It is with deep concern that I learned Hotel Lunheim in Geiranger – one of Norway’s most iconic tourist destinations – has announced a policy of denying Jews entry. The justification given? That Norway’s largest trade union, LO, has adopted a full boycott of Israeli goods and services.
This is not only morally reprehensible. It echoes the darkest chapters of European history.
To exclude an entire people from hotels, restaurants, or the marketplace based solely on their ethnic or religious background is a step back toward the same ideological abyss that once led to the industrial extermination of Europe’s Jews. And that the LO – fully aware of this incident – has yet to publicly denounce it, must be interpreted as tacit approval. Their silence is complicity. And that complicity speaks volumes: that it is, once again, becoming acceptable in Norway to discriminate against Jews.
This is not just a violation of international law and Norway’s Constitution. It is a betrayal of our cultural heritage, our moral foundation, and our sense of decency.
Ask yourself: what would the reaction have been if a hotel had barred entry to Muslims, Asians, or Latin Americans? Why should Jews be treated differently? Have we really reached the point where people – regardless of their actions or citizenship – are collectively held responsible for political decisions made by a state they may have no connection to?
There is only one word for such selective condemnation: antisemitism.
Norway has a painful history in this regard. As we approach our national day, May 17th, we would do well to remember that our 1814 Constitution explicitly banned Jews from entering the country. It took the moral courage of figures like Henrik Wergeland, and later Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, to fight this injustice. The latter – one of our greatest poets and the architect of our national identity – was a tireless defender of minority rights. He stood with Armenia, and he stood for Dreyfus. A Norwegian writer, defending a Jewish officer in the French army – it took bravery. And it shaped our national conscience.
When Hotel Lunheim chooses to deny Jews entry, it tramples on everything Wergeland and Bjørnson built. It is a betrayal – of our history, of our nation’s ethical foundation, and of human dignity.
Tragically, this is not an isolated case. Under Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Norway has drifted away from its tradition of moderate social democracy into a swamp where the radical left dominates public discourse. Israel’s ambassador has been recalled. Antisemitism is spreading in the streets. Jewish children are spat on. Businesses are defaced with hate slogans. And behind the scenes stand powerful actors like the LO, either inciting this hatred – or tolerating it in silence.
Norwegian trade union legitimizes antisemitism
When the country’s largest trade union legitimizes hatred against Jews – a community of scarcely 1,400 people in Norway – it is a chilling reminder of how quickly a civilized society can decay. Just weeks ago, the government, supported by the Conservative Party, attempted to pass an emergency law that would have given future administrations more unchecked power than what Hindenburg gave Hitler in 1933. The proposal was halted – not because alarm bells were ringing, but almost by accident.
What if that law had passed? What about next time? What if a future extremist government gains the legal authority to define who deserves protection – who has the right to exist?
History does not repeat – but it rhymes. And these days, the rhyme sounds all too familiar.
I write this not as a provocateur, but as a citizen raising the alarm. Someone must speak. Someone must say: Enough. And time is running out.
For when hatred once again finds fertile soil in our society, it becomes everyone’s duty to defend the values that bind us together: freedom, justice, and equality before the law.
To remain silent now is to be complicit.
Christian Mikkel Dobloug is the Deputy Political Leader of the Industry and Business Party (INP), a rising political movement in Norway advocating economic sovereignty, civil liberties, and national integrity.