Declassified Hamas documents recovered in Gaza reveal that the Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution (NOREF), established by Norway\u2019s government in 2008, engaged in \u201cdirect, systematic coordination with high-ranking Hamas officials,\u201d NGO Monitor reported<\/a> on August 16, 2026.<\/p>\n The revelations of Norway\u2019s support for Hamas are the latest chapter in its ongoing anti-Israel interventions and support for groups like the Taliban.<\/p>\n The documents indicate that Hamas used NOREF as a channel to leverage the \u201cnegative reality in the Palestinian territories\u201d to \u201cpush towards changing the European position\u201d on the Islamist organization. The document shows Hamas maintaining extensive contacts with international actors and meeting with \u201cmany [international] officials either publicly or secretly.\u201d<\/p>\n Top Hamas officials, including Basem Naim, head of Hamas\u2019s Foreign Relations Office in Gaza, and Hamas foreign affairs official Abdullah Walid, and a senior high-level NOREF delegation planned some of this lobbying at a May 15, 2021, meeting. The NOREF delegation asked Hamas\u2019s representatives how it could influence European leaders to benefit Hamas, with questions like: \u201cWhat are the channels of communication that are currently working on dialogue between the movement [Hamas] and the European Union? How are we able to contribute to this dialogue without obstructing these efforts?\u201d<\/p>\n A NOREF representative praised Hamas\u2019s cooperation on a joint initiative, stating, \u201cWe have the youth project and we value your effort with us in facilitating some of the meetings and communications on this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n A second Palestinian Authority Interior Ministry document from August 2022 establishes further collusion between NOREF and Hamas. The document outlines preparations for a NOREF visit to Gaza linked to a project involving 30 participants from Palestinian factions including Hamas, Fatah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Norway\u2019s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide.<\/p>\n The project also scheduled 10 weekly sessions on diplomacy and conflict resolution, along with a concluding workshop. \u201cAll the programs and activities that the aforementioned is carrying out are not publicized in the media,\u201d the document noted.<\/p>\n \u201cNOREF\u2019s secret meetings with Hamas officials and its willingness to help the terror group \u2018change the European position\u2019 on Hamas sanctions are part of a broader, disturbing pattern of destructive meddling in the Arab-Israeli conflict,\u201d an NGO Monitor spokesman said. \u201cNorway has long whitewashed engagement with terrorists like Hamas as \u2018peacebuilding,\u2019 and channeled huge amounts of money toward compromised international NGOs in Hamas-controlled Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is sorely needed is a Norwegian paradigm shift: an admission that Hamas can never be a partner for peace, that terror organizations must be sanctioned on moral and international legal grounds, and that Norwegians deserve better than having their taxpayer money funneled toward actors aligned with terror groups like Hamas in Gaza,\u201d the spokesman added.<\/p>\n In August 2024, Israel\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized<\/a> Oslo for refusing \u201cto recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization, exactly ten months after the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust,\u201d supporting the International Criminal Court\u2019s \u201cbaseless case\u201d against Israel, and recognizing a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n Norway was the first European country to endorse the International Criminal Court\u2019s case against Israel. Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said Norway would arrest Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant if they traveled to Norway. Norway also joined South Africa in filing a submission with the International Criminal Court against Israel.<\/p>\n Israel condemned<\/a> the Norwegian government\u2019s policy towards Israel since the Hamas attacks as \u201cextreme, one-sided, and anti-Israel,\u201d asserting that the \u201cextremist policy of the Norwegian government prevents it from having the capability to continue to be a partner in discussions or activities with Israel on the Palestinian issue.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNorway has abandoned its longstanding neutrality and mediation efforts between Israel and the Palestinians, and instead joined Israel\u2019s harshest critics.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2022, human rights activists, particularly Afghans, criticized Norwegian authorities for legitimizing<\/a> the Taliban by hosting a summit with the extremist group in Oslo. Norway has repeatedly invited Taliban leaders on secret trips since 2005, pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Manizha Bakhtari, a former ambassador of Afghanistan to Norway, said<\/a> that \u201cthe Norwegian government repeatedly invited Taliban leaders to visit that country secretly and to meet with Norwegian politicians,\u201d holding the meeting \u201cin secret locations.\u201d<\/p>\n While the state subsidizes<\/a> the Church of Norway through direct financial support and pays the salaries of its minister, Norway\u2019s government remains silent on the jihadi massacres of Christians in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.<\/p>\n \u201cNorway has abandoned its longstanding neutrality and mediation efforts between Israel and the Palestinians, and instead joined Israel\u2019s harshest critics,\u201d Elliott Abrams, author of Realism and Democracy: American Foreign Policy after the Arab Spring, notes<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it comes to Israel, Norway has switched sides,\u201d Abrams writes. In the aftermath of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iranian attacks, \u201cNorway has abandoned \u2018conflict resolution\u2019 and made common cause with Israel\u2019s enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hamas collaborated with a Norwegian state-funded organization to manipulate European foreign policy and mitigate Hamas\u2019s isolation, documents from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[85],"tags":[157,156],"class_list":["post-151403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oslo","tag-norway","tag-oslo"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/117150343895893214","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Norway's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787572276_672_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n