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Please Boycott My Country, Norway, over Antisemitism
(Wall Street Journal) Torkel Brekke - I have spent years researching religious discrimination against Jews and Muslims globally and am deeply troubled to find a modern strain of antisemitism spreading in my own country. Though cloaked under another name - anti-Zionism - this poisonous ideology is a threat to Jews everywhere. Recent decisions by Norwegian universities to cut institutional ties with Israel are clear indications of anti-Zionist sentiment here. Oslo Metropolitan University on Feb. 14 condemned "Israel's attack on Gaza," put on hold an exchange program with the University of Haifa, and announced it wouldn't enter into new agreements with Israeli universities. The University of Southeastern Norway criticized Israel's actions in Gaza and terminated cooperation agreements with two Israeli universities on Feb. 19. A rational conversation on this subject would begin with people debating the ethics of academic boycotts, then weighing criteria for boycotts, and finally considering boycotts against the worst states - such as Iran, North Korea and Myanmar. But the debate about boycotts of Israel is no more rational than debates about the "sins" of the Jews in earlier periods of history. Universities in the U.S. should consider setting up counter-boycotts against foreign universities that attempt to isolate Israel. Norway would be a great place to start. This could mean terminating strategic partnerships for research and student exchange. More broadly, a counter-boycott could prompt Norwegian students and scholars to think critically about how they have allowed this progressive, post-Holocaust strain of antisemitism to fester under a different name. The writer is a professor of religion and society at the MF School of Theology, Religion and Society in Oslo, Norway.