RV member to be expelled?
- Religion teacher spread anti-Jewish views

The left-wing Rød Valgallianse (Red Electoral Alliance – RV) leadership has asked 35-year-old teacher, Hans Olav Brendberg, to leave its organisation. Brendberg sits on the local executive of one of RV’s north Norwegian branches. RV’s shock move follows serious accusations about Brendberg’s anti-Jewish statements on the Internet and in his work as a translator for the Swedish antisemitic writer, Jöran Jermas.

By Tor Bach, Sven Johansen and Lise Apfelblum in Oslo and Stieg Larsson and Daniel Poohl in Stockholm For Monitor, Expo and Antifa-Net.

Brendberg stirred up controversy after writing articles for the left-wing daily newspaper Klassekampen in which he charged the Jews with having killed Christ and with hating all non-Jews.

However, it is through the KK-forum, Klassekampen’s semi-official web-based discussion forum, that Brendberg has gained most notoriety for making statements like: "Millions of nice Germans have always existed – but not one of them is mentioned in Anne Frank’s Diaries. As for the broader picture: Is not the world bigger than the attic of a Dutch city apartment block?"

Jewish breeding-program
On several occasions, Brendberg has referred to the extreme right-wing American, Kevin MacDonald, as an authority on Jewish matters. Kevin MacDonald is a white racist, antisemitic, anti-black, anti-leftist apologist for Hitler’s genocide and a fascist.

MacDonald, a professor at an obscure Californian university, is perhaps most infamous for his claim that the Jews have effected a breeding program to conquer other "races".

During the court case that British quasi-historian and