Why so much silence about this flag?

This is an editorial. It expresses the views of the editors of Verdinytt (Christian Value News).

In Norwegian: Hvorfor så taust om cet flagget?

We are regularly asked why we launched the online newspaper Verdinytt.no (Christian Values ​​News) just over a year and a half ago. After all, media diversity is already well established in Norway – and there are several other Christian newspapers as well.

We have always said that public debate in our country needs greater media diversity. The Christian movement needs “grounds of expression” where conservative points of view can be defended with enthusiasm.

May the good news of Christian Norway be spread to inspire, edify and challenge. And may someone raise their voice, focus on the issues and ask the questions that touch on the core values ​​of our society but are not receiving the attention of the mainstream media.

Flag News

This summer’s flag news is a striking example of this latter reason for Verdinytt’s existence.

In early July, our newspaper reported that a Norwegian online store had started selling a hybrid flag it had designed, in which the Norwegian and Palestinian flags were mixed.

Our first thought It would be interesting for our legislators to react to the misuse of our national symbol – perhaps the only symbol that truly unites all our people in an otherwise fragmented and individualized era. An era when polarization has become one of the hallmarks of the development of the Western world.

But the Foreign Ministry, which handles flag laws, quickly responded by saying that there was no legal possibility to do anything about it. The KrF (Christian Democratic Party) told us that this mixing of flags “should not” be done, but no other political party took the initiative to raise a legal question about it.

Our next thought We expected that this news would generate widespread interest in other media here in Norway. We expected that this information would be picked up in the public debate in the country. But no other media reported the information.

It was only when Iranian refugee, author and social debater Lily Bandehy raised the issue in a comment in the online newspaper Nettavisen on July 18, indicating that it was on the agenda for more than just Verdinytt readers.

Verdinytt was allowed to publish the same commentary article.

We are pleased to be able to cite concrete examples that show that our (still relatively new) online newspaper is necessary for media diversity. But we are also dismayed that our national symbol can be altered without more people reacting.

As Øyvind Juliussen Day of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem told Verdinytt when commenting on the matter:

“The beautiful Norwegian flag is a common symbol of our nation, our heritage and our history. The Arab-Palestinian flag, on the other hand, is a symbol of the PLO, that is, a symbol of violence, terror and the destruction of Israel. This flag is a misuse of our Norwegian flag and our common identity.”

We agree with him. The Norwegian flag was democratically adopted in 1821, as part of our long process towards independence as a nation. The colours represent freedom.

The fact that the motif was a cross was not really questioned in the debate at the time. At the time of the Hauge revivalists, everyone knew the Christian values ​​on which our nation was built. Besides, the other Nordic countries had thought exactly the same way, with a cross on their flag.

The Palestinian flag has a history as an Arab war flag and has only been used since 1964 as part of the PLO’s “liberation” project of “Palestine.” The fact that this liberation project has as its ultimate goal the annihilation of the world’s only Jewish state, Israel, is visible on many maps, printed on merchandise that can be found everywhere. It is no secret.

One of the blind spots of many men in the Constitution and the first generations of elected representatives in Parliament was their view of the Jews. Fortunately, the Jewish clause was repealed in 1851.

In the Palestinian territories, now “recognized” by the Norwegian government as a state, it goes without saying that the content of the Jewish clause must apply. There must be apartheid, Jew-free zones. And anti-Semitism must flourish in peace. There, the mutilations, rapes, massacres and kidnappings of October 7, 2023 will go down in history as a struggle for freedom.

Our flag has nothing to do with a flag used as a weapon of combat by leaders with such a vision of humanity. We hope this outrages you.

Our flag has nothing to do with divisive issues. It is the symbol that we can all proudly display on 17 May (Constitution Day, Norway’s national holiday) and on all other important occasions.

The Norwegian flag embraces us all. It is a banner of freedom, grace and national history, telling all our citizens that we belong to this country. It must never become a tool of polarization. We cannot accept that our flag means the same thing to friends of Israel as it does to others.

It is already a tragedy that the law on flag marking on municipal public buildings has been watered down so that public interest organisations can mark their interests on flagpoles built for our Norwegian flag. When we move from tampering with the flagpoles to tampering with the flag itself, alarm bells must be rung.

Another point, finally: How would Palestinian leaders react if they learned that someone had incorporated a cross into their flag? This is not exactly the bastion of religious freedom where Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the various “popular fronts” for the liberation of Palestine reign. “Israel will arise and exist until Islam eliminates the land,” states Hamas’s founding document, the 1988 charter.

Your reactions:

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