Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide announced on Friday plans for a bill that would impose legal restrictions on trade with Israelis in Judea and Samaria, in what one Jewish community leader called a “betrayal” of Israel by its former political allies.
The effects of a trade ban on products produced in Judea and Samaria would have “near negligible” impact on Israel economy, but may be applied to trade with Israeli banks that have a presence in those territories, which would “chill trade altogether,” the Jewish community source said.
“We intend to prohibit trade with the unlawful settlements,” Eide wrote in a statement. “By proposing legally binding prohibitions, the government makes it clear that Norwegian citizens and Norwegian companies must not profit from or support activities that help sustain Israel’s unlawful settlement activity in Palestine,” he added.
Eide’s ruling Labor Party and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre have secured the support of four other parties for the bill, allowing it to easily clear a vote with the majority of the 169 seats in Norway’s parliament, according to a report by Dagbladet.
The local leader, who spoke with JNS anonymously, singled out the Centre Party for special criticism.
“It has not been part of the anti-Israel axis in Norwegian politics, but now it joined Labor, the Socialist Left Party and the Red Party in supporting a ban. That’s a betrayal,” the source said. They spoke anonymously because the country’s organized Jewish community had not reacted officially to the announcement. The community’s spokesperson had not replied to a request for comment at time of publication.
Henrik Beckheim, a Norwegian-Jewish author and podcaster, called the planned bill “a new insanity from Norway,” adding the bill would ban trade with “more than 700,000 Jews. The law does not apply to any other places or conflicts in the world. It is intended solely to target Jews.” Nevertheless, he told JNS, “the proposal would also affect Palestinians.”
“For those of us who travel to Israel, it would mean that we risk breaking the law if, for example, we bring back a bottle of wine or a package of dates produced by a Jew in Judea,” he said.
The Jewish community source said the bigger concern was that the government or financial bodies would seize on the ban to “stretch it out to mean that Poalim, Leumi and Discount are also a settlement enterprise because they have clients and branches in Judea and Samaria, which they all do,” he said, naming major Israeli banks.
Norway joined France, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand last year in recognizing a Palestinian state. Last year, Spain, Belgium, The Netherlands and Slovenia announced a ban on goods produced by Israelis in Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights and eastern Jerusalem. Slovenia has since canceled the ban. In Ireland’s parliament, another bill to ban those products is being worked on.
