02-May-16: Norway's polite and cautious funding of Palestinian Arab terror

Bergen in cheery, careful Norway [Image Source]

In Norway, they're in the midst of a very welcome bout of self-criticism, looking critically at the morality and legality of their funding the PA whose appalling Rewards for Terror scheme we have discussed here often.  

Here's how it has unfolded so far.

• Our small role in the expose started three years ago when Arnold Roth was invited to speak to lawmakers in Oslo. Arising from that visit to Norway's parliament and some exposure to its media, there was a video segment on the main Norwegian TV news via which our daughter Malki's face became an evocative symbol of what their unjustified faith in the Abbas regime was wreaking. It's online at http://www.nrk.no/video/PS*106544 (May 14, 2013)
• Since then, the opposition have become the government, but not much has changed in relation to the funding scandal despite what appeared to be sincere assurances by politicians - yes, that's a possible oxymoron - back in 2013. The main Norwegian TV station did a follow-up last week, again with Malki's portrait in a central role. Online at http://www.nrk.no/norge/lovet-a-stoppe-stotte---men-palestina-gir-fortsatt-lonn-til-terrorister-1.12912878 (April 24, 2016)
• Then Dagen, a Norwegian daily newspaper with a correspondent posted in Jerusalem, followed up with an interview with Arnold that they published this past Friday. Online at http://www.dagen.no/Nyheter/terrorlønn/–-Norsk-pengestøtte-holder-terroren-i-gang-334991{April 29, 2016)

Arnold Roth meets in Oslo with Norwegian parliamentarians from the

Christian Democrats, April 2013. The subject back then was Norway's 

funding of the PA Rewards for Terror scheme - support which continues

until today. Three years, much talk, little progress.

What makes this more than a mere small-town story is that Norway, exceptionally rich because of North Sea oil, has an outsize foreign aid budget amounting to 1.05% of its gross national income in 2015. That's the second-largest percentage among all countries.

Beyond that, Norway takes the leading role among European countries in funding the PA. (Note that Norway is not a member of the EU so its funding of Abbas is over and above what the PA gets from Brussels.) 

The current state of play is that today's Norwegian government is essentially saying: Yes we know there are some bad things, and even terrorism, that are somehow funded by the foreign aid community. But rest assured, it's not our money, no way, because we are so careful and we make absolutely sure that Norwegian krone only go to pay for Lego sets for little Palestinian babies and never for terrorism. [Actual quote: "Foreign Minister Brende refers to assurances he has been given that the Norwegian money is not used to pay the terrorists."]  

The foreign minister is going to meet with Abbas in the next week and says he will impress upon him not to do anything nasty with Norway's gifts.[Actual quote: "Next week Brende scheduled to have a meeting with Mahmoud Abbas. In Wednesday's question time he assured that he will put further pressure on the Palestinian Authority."] 

Further pressure certainly sounds good. And how likely is it to fix things? (How do you say "Who cares?" in Norwegian?)   

That point became clearer to us when, in parliamentary question time this past Wednesday (April 27), the foreign minister, according to a note we received from a Norwegian friend, told a questioner that he plans to yet again ask Abbas to stop the Rewards for Terror scheme salaries. But giving less aid to the PA is something his government will not consider.

For a sense of the unfettered evil being done daily by the Mahmoud Abbas PA regime via foreign aid cash, and the devastation this is causing to their society as well as to ours, there's no better or more updated information source than this report published a week ago by PMW. It chronicles the malevolent deceptions of the child-abusing Palestinian Authority as it pulls the wool over stunningly-uncritical Western donor countries' eyes, claiming falsely to have ceased the practice of paying salaries to terrorist prisoners while reaping more than a billion dollars per year. The executive summary version is here.

It's hard not to see donor countries as operating several steps beyond gullible. To our eyes, there seems to be a considerable degree of self-imposed willful ignorance. (Leaving aside the powerful PMW analysis we referenced above, are the Norwegians completely unaware of what the EU's auditors said about the oversight failures of the EU's funding of the Palestinian Arabs? Here's one of several posts we wrote about it.) 

Would it be unfair of us to suggest that the legendary "I'm shocked" moment scene - embodied by Claude Rains in the Captain Renault role from "Casablanca" (above) - captures official Norway's see-no-evil stance?