This was quite shocking too read i must say. I've been watching the news on Norwegian tv channels non-stop since Friday. And i haven't seen Israel mentioned ONCE! I've even asked some of my friends, and they haven't seen anything either. BTW: the cops used exactly one hour from the first call of the shooting at Utoya, at that time there were utter chaos down-town Oslo. 1 hour to get the special forces ready, getting through traffic in a chaotic city that just been hit by a bomb for the first time since WWII, drive 55km, find boats so the troops could get over to the island, find the guy on a Island... Is that seriously a long time? If so, we dont have drills for this sorts of things in Norway, why should we go around and be scared if that or this could happen? I understand that its a completely different situation in your country, but for us its not a normal thing. Yes, call us naive dumb idiots polarbears, but we do really appreciate and love the fact that we can live like this, when. Its presented in this article like all Norwegian are Nazis and hate Yews... Me, and i think all of my friends have a deep respect for Israel and we're always on your side in debates, but this reading here was really fu***ed up! Its things like this who creates the anti-Semites... And i say again, Israels have NOT been mentioned on the news, and i guess it wont either, because its not relevant in this matter. Ive just stumbled upon this site, now I just wish i didnt. For me, being a Israel "fanboy" i must say im disappointed. Sorry for my bad English. -Jarl

I found only two references to Israel in articles about the tragedy in the four main Norwegian newspapers. Aftenposten noted that the gunman had "other views on Israel than most right wingers" and Dagbladet said only that he was "pro-Israel". Looks like the author had to invent anti- Israeli bias. By the way, the Iranian and Egyptian embassies have a police box outside - visible security - and the police patrol 3-4 times per hour around the clock. The Americans also have security.

The norwegian newspaper Aftenposten uses an "expert" named Lars Gule to try to explain this terrorists behavior and to warn people against being right wing. The "expert" Lars Gule is the same person that in 1977 was arrested on his way to Ben Gurion Tel Aviv, with explosives in his luggage. He was on his way to commit terror for a palestinian terrorgroup.

Based on this text, I would say no. He mentions the fortified Israeli embassy and jewish community buildings as examples of the "...only places where the security measures stand out", but neclect to mention the security around the US embassy. He mentions Tore Tvedt, a well known neo-nazi and his views of the jews. But again fail to mention that this person had no influence in society in his prime-days, even less now. His arcaic views come off as comical or tragic, more than anything. Mr Gerstenfeld tries to portrait Norway as an anti-semittic state, filled with jew-hating people. Something I dont recognize at all. Its true that Norway, like most if not all, european countries, have a grim history towards the jews. Because there never were many jews in Norway, the prejudice and racism was mostly based on rumors and xenophobic fantasies. And despite what different governments decided, it was never a violent or acting anti-semitism. Mr Gerstenfeld, like some others, seem to confuse criticism of the actions of the state of Israel with anti-semitism. Which is dangerous. The posters in the background on the photo of foreign minister Stoeres visit to Utøya presents a critic of Israels actions towards the palestinian. Its based on a humanitarian view, and is far from anti-semittic. Wether or not people in Norway condone or condemn what happens to palestinians, its not based on anti-semittism. Some, like Anders Breivik, base their opinion on interpretations of the bible. Others on the humanitarian situation of the palestinians.

it's called showing support in a tragedy. I'm still waiting to hear if a 17 year old girl i know made it. Most likely she didn't. Have some heart. You of all should know what attack on your country does.

In any national diplomacy, the advance of one's own interests is of the utmost importance. Little is to be asked from any gvernment to forsake its internal strategy by using any external means. The motives for Norway's obssesive attitude towards Israel must be found in two extremely serious premises. 1) fear of Jihadist contagion among its rather large (comparatively to it small indigenous population) Muslim citizens. 2) and that is the root of a greatest threat MONEY. Norway has the biggest Soverain Fund which buys or invest in multitude of enterprises in the Arabo-Muslim world. Unfortunately, Israel has been caught in an unusual historic circomstances, which reminds me why the Turks in the 15-16th century accepted so many Jewish refugees from Spain's inquisition?! It was for the Jewish knowledge of the military and other sciences that helped Turkey to defeat Europe in the centuries later. All that sai, it does not justify by any human feeling the harming of innocent young or old people. Plainly is BARBARISM.

