Utenriksdepartementet (Ministry of Foreign Affairs – UD) investigates municipal Israel boycotts

asylum seekers july - UDI familyThe Norwegian Department of Immigration (UDI). Photo Norway Today Media

Bodo may become the third Norwegian municipality to boycott Israel. Foreign Minister, Børge Brende doesn’t like the trend and has asked the Ministry to consider consequential decisions.

The State is considering whether municipalities are allowed to boycott goods produced in the occupied West Bank, according to Vårt Land newspaper.

The government emphasised that Norway should respect its international obligations, including in commercial matters.

‘Based on present information, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are examining whether Trondheim municipality council’s decision is in line with Norway’s international obligations’, wrote Brende in a reply to parliament.

Trondheim municipality adopted its boycott of Israel on the 17th of November last year, and was followed by Tromsø on the 14th of December. On Thursday,Bodo City Council will vote on a proposal for an Israel boycott.

In Tromsø, Conservatives, Christian Democrats and Fremskrittspartiet (Progress Party – FrP) asked the county of Troms to consider the proposed boycott’s legality.

‘We find it meaningless that local politicians engage in foreign policy’, said Erlend Svardal Bøe of the Høyre party.

The Foreign Ministry said that they have not yet reached a conclusion on the matter.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today