“Anti-Israeli behavior has a price”: this is how Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz justified, on Thursday, August 8, the revocation of the diplomatic status of Norwegian personnel with the Palestinian Authority. “Today, I ordered the cessation of all representation on behalf of the Norwegian Embassy in Israel vis-à-vis the Palestinian Authority,” he said in a statement.
The minister justified this decision by Norway’s recognition of the State of Palestine – enacted on May 28 – as well as its participation in a legal action against Israeli leaders before the International Criminal Court. In another statement, the Israeli ministry reported “serious statements by senior Norwegian officials” against Israel.
An order will revoke the diplomatic status of “eight Norwegian diplomats” working at the embassy in Israel, “whose duties were to represent Norway to the Palestinian Authority,” it said. In an official note sent to the embassy on Thursday, the ministry deplored Oslo’s “unilateral policies and statements” since the bloody Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, which triggered Israel’s war against the Palestinian Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip.
“An extreme action”
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide responded by denouncing an “extreme action” that will have “serious consequences for the government (of Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu.” “We are examining the measures that Norway will take to respond to the situation,” he added, quoted in a statement. He also announced that he had summoned an Israeli representative to Norway on Thursday to express his disagreement. “The Norwegian government is now evaluating the other measures to be taken,” Espen Barth Eide said during a press conference.
Recalling that the territorial jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court extended to the Palestinian territories, Oslo had considered in early August that the Court should continue the proceedings initiated against Israeli and Hamas leaders in the context of the war in Gaza. In June, Norway had also announced an increase in its funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) by 100 million crowns (8.7 million euros).
This diplomatic sanction by Israel against countries working in favor of the Palestinian cause is not the first. In May, Israel ordered the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem to stop offering consular services to Palestinians as of June 1, as a “punitive” measure after Madrid announced its upcoming recognition of the State of Palestine.