Norway's Center Against Racism announced plans to hold a Kristallnacht memorial event on Sunday under the banner of "fighting racism," with one central topic being the Middle East situation, specifically focusing on the Palestinian situation in Gaza. The taxpayer-funded organization claims Zionism equals racism and that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and according to reports, Norway's prime minister confirmed his attendance at the event rather than the Jewish community ceremony at Oslo's community institutions.
Center director Omar Ashraf labeled one of the community's senior members, Erwin Kohn, as an "extremist voice" after Kohn accused Amnesty International of antisemitism following the organization's one-sided stance against Israel. Event organizers invited Jonathan Shapira, a peace activist in an international anti-Israel organization known for his accusatory statements against Israel before and after October 7, to speak.
"While the Jewish community holds a memorial event for the horrific event that occurred on Kristallnacht, a non-Jewish organization that opposes Zionism and the State of Israel, which recently released a report examining racism against Palestinians in Norway with almost complete disregard for Jewish suffering in the country, will hold a 'memorial event' where it takes the disaster that befell the Jewish people and exploits it for the false narrative it builds against the State of the Jews – as if Israelis and Jews who support Israel are the new Nazis. It's simply unbelievable," a source in Norway's Jewish community said.
The Jewish community expressed shock at the distortion and feigned innocence of the Center Against Racism, which systematically attacks Israel. "Recently, representatives of human rights organizations here claimed that Jews try to cover up the 'genocide' by complaining about their sense of insecurity and antisemitism. There are organizations here trying to rewrite history, and in the end, the Norwegian prime minister announces he's attending this event and legitimizes it. It's no coincidence they invite leftists – they want to bring Jews who will say what they themselves believe and won't accuse them of antisemitism, and thus they rewrite history and turn the victim into the aggressor, thereby making the victim again," the source explained.
According to reports in Norwegian media, Jewish community leaders sent a letter to the prime minister and Oslo's mayor protesting the Center Against Racism's "memorial ceremony" and the Norwegian prime minister's planned attendance while the Jewish community holds a parallel ceremony. The anti-racism center event invited numerous additional anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian organizations. "In recent years, we've been forced to hold our memorial ceremonies inside synagogues due to the difficult atmosphere surrounding these events, while the Center Against Racism chose to hold a separate ceremony. This is a difficult and painful event for us, and the way it's being commemorated today only makes it harder for us. The prime minister is warmly invited to participate in our memorial ceremony at the Jewish community synagogue in Oslo," the letter stated.
Oslo Jewish community Rabbi Joav Melchior warned the ceremony might become an event promoting antisemitism by centering the Middle East instead of focusing on the memorial and honoring it in a way that respects the country's Jews who fell victim to an enemy seeking their destruction, as quoted on the NRK website. "It's not easy for us to talk about distorting reality on such a day. However, it's not just that the Center Against Racism ignores our narrative – it actually attacks it," he noted that pro-Palestinian activists received too much space in the memorial ceremony, and nearly all focus is now on the Middle East situation. The ceremony organizers' intent is clear. "Jews may of course be criticized, but choosing this specific day – and given what many Norwegian Jews are going through during this period – shows a lack of empathy and something the Center Against Racism needs to spend time thinking about."
Norwegian-Israeli activist On Elpeleg said, "It's simply incomprehensible that Norway's prime minister chose to mark the Kristallnacht events – the November pogrom – alongside antisemitic organizations and Israel boycotters, while completely ignoring the Jewish community's official invitation to participate in its memorial ceremony. Through this act, he not only weakens the fight against antisemitism but actually strengthens the hands of antisemites in Norway. This represents serious and dangerous irresponsibility from the prime minister – precisely when Norway's Jews need support and identification most."
Responding to accusations ahead of the event, Omar Ashraf told the NRK website that the Center Against Racism is "not antisemitic" and that accusations against the center are incorrect. He claimed all organizations were invited and the event is open to the Jewish community as well, though according to him, the community cut off contact with them and refuses to cooperate with the center he heads. He said the commemoration is not connected to "Palestine" and that the event deals with "Jewish experiences, learning from history, remembering victims of antisemitic violence while simultaneously standing against all racism."
