NORWAY

NORWAY

Bergens Tidende, Bergen, April 21: Many wanted Norway to boycott the U.N. conference on racism. But it turned out that Norway’s foreign minister (Jonas Gahr Stoere) was the one who took on Iran’s president in a solid way.

It was a very controversial racism conference ... a bit like the West against the rest, with parts of the Muslim world in particular using the conference to launch strong attacks on Israel.

When attacks became as hateful and rabid as in the speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, several of Israel’s friends reacted strongly.

Durban II

Many countries stayed away from this U.N. conference, also called Durban II. Others sent lower ranking representatives. They feared a coup by Ahmadinejad and his lackeys, and that there would not be support for a final statement.

Jonas Gahr Stoere, for his part, saw it as important to be there, and to let Norway’s voice be heard loud and clear.

We support Jonas Gahr Stoere’s choice. One thing was the Iranian president’s speech. That was expected. Another thing was that it was the Norwegian foreign minister — next on the speakers’ list — who drew attention by challenging Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his extremist views.

We choose to believe that is a better and more articulate protest than walking out.

ISRAEL

Jerusalem Post, April 20: On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the world’s pre-eminent Holocaust-denier and leading anti-Zionist, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was granted a platform at Durban II, the U.N.’s so-called anti-racism conference in Geneva yesterday. He promptly called for the destruction of Israel: “Governments must be encouraged and supported in their fights at eradicating this barbaric racism. Efforts must be made to put an end to Zionism,” he said.

We watched in distress as many in the audience and galleries applauded.

Equally pernicious are those who are too slick to deny the Holocaust outright but instead claim that Israel inoculates itself with the memory of the six million in order to kill or oppress innocent Palestinians with impunity.

Disingenuous argument

A variation on the theme that Israel uses the Holocaust as a battering ram against the Palestinians is the disingenuous argument that it’s time for us Israelis to move on.

Our bogus fears, goes the claim, are as “corrosive” as they are delusionary. They make us think we are vulnerable when we — a nuclear power — are stronger than all our enemies combined.

It’s hard to decide which is worse — outright Holocaust-denial of the Ahmadinejad variety, or insidious assertions by Euro-leftists and anti-Zionists that would lull Israelis into letting down our guard and robbing us of the will to fight for our survival.