The extremist Norwegian government needs to be ostracized if it refuses to mend its ways.
Only through international pressure will the Norwegian government be forced to curb its radical agenda. It’s Labour party PM openly cavorts with anti-Israel activists within the indoctrination camp of their youth, while other members and former members of government have taken an entirely hostile approach towards Israel.
It still hasn’t dawned upon the Norwegian faux humanitarian government, that by taking a completely hostile and irrational attitude vis-a-vis the Jewish state, they remove themselves from the playing field of statesmen considered to be honest brokers. Israel, regardless of the major party in question, cannot take them seriously.
NOTE: The Palestinian NGO should rename itself the Palestinian Centre for the Future Genicide of the Jews (PCFGJ). It’s a more accurate title that suits their mindset and objective, than the current misleading ‘human rights’ monikor. In that they are taking a page right out of the Norwegian handbook.
This article was originally published in the Norwegian paper, VG, now translated in both Hebrew and English.
Will Norway help Palestinian NGO destroy ICC?
Op-ed: ‘Human rights group’ using Oslo funds in pressing Int’l Criminal Court to target Israel
Gerald M. Steinberg
Published: 08.16.13, 12:53 / Israel Opinion
The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established by the Rome Statute in 1998, with the important goal of bringing the worst tyrants and human rights abusers to justice. However, as an international body, it is subject to abuse for political purposes, as seen in ongoing efforts to use the ICC mechanism as part of the political war against Israel. For the past four years, the previous ICC Prosecutor Ocampo carefully avoided such campaigns, realizing that political exploitation would mark the end of its independence and credibility.
But recent developments, through the efforts of a group known as the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), whose activities are funded by Norway, may lead the new ICC prosecutor to capitulate on this complex issue. In April 2013, PCHR issued a public statement demanding that the Palestinian leadership join the ICC for no reason other than to prosecute Israeli officials.
If the ICC bows to this pressure and begins proceedings against Israelis based on double standards and false claims, this will end its moral mission and turn this body into yet another political battleground.
This political process is also likely to destroy the efforts to renew negotiations towards Israeli-Palestinian peace, led by US Secretary of State Kerry. At the beginning of the current talks, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas agreed to an Israeli request to suspend the political warfare in the ICC, as a confidence building measure, and the Netanyahu government quietly halted settlement construction. However, PCHR, with Norwegian funding, is pushing the ICC campaign, with or without coordination with the PLO, and if this continues, this will bring an immediate end to the Kerry mission.
While this is not the international role that Norwegian taxpayers and government officials seek to play, the funding and cooperation with political advocacy NGOs such as PCHR has unintended impact, much like “collateral damage” in a shooting war. The Representative Office of Norway in Ramallah is listed as one of PCHR’s main sponsors (the annual amount provided is unclear) and Norwegian officials meet frequently with the PCHR leadership. In 2012, the leaders of this Gaza-based NGO met with Norwegian government officials, as well as the Norwegian Refugee Council, on at least seven different occasions, reflecting a high degree of cooperation. PCHR is one of the Norwegian government’s main Palestinian partners, and every action and initiative promoted by the NGO is facilitated by Norway.
Political warfare
In this context, the campaign that PCHR is leading in politicizing the International Criminal Court as part of the effort to expand the demonization of Israel is of central importance. For many years, PCHR has used the façade of human rights to lead the international campaign designed to label Israelis as “war criminals.” This is a form of soft-power or political warfare, adopted in the NGO Forum of the 2001 UN Conference in Durban, South Africa, with the explicit objective of “the complete international isolation of Israel.”
