Norway summons Israeli envoy over diplomats’ revoked status

Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said he was “surprised” by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz’s announcement earlier Thursday. (File/AFP)

• “A short while ago, I summoned Israel’s representative to Norway and met her at the foreign ministry to protest against this decision,” Barth Eide said
• The Israeli foreign ministry said it was revoking the diplomatic status of “eight Norwegian diplomats”

OSLO: Norway said Thursday it had summoned an Israeli embassy official over Israel’s decision to revoke the diplomatic status of Norwegian envoys to the Palestinian Authority.
Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said he was “surprised” by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz’s announcement earlier Thursday.
“A short while ago, I summoned Israel’s representative to Norway and met her at the foreign ministry to protest against this decision,” Barth Eide told journalists.
The Israeli foreign ministry said it was revoking the diplomatic status of “eight Norwegian diplomats.”
Katz cited Norway’s recent recognition of a Palestinian state and its backing for a pending International Criminal Court case implicating Israeli leaders in alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“We have all along expected there may be reactions to the position we have chosen (on the recognition of a Palestinian state), but we are surprised that they chose to do this, and especially right now,” Barth Eide told reporters.
“During my meeting with the Israeli representative I asked for an explanation,” he said, adding that she “was unable to provide one on the spot.”
In a statement issued earlier, Barth Eide had called Israel’s decision an “extreme action” that would “have consequences.”
“The Norwegian government is now evaluating what other measures we will take,” he told reporters.
“Norway is and will always be a friend of Israel and the Israeli people,” Eide said in the statement.
“At the same time, Norway has been clear in our criticism of the occupation (of Palestinian territories), the way in which the war in Gaza has been conducted and the suffering this has inflicted on the Palestinian civilian population,” Eide continued.