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| Survey: Norwegians still buying Israeli products
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None of the major Norwegian food chains and fruit importers have noticed a drop in sales of Israeli products, despite recent calls for a boycott by the Socialist party.
According to a survey conducted by Norwegian newspaper Dagsavisen few Norwegian nationals have responded to the left-wing organisation’s attempts to highlight what they see as Israel’s mistreatment of the Palestinians.
The survey results, which were published in the English language Norway Post, stated that most consumers had not even heard of the call to boycott Israeli products. The results also showed that most respondents would not be interested in joining the boycott even if they had heard of it.
No tradition of boycotts
In response to the survey results, consumer researcher Eivind Jacobsen noted that Norwegians do not have a tradition of boycotts. Jacobsen further found that most Israeli imports to Norway were in electronics and Information Technology and not food.
The proposed boycott was lambasted by the government in Norway, who particularly criticised Socialist Party member, finance minister Kristin Halvorsen who first came up with the idea of the boycott. Halvorsen was almost immediately called upon to retract her statements after she made them public.
Halvorsen later admitted she had been wrong to make the comments. She told the Norway Post: “As finance minister, I should not have advocated a policy which is not supported by a majority in the Cabinet."
Confusing official foreign policy
Halvorsen did not apologise to Israel directly, but stated that she regretted confusing people about Norway’s official foreign policy as an official representative of Norway’s government.
Many outside Norway came out harshly against the proposed boycott, especially one supported by a member of the government, with the Anti-Defamation League and US Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice leading the way.
As a result of pressure the Norwegian government sent out letters to Rice and Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, stressing that the boycott was not the official policy of the Norwegian government
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