Norway says Israel's anti-Semitism accusations against prime minister are 'unreasonable'

Norway on Sunday rejected Israel's accusations that Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store displayed anti-Semitism by attending a Kristallnacht commemoration organized by the Anti-Racist Center, according to Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry had criticized Store's decision not to join a parallel event hosted by the Mosaic Religious Community, claiming on X that the prime minister had set a new "bottom standard" for "moral lowliness, anti-Israeli attitudes and anti-Semitism."

State Secretary Kristoffer Thoner at the prime minister's office dismissed the accusations, calling them "incorrect and unreasonable."

"Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and the government are consistently and clearly committed to combating anti-Semitism in all its forms," Thoner said.

According to him, Store accepted the invitation to the Anti-Racist Center event in October, while the invitation from the Mosaic Religious Community arrived only on Wednesday.

"My government will do all in our power to protect and stand by the Jews in Norway, and we were represented at both ceremonies in Oslo to emphasize our commitment to fight all forms of antisemitism," Store wrote on US social media platform X.

The ceremony marked the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht, when Nazi mobs destroyed more than 7,000 Jewish businesses and homes across Germany and killed multiple Jews on Nov. 9-10, 1938.