Itamar Marcus, director of the watchdog Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) organization, made a recent trip to Norway that sparked a national political debate about whether Norway should continue funding the Palestinian Authority.  Marcus supplied convincing evidence that the PA uses its budget to glorify terrorism and terrorists, and to promote hatred and violence. 

The opposition "Progress Party," which recent polls indicate is Norway's most popular party, responded with a call to freeze all Norwegian funding to the Palestinian Authority.

The issue was the lead item on a recent edition of Norway's nightly TV news, which began with the dramatic announcement, "Norwegian tax money is used to teach children to hate the West, says the Progress Party."

Click here to view the Norwegian news report

The announcer continues, "Good Evening. The Progress Party demands that Norway freeze all money given to the Palestinian areas. The party fears that the money is funding Palestinian TV, which teaches the children to hate Israel and the West." 

A scene from the infamous "PA TV Mickey Mouse" series is then screened, showing the famous lovable mouse - named Farfur on PA TV - threatening U.S. President George Bush.  The narrator then tells the Norwegian news-watching audience that Farfur "wants to conquer the world for Islam - and [this] nice rabbit wants to kill Danes because of the Muhammed cartoons."  The rabbit is seen crying out, "If they repeat it, we will kill them, by Allah... I will bite them and eat them."

Other excerpts from the children's program show an Israeli interrogator beating Mickey Mouse.  Marcus comments in the background, "The program has Israel kidnap Mickey Mouse, and then on television, for the little children to watch, Mickey Mouse is killed, beaten to death by an Israeli interrogator."

Next to be screened on Norway's national news program was another long excerpt of a child singing about the bomb her suicide-terrorist mother placed on her bed.  The daughter pines that the bomb is "more precious than me," and promises to follow in her mother's footsteps.

Finance Committee MP is Against

"It really makes you nauseous... You feel like crying when you hear this kind of hate message," says Tybring Gjedde, member of the Norwegian Parliament's Finance Committee.  He "fears that Norwegian aid money may go to TV productions like this," the news announcer says, "which promises that men who are martyrs will be met by 72 virgins in Paradise."

"I think that Norway should immediately freeze all aid to the Palestinian areas and then check where every krone is going," Gjedde says.

FM Thinks it Cannot Be

The news show then provides a rebuttal by the Norwegian Foreign Minister, who says he does not plan to freeze the payments and thinks there is no reason to demand greater control over their use.  The narrator says, "The Foreign Minister thinks it is currently not possible that Norwegian aid money goes to such TV productions."

The FM himself explains that his country simply follows the same procedures as other donor countries.  All the while, the scenes from the inciteful PA children's program are shown in the background, and the item ends with the PA's Mickey Mouse saying, "We will win, Bush!  We will win, Sharon! Ah, Sharon is dead..."