Reykjavík Grapevine - 25.09.2015, Side 8

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8
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15 — 2015
Politics | Bright?Politics | Foreign
The Reykjavík
mayor, when faced
with global criti-
cism and protests,
backed down on
the City Council's
blanket boycott
resolution against
Israel and watered
it down to a mealy-
mouthed boycott
on Jewish prod-
ucts from Judea
and Samaria.
I wonder why this city exclusively
targets the Jewish state above all others.
He replaced a city vote for anti-Semi-
tism (that’s how it looks from Israel when
your capital applies double standards)
with a more localized version of Reykja-
víkian anti-Semitism.
Let me put it bluntly. Reykjavík’s de-
cision was a hostile one. It was also hypo-
critical.
As an Israeli, I may surprise many
readers by demanding that this town
carry out its boycott resolution in full.
I do so in the certain knowledge that
Reykjavík needs us far far more than we
need them.
It must begin by throwing out all of
the city's computer network that oper-
ates by virtue of its Israeli technology. All
City Council members must be deprived
of their smartphones. They should also
check which other Israeli technology is
keeping their city in the modern age. The
hypocrites!
Reykjavík must be punished for its
hypocrisy. Any city with a mayor who
visited China yet boycotts Israel is truly
the capital city of hypocrisy.
This hypocrisy came full circle when
it was revealed that the left-wing coun-
cilman who proposed the boycott mo-
tion was leaving Iceland to serve Hamas
in Gaza!
This leads to my final question.
Does Iceland and Reykjavík desig-
nate Hamas as the Islamic terror organi-
zation that it is?
If so, they should boycott this coun-
cil member when she returns to cold and
hypocritical Reykjavík.
The government altered its stance
following the hugely successful and
highly publicised social media cam-
paign “Kæra Eygló Harðar – Sýrland
kallar” (“Dear [Minister of Welfare]
Eygló Harðar – Syria is calling”—read
all about it in our last issue), wherein
individuals offered clothes, finan-
cial aid, support, and even housing to
refugees coming to Iceland. Forming
a special ministerial committee that
deliberated for over three weeks, the
government announced on September
19 that Iceland was to admit more than
a hundred refugees in 2015 alone, and
devoting more than two billion ISK to
the matter over the coming two years.
Only a few details have been released
thus far, and there are a lot of unan-
swered questions (such as exactly how
many refugees are coming, how they
will be met, if there are any conditions
on their arrival, etc.), but here’s what
we know so far:
500 is a tall order
Before the committee made any an-
nouncements, 22 members of the
Parliament minority proposed that
Iceland accept 500 refugees over a
period of two years. Minister for For-
eign Affairs Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson
dismissed the idea, saying it was ir-
responsible to name any figure before
analysing Iceland’s existing infra-
structure, and guaranteeing access to
necessities such as psychiatric help
and housing.
Four to five million ISK
per refugee
Once the government made its an-
nouncement, the Minister of Welfare
declared that the total annual cost per
refugee amounted to around four to
five million ISK. Minister of Finance
Bjarni Benediktsson stated that the
proposed two billion ISK funds would
be used both to welcome refugees to
Iceland, and for overseas refugee aid—
the money would be allotted from the
15.3 billion ISK surplus that’s expected
from the proposed 2016 government
budget.
The first refugees will
arrive in December
To date, 25 municipalities have con-
tacted the Ministry of Welfare ex-
pressing interest in hosting refugees.
These include—amongst others—
Reykjavík, Ísafjörður, and Akureyri.
The latter, we have learned, is slated
to be the first town to accept a group
of Syrian refugees, which will arrive
from Lebanon in December. Reykja-
vík Mayor Dagur B. Eggertsson was
initially quoted as saying that the city
was capable of accepting “hundreds”
of refugees, but has since noted that
the municipality has yet to evaluate
exactly how many it can offer refuge
to.
Public opinion is in
favour of welcoming
refugees
A recent poll conducted by MMR
showed that an overwhelming major-
ity of Icelanders, or 88.5% of respon-
dents, was in favour of welcoming
refugees from Syria. In September
alone, almost 1,300 individuals signed
up to volunteer through the Red Cross,
around 1,000 of which are in the great-
er capital area (supplanting the re-
gion’s 900 already active volunteers).
A more recent poll by Gallup, however,
showed that almost 60% of Icelanders
don’t want to accept more than 200
refugees in the coming two years.
There’s room for more
change
Iceland is known for its strict (and
controversial) interpretation of the
Dublin Regulation, frequently choos-
ing to deport asylum seekers with-
out evaluating their cases. Alongside
announcing that Iceland will accept
more refugees, PM Sigmundur Davíð
Gunnlaugsson said that it would be
ideal to revise the existing and outdat-
ed regulations regarding asylum seek-
ers, bringing them more in line with
international law and the protections
afforded to refugees.
Words by Barry Shaw
As our readers are probably well
aware, there are few things more
exciting than famous people visiting
Iceland, except maybe reporting on
the reporting of famous people visit-
ing Iceland. This month’s celebrity
power was decidedly high. First of all,
scenes from ‘Star Wars: Rogue One’
are currently being filmed in Iceland,
bringing Mads Mikkelsen, that actor
who played TV’s version of beloved
cannibal psychopath Hannibal Lect-
er. Not to be outdone, pop star Justin
Bieber (whose cannibal psychopath
status remains uncertain) also visited
our fair shores, and the local media
coverage was very detailed about his
prefered coffee drink (double cappuc-
cino) and his favourite Subway sub
(turkey, twelve inches), as well as his
use of a bodyguard at a public toilet.
Never let it be said there are details
too trivial to report on when it comes
to famous people in Iceland.
Speaking of musicians, legendary
singer-songwriter Bubbi Morthens
recently joined in a move initiated
by local folk-pop band Ljótu hálfvi-
tarnir, issuing a public statement
forbidding radio station Útvarp Saga
from playing any of his songs. The sta-
tion has repeatedly engaged in prac-
tices that many label racist, homopho-
bic, and Islamophobic, and Bubbi said
his ban will stay in effect “for as long
as they sow prejudice and hatred.” To
put this in a non-Icelandic context,
this would be like Bruce Springsteen
issuing a similar ban against a radio
station in the US.
Finally, there is Reykjavik City
Council’s recent motion to place an
purchasing ban on products from
Israel, which was later rescinded, to
be replaced by a different proposal,
embargoing Israeli products made
in occupied Palestinian territories,
which was then also nixed. More on
that on page ten of this very issue.
NEWS
IN
BRIEF
Barry Shaw is
the author of
‘Fighting Hamas,
BDS and Anti-
Semitism.’
Reykjavík
Must Be
Punished
For Its
Hypocrisy
Refugees!
Over the past month, we’ve seen the biggest U-turn in Ice-
land’s foreign policy in recent history. Always hesitant to ac-
cept refugees, the nation has accepted only 549 since 1956.
However, the government’s announcement that it would
react to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Syria by ac-
cepting a total of 50 individuals over a period of two years,
was met noticeable public outcry. And that’s when things
started changing.
Words by Gabríel Benjamin