Israel–Norway relations are the

bilateral relations Bilateralism is the conduct of political, economic, or cultural relations between two sovereign states. It is in contrast to unilateralism or multilateralism, which is activity by a single state or jointly by multiple states, respectively. When ...

between

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. Norway was one of the first countries to recognize Israel, doing so on 4 February 1949.

History

On 11 May 1949, Norway was one of the U.N. members that voted in the General Assembly to admit Israel to the UN. Both countries established diplomatic relations on 19 July 1950. Israel has an

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, which serves

and

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. Norway has an embassy in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

and two honorary consulates, one in

Eilat Eilat ( , ; ; ) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port of Eilat, port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jordan as the Gulf of Aqaba. The c ...

and the other in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

. In 1981, a group of labour union members founded the organization Friends of Israel in the Norwegian Labour Movement (Norwegian: Venner av Israel i Norsk Arbeiderbevegelse). The purpose was to strengthen relations between Norwegian and Israeli labor movements in an informal and personal way. This was done by sending delegations to Israel, and by receiving visitors from Israel. Israel's ambassador to Oslo was an Israeli Druze poet and university lecturer, Naim Araidi. His deputy was George Deek, a Christian Arab from Jaffa. Norway provided the facilities in 1993 to Israel and the

Palestinian Liberation Organisation The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in both the occupied Palestinian territories and the diaspora. ...

(PLO) that culminated in the

Oslo Accords The Oslo Accords are a pair of interim agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; and the Oslo II Accord, signed in Taba, Egypt, in 1995. They marked the st ...

. In March 2007, the Norwegian government recognized the

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

-led 2007 Palestinian unity government but called on the Palestinian authorities to renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist. The unity government failed to win international support because it did not meet the conditions set by the

Quartet In music, a quartet (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations of four instruments in chamber music is the string quartet. String quar ...

. Israel said it would not deal with the new Palestinian government unless it recognised Israel, which it refused to do. Med Israel For Fred 2006-08-07 img02

The leader of the third largest political party in Norway,

Siv Jensen Siv Jensen (born 1 June 1969) is a Norwegian politician who served as the leader of the Progress Party from 2006 to 2021. She also held the position as Minister of Finance from 2013 to 2020 in the Solberg Cabinet. She was also a member of the ...

, said she supported Israel's right to defend itself. She visited the Israeli city of

Sderot Sderot (, , ; , sometimes Romanized as "Sederot") is a western Negev city and former development town in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel. In , it had a population of . Sderot is located less than a mile from Gaza St ...

in the summer of 2008 and experienced the landing of a rocket from

first hand. She and others had to run for the air-raid shelter. She opposed the Norwegian government's decision to recognise Hamas because "you don't negotiate with terrorists, you just don't." Parkveien 35 - 2009-06-21 at 13-53-58

In January 2009, she appeared at a pro-Israel demonstration in Oslo. The

Norwegian Police Security Service The Norwegian Police Security Service (, ) is the police security agency of Norway. The agency was previously known as ''POT'' (' or Police Surveillance Agency), the name change was decided by the Parliament of Norway on 2 June 2001. History an ...

feared that Jensen might be the target of an attack although Jensen herself was not concerned. While political scientists had speculated that the Progress Party would lose more voters than they would gain by this support for Israel, polls showed a slight increase in support for the party. In 2010, the Norwegian Foreign Ministry said "Norway considers the Israeli presence in East Jerusalem to be in violation of international law, as does the entire international community." George Deek became chargé d'affaires at the embassy until the new ambassador Rafael Schultz started his mission in the summer of 2014. On 22 May 2024, Israel's Foreign Minister,

Israel Katz Israel Katz (; born 21 September 1955) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Likud currently serving as Ministry of Defense (Israel), Minister of Defense and a member of the Security Cabinet of Israel. Katz has been recognized ...

, announced the recall of the Norwegian Ambassador, Per Egil Selvaag, following the Norwegian government's intention to recognize the

State of Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

on 28 May 2024. On 8 August 2024, Katz announced further sanctions and revoked the diplomatic status of Norwegian officials who were posted to serve in Norway's representative office in the PA. In February 2025, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz suggested that some

Palestinians Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenou ...

from Gaza should immigrate to Norway.

Military ties

In 2007, 24 Norwegian Jews were registered as working for the Israeli military. In September 2010, after Germany began testing two new

Dolphin class submarine The ''Dolphin'' class () is a diesel-electric submarine developed in Israel and constructed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) in Kiel, Germany, for the Israeli Navy's Shayetet 7 flotilla. The first boats of the class were based on the expo ...

s for the

Israeli Navy The Israeli Navy (, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'', ; ) is the Israel Defense Forces#Arms, naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in the Mediterranean Sea theater as well as the Gulf of Eilat and the Red Sea th ...

, Norway banned them from testing in its territorial waters, due to their possible future role in enforcing the

Blockade of the Gaza Strip The restrictions on movement and goods in Gaza imposed by Israel date to the early 1990s. After Hamas took over in 2007, Israel significantly intensified existing movement restrictions and imposed a complete blockade on the movement of good ...

References

External links

Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: information about the relation with Norway

Norge IDAG

DagenMagazinet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Israel-Norway Relations

Bilateral relations of Norway

History

Military ties

See also

References

Further reading

External links