Janhoo's Blog

It is possible that the Norwegian Finance Minister Halvorsen participated in a demonstration on January 8, and not January 10 as stated in my original blog entry. The actual date does not matter, however, as the outcome and content of the different anti-Israeli demonstrations were fairly identical. In fact, I previously posted a video of the January 8 demonstrations.

The blog "Tundra Tabloids" raises some good points regarding this issue, though it also acknowledges that Ms. Halvorsen did not shout any anti-Semitic slogans:

"What is one to think of a politician who understands well enough that, shouting "death to the Jews" is wrong, and doesn't want to be depicted as doing such a thing, but more than willing to participate in a demonstration with those who were doing just that? Kristin Halvorsen is of course justified in wanting to correct the facts to the J'lem Post story, but will she ever apologize for participation in an event where people were in fact shouting "death to the Jews"? I doubt it".

Labels: anti-semitism, hamas, israel, kristin halvorsen

According to The International Herald Tribune, "UN says Hamas stole aid intended for Gazans". Israel has been allowing approximately 200 truckloads of humanitarian aid into Gaza on a daily basis since the end of the campaign, though the article does not mention how much aid Egypt has allowed to pass through its borders.

Also, human rights groups have commented that an investigation of Hamas war crimes is not necessary as its actions constitute blatant war crimes not worthy of investigation.

The Norwegian tabloids VG & Dagbladet are ignoring these stories, and instead focus on a Norwegian politician that recently made a trip to the Gaza Strip and Israel. VG and Dagbladet also published articles on wreckage that needs to be removed from the Gaza Strip.

Currently, the crisis in Sri Lanka is getting zero coverage on the front pages of Dagbladet and VG. James Dunnigan posted an interesting article yesterday titled "Why Israel Is Special". He writes in the article about how approximately 300,000 people have been killed in fighting in Sudan during the last few years, around 5 million have died indirectly or directly as a result of the war in Congo during the last decade, and almost 100,000 have been killed in Sri Lanka during the last 25 years. Still, all the world's focus is on Israel and the "horrible" Jews, though the number of dead in the Israel-Arab conflict is relatively minimal compared to other conflicts. As he ends his essay; "Go Figure".

Update 1: VG has posted a small article covering an amnesty offered to the Tamil rebels by the government in Colombo. Dagbladet is still ignoring the Sri Lanka crisis, not to mention any stories stories from Africa. Instead, Dagbladet has posted a one-sided story (the sources are Al Jadeed og Al Jazeera) about a boat with emergency aid that was stopped on its way to Gaza. The ship is apparently trying to access Gaza without Israeli permission, and has several Palestinian activists onboard the ship. It seems the activists are more interested in media attention than they are in delivering the aid. Since it surely is not possible for them to ensure that the aid does not end up in the arms of Hamas, perhaps they ought to sail on to Sri Lanka?

Labels: gaza, hamas, israel, norway, sri lanka, sudan

An article in the tabloid paper VG reports that children in the Jewish Kindergarten in Oslo are not allowed to play outside. Since Hamas has stated that all Jews and Jewish institutions around the world are valid targets for their revenge, the children are being kept inside behind bulletproof glass.

Norway has its share of terrorists and terrorist supporters, so I believe the concern is warranted.

Labels: children, hamas, jewish, oslo

I found an interesting article that gives a revised figure for the number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip. According to the doctor, who ironically works in Gaza's Shifa Hospital (from which the Norwegian Hamas supporters Gilbert & Fosse reported during the midst of the battle), the number of dead stands at no more than 500 or 600. Most of the latter were Hamas members.

Dagbladet is reporting another story about Israel bombing a military target in Gaza. Apparently no one was injured or killed in the attack, but a staged picture (showing a man and a little boy sitting on the rubble of the building) still give the impression this was an attack on civilians. VG makes a big deal about some diplomats held up at the Gaza border for 6 hours (security at the border is understandably strict as a soldier was killed in at attack yesterday). Some warning shots were also fired while a Norwegian diplomat was sitting in a car nearby. There is also a story about the UN requesting $613 million in aid for Gaza.

While these non-stories receive lots of coverage, the Norwegian tabloids are completely ignoring the 100 civilians massacred in Congo.

Labels: casualties, civilian, death, gaza, hamas, israel