Saturday, April 25, 2009

Hold the lox!

I hadn't realized it, but Norway has been trying for years to boycott Israeli products. The latest move, as reported by Bennett Epstein, is for some supermarket chains to place special identification stickers on products from Israel. (Unfortunately, no link is available to his article.)

Earlier efforts have included the refusal of Norwegian labor unions to off-load Israeli farm produce; a demontration last year against Israeli singers in the Eurovision song contest, organized by a Norwegian "labor youth movement;" and a boycott of Israeli oranges since the early 90s by yet another group (which is dumb as dirt, considering how good Jaffa oranges are).

Norway loves to negotiate peace agreements between warring parties. Oddly enough, I'm not aware of any other conflict where Norwegians are boycotting the products of one side as a means of inducing peace.

Epstein's recommendation: hold off on the Norwegian lox and take your custom to a non-Norwegian cruise line. (Thanks to Rachel.)

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