Arafat...he is the guy Oslo gave the Nobel "Piece" prize...for his plan to take Israel piece by piece...Arafat: the guy who invented pizza store bombing and school bus bombing...you know, Arafat, the one who got the Piece Prize from Oslo...for doing exactly what this guy did.... what goes around comes around... Hey Oslo/EU/USA...how is that accepting terror as a legitimate battle tactic working out for you? You were happy when Jews died in terror attacks and the Oslo/EU/USA did not lift a finger to stop terror attacks from becoming a legit battle tactic, but not happy when the exact same battle tactic was done to you? Oslo/EU/USA invited these attacks when Oslo/EU/USA accepted terror as a legitimate battle tactic for Arabs fighting Israel; and want to prosecute Israeli people for defending themselves....”hypocrites ad-nausea”... Either the world will stamp out terror as a legit battle tactic or it will get use to it; it would have been easy when it was confined to Jews…much tougher to stop now…

This is a very well thought out and solid analysis of the massacre in Norway, Norwegian society, political culture and the perpetrator. I would add one thing. Unless one admits that there is evil in this world and that there are dangerous and evil people who may resort to violence, one cannot protect oneself, one's family or society. This was a blind spot on the part of the Norwegians who had it so good that they forgot that evil existed even in their well run welfare state. If some there did think that any evil existed it would be here in Israel and among the Jews, whom the elite & government have singled out as pariahs or the past decade.

We are appalled by the killings, and wish the survivors a speedy recovery. Please forgive, however, our knee jerk reaction of wondering "is this good or bad for the Jews". This comes from a few thousand years of bearing the brunt of Christian love and Moslem attitudes.

Why is any Israeli or any other Jew worrying about terror attacks in norway? Why is Israel lowering their flag to half staff? In the face of terrorist attacks in Isael or upon any Jewish community would norway officially mourn? Inquiring minds want to know.

Yossef, good point. The answer is that, unfortunately, your Syrian cousins do not matter to anyone. Everyone is quite preoccupied with the plight of the Palestinians. This is not reason to write "Who care?", as you wrote. It is hard not to care about young people murdered because of their ideas or ethnicity.

...lowering of the flag to mourn is usually done by the affected country (Norway) and not by a foreign nation (Israel).

These children received their political correct indoctrination on how terrible we are because we build fences and establish check points for keeping terrorists out of our cities and towns. Then a right wing CHRISTIAN comes along and murders them because he is pissed off at Muslim immigration. Now we are somehow to blame. Did I miss anything?

He was also fanatically pro-Serbian. He also presumably wanted to drive the Muslims out of Egypt and return it to the Coptics. His world view is that he hates Muslims and will always favor a non-Muslim country and people over a Muslim country.

I have read some of his writings, he often attacks muslims of fascism, lack of respect for human life and dignity, etc. None of your typical neo nazi babble, sounds more like center (perhaps bit right wing but not far on the spectrum) ideology. But he really strong christian ideology with crusader line. Martyrdom for church. But he doesn't seem to be associated with any church, any priest would have set him straight on his crusader nonsense. Then he went and murdered 90 highschool kids, never mind all of his "respect for human life and democracy" writings. He is a very strange person, probably very sick. But due to the magnitude of the crime, he should be given as much mercy as he gave those kids. Norway should institute death penalty, specially for him, like Israel did with Eichmann.

I've just come from a site called politisk.no where the picture of the foreign minister and Boycott Israel sign is reproduced. The comments to the article that I can read are almost all anti-semitic and anti-zionist. Some even claim that the Zionists/Jews are responsible. But more disturbing, why is the foreign minister attending a political party youth camp that supports a boycott of Israel? Is this official Norwegian foreign policy? Furthermore, aren't these children a bit young to understand the Israeli/Palestinian conflict? Some of them did not look much older than 13 or 14. In any case, it seems that Norway is not what it appears to be. And just for the record, the terrorist is not a Christian fundamentalist. In fact, he writes in his manifesto that he is not a religious person.

firs of all, I want to say my thoughts and prayers are with the people of Norway. it doesn't matter if they hate israel. second, it means they are acting just like the killer!! it's a modern blood lible!!! istael didn't do it and yet when people blamed muslims for the attack the asked us to be understanding... except for terror we are use to blood libles too.

I appreciate your support for Israel and thank you for your input on the subject. It does indeed help to put this article in perspective...

i was twice in Norway. In 1982, I was very surprised how many Norwigians dislike Arabs. They were mentioning this to me without me asking, and I did not know what to say and was silent. In 1994, the situation changed. Now, some begin hating Israel.

During the horrific bombings in Israel, around 10-15 years ago - exactly how much sympathy and understanding were given to the Israeli people, by Norway? An honest response would be appreciated.

Me and my friends are shocked! this is awful what happened. A very peaceful place and people. we israelis are like sabra we sting from the outside but sweet from the inside. we obviously pray for the parents and friends of these kids. and send them all the LOVE that we can. even if you can't see it sometimes...

to all norwegians. I'm very sorry for you. i know sometimes you can't see how much love we feel for you. but believe me WE DO. we should stand together as human being for multiple Views and against violence. SHALOM EVERYBODY!

we send my condolences to the families of those who killed. Also a speedy recovery to the wounded. Despite the frustration we feel because of the unjustified boycott on Israel, we love you as people and think of you. It's important for us that you know it.

you got the wrong impression we DO LOVE YOU AND PRAY FOR YOU. Shalom from israel.

Some of the Norwegian writers have mentioned that guns are not carried by police. The political leadership in Norway is clueless. They see a Norway from 40 years ago where rapes were rare, people coujld leave their doors open and property crimes, robberies and assaults were relatively rare. They had better get a clue. The streets of Oslo are terrorized by thugs (many of whom are Muslims) and the crime rate, except for murder, is much higher than in New York City. And even though the rape rate is probably close to 5x the U.S. rate, the police still won't carry guns. And the leadership won't let the police carry guns because that would be acknowledging that the country was no longer a safe haven from the ills of crime.

How do you measure sympathy? How much do you need? No, Im assuming yours was a retorical question. And as far as I know, most Norwegians felt and do feel sympathy for any victims of terrorism.

Is this another example of american conspiracy therory? With no comparison, its important to mention that the obsessive compulsion to make a system out of what happens in the news, make connections where there are none, was typical for Anders Breivik, but also for his likeminded persons. Pst, the norwegian secret police, has had a close watch on right wing extremists for a long time. Reason A.Breivik didnt appear on their radar was simply that he wasn't organized. He wasn't a part of the extremists communities. Also, a farmer buying fertilizer, on credit, isnt actually that unusual. There is no way anyone could have foreseen what came.

Again I must as Norwegian posters on this site -- who profess that they themselves do not hate Israel and are not anti-Semitic -- why is your ruling elite obsessed with Israel? Why do your media and government officials hate Israel, while expressing love for Hamas terrorists? Jari above wrote: "Me, and i think all of my friends have a deep respect for Israel and we're always on your side in debates, but this reading here was really fu***ed up! Its things like this who creates the anti-Semites..." Is that right? Are we Jews responsible for creating Norwegian anti-Semitism? At a certain level, aren't we all responsible for the evil policies of our leaders? Here in the US, we have the tea party and other activists pushing back against this immoral, anti-Israel US president. Where is the opposition to the leftist / anti-Semitic government in Norway?