Love of the Land: The Ghost of Quisling Returns to Haunt Norway as Israel Boycott Movement Gets Major New Boost in Europe

The Ghost of Quisling Returns to Haunt Norway as Israel Boycott Movement Gets Major New Boost in Europe

Robin Shepherd
Think Tank Blog
04 September 09

Given that Norway’s most notable contribution to 20th century history was to give the world a new word for cowardice and treachery, reports that the country’s massive $400 billion sovereign wealth fund — the second largest such fund in the world — has been banned by the Norwegian government from owing shares in an Israeli arms company would not usually raise eyebrows.

But at a time of increasing hysteria against the Jewish state the move from the country that gave us “Quisling cowardice” — after wartime collaborationist leader Vidkun Quisling — may set an important precedent for the wider boycott movement across Europe. According to the international wire services, the fund was instructed to divest from Israel’s Elbit Systems because it provides surveillance equipment for the security barrier which has prevented countless suicide bombings emanating from the West Bank.

“We do not wish to fund companies that so directly contribute to violations of international humanitarian law,” Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen was quoted by Reuters as saying.


Decisions of this kind are apparently made by Norway’s “Council on Ethics”. I’m glad that Norway feels it is in a position to make ethical judgements about companies that participate in attempts to stop fanatics from slaughtering innocent Jews. The country certainly has plenty of experience to draw upon.

According to the Wikipedia entry on the subject, Quisling “is a term used to describe traitors and collaborators. It was most commonly used for fascist political parties and military and paramilitary forces in occupied Allied countries which collaborated with Axis occupiers in World War II, as well as for their members and other collaborators.

“The term was coined by the British newspaper The Times on 15 April, 1940, entitled “Quislings everywhere.” The editorial asserted: “To writers, the word Quisling is a gift from the gods. If they had been ordered to invent a new word for traitor… they could hardly have hit upon a more brilliant combination of letters. Actually it contrives to suggest something at once slippery and tortuous.”‘

Enough said, I think.

Love of the Land: The Ghost of Quisling Returns to Haunt Norway as Israel Boycott Movement Gets Major New Boost in Europe