close
close

Association-anemone

Bite-sized brilliance in every update

Norway will step up efforts to combat anti-Semitism, targeting young people – BNN Bloomberg
asane

Norway will step up efforts to combat anti-Semitism, targeting young people – BNN Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Norway has unveiled plans to increase spending to fight anti-Semitism amid rising terror threats linked to Jewish and Israeli targets.

The government’s updated measures to protect the 1,500-strong minority of Jews in the country of 5.6 million reflect a situation that is “worse than it has been for a long time,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said in a speech in Oslo on Monday.

Efforts will include more funding for Jewish and human rights centers, educating police about hate crimes and sending young Norwegians on field trips to World War II concentration camps.

Last month, Norway’s security service raised the terror threat to high from medium — following similar increases in neighboring Sweden and Denmark over last year — citing the war in the Middle East and growing threats against Jewish and Israeli targets. The country is among the few in Europe to officially recognize a Palestinian state.

In April, a Jewish cemetery in Trondheim, the fourth-largest city, was vandalized, with stars of David pulled from the ground and broken.

A plan to tackle hate speech against Muslims is due to be published in December, while measures to prevent discrimination against the indigenous Sami people are due next year, Store added.

“A society that would start tolerating anti-Jewish incitement will at the same time tolerate hate speech against Muslims, against queer groups and other vulnerable groups, and that’s a society that’s not good for anybody,” Store said. “So anti-Semitism is a bit like the canary in the coal mine when it’s there and strong.”

©2024 Bloomberg LP