Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said that Ireland was, for a long time, the most hostile country to Israel in Europe, but Norway overtook it, and it is currently facing a severe diplomatic crisis with Israel, at the heart of which is Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Ede.

The newspaper explained - in a report written by Itamar Eichner - that Espen Barth Eide made a series of harsh statements against Israel, and was the only Western foreign minister who condemned Israel and did not call for the release of detainees in Gaza, and compared Israel to Russia on 3 occasions, and said that Europe was losing its credibility. When you don't condemn Israel for the same things you condemned Russia.

When hearings began in the case brought by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Norway expressed its support for the lawsuit, and Eide told an opposition member that Israel may not have committed genocide in Gaza, but it was committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

For some reason

Eddy bragged - according to the newspaper - that Norway does not sell weapons to Israel, and called on countries that export weapons to Israel to stop doing so, because they may be indirectly involved in possible genocide.

The newspaper was surprised by Eddy’s statement in an interview with a popular newspaper that there was a deterioration in relations between Israel and the United States, saying, “I hear from all channels that America’s patience with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dropped to less than 1%. It is a very bad atmosphere.”

Despite the problematic behavior of the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Israel chose - for some reason - for Norway to be the one to keep hundreds of millions of shekels in frozen tax revenues that Israel deducts from Palestinian imports to Gaza as part of an agreement between Israel and the United States after Tel Aviv refused to transfer the money to Gaza. For fear of it falling into the hands of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Järr Sture said that Norway is ready to talk with Hamas to reach a quick solution to end the war. The Israeli newspaper did not see the matter as a surprise, because Norway is one of the European countries that does not classify Hamas as a “terrorist organization.”

Problematic behavior

The newspaper pointed out what it considered another aspect of Norway's problematic behavior towards Israel, by preventing Prime Minister Harald V from sending official condolences to Israel after the events of October 7, "in light of the political nature of the conflict."

At the same time, Eddy accompanied the wife of the Norwegian Crown Prince to the book fair in Cairo, and introduced her to the relief organizations working in Gaza, and she heard from her heartbreaking stories about what is happening in the Strip. The Foreign Minister said in the same meeting that what is happening there is “hell on earth,” and he stood. In front of the cameras with the wife of the heir to the throne, shedding tears, expressing her sympathy for the Palestinians.

The newspaper alerted Norway's position in support of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and its refusal to cut off funding for it. One of the senior representatives of the ruling Norwegian party even recommended that it be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, despite Israel accusing its employees of participating in the events of October 7.

The newspaper commented that “the false narrative that Israel was the one that started the war on Hamas” had appeared in the media in Norway, and accused it of always seeking to demonize Israel, noting that the street is no different from the media in Norway, where a Norwegian peace activist was photographed while He spits on pictures of detainees near the entrance to the Israeli embassy in Oslo.

The Israeli ambassador to Norway, Nir Feldklein, said that after the war, Israel will have to decide who its partners are, and it is not certain that Norway will be among them because the Norwegian government does not understand the situation and relations between the two countries are in crisis.