Norway may become friendly again

Norwegians went to the polls and tossed out their liberal minders, voting in a center-right coalition. The center-right government is expected to be considerably more sympathetic to Israel than the outgoing coalition — which wouldn’t be too hard considering just how anti-Israel the previous coalition was. Many of the previous coalition members had actively worked for boycotts against our country. Each of the four parties now likely to form the new government have issued statements saying they would advocate a more understanding policy toward Israel.

Jpost reports that Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, the Conservative party head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the outgoing parliament who is touted as a possible foreign minister candidate, said her party’s policies on Israel and the Middle East would be marked by “a little less dogmatism and a little more realism and understanding of self. That should be the basis of Norwegian policy in the Middle East.”

Other leaders of parties expected to form the new government said that a major change would be to support Israel’s right to defend herself, that there would be no involvement in boycotts or trying to institute boycotts of Israel and Israeli goods.

We may also be seeing a more friendly Australia, as the party that has won the election there is a conservative and pro-Israel party.