Jews, they should know what you mean.

(*) Though, of course, you'll never refer to India as "the Hindu state", or Pakistan as "the Muslim state".  Israel is the only country that people need constant reminding about its residents.


5. Context is king

Don't tell people Israel is a terrorist state.  That would be unfair criticism.  Just lump Israel together with Boko Haram and Islamic State.

Don't say Israel is targeting children.  Just mention the Gaza War in the context of the attack on the school in Pakistan.

People will get the message.


6. Protect your sources

When your top source for anything anti-Israel says things that sound off-the-wall, don't investigate and don't update your readers.  They might conclude that anything he says is complete rubbish.

Mads Gilbert accused Israel of beheading Gazan children, and the only one who bothered checking up on what he meant was a Christian paper, which is assumed to be pro-Israel.

Turns out he didn't mean "beheading" beheading, like most people do.  In Mads-Gilbert-speak 'beheading' means 'mutilating by bombing'.

This accusation might pop up in the future though, when nobody will actually demand to see proof.


7. Remember to criticize Israel and Palestine equally

At least, claim that you do.  Nobody will follow up on those claims anyway.

Sadly, I have no examples to show for this one.

The journalist I was arguing with claimed he criticized both Israel and Palestine, and that it's not fair to say he was focusing on Israel.  But when I pressed for examples of actual articles, it turned out he wasn't a Middle East Affairs correspondent and that he hadn't written articles at all on the topic.

So, maybe another Norwegian journalist can jump to the rescue and show me the top headlines they give for Palestinians who kill Jews.

Meanwhile, I only have this example, an article about the poor family of a Palestinian terrorist (or not) who killed a few Jews. While the reader now knows the family of the murderer, the Norwegian journalists didn't even bother with getting the details of the victims right.

Norwegian media focusing on Palestinian terror

To sum up: I am not claiming Norwegian media is antisemitic.  Just because they accuse the Israel-lobby of controlling the US is no reason to get antsy.  We know and you know that Jews Israel controls the world.

And if Jews in Norway feel they have to publicly disassociate from Israel, or that the media stabs them in the back, or that they can't express themselves on the topics which most affect them, because they're Jews - well then, that's their problem.

After all, everybody knows that the Norwegian media is not antisemitic, that 'Israel' does not equal 'Jews' (the IDF is full of Muslims and Christians!), and that one is allowed to throw baseless accusations at Israel and only Israel, without being accused of being an antisemite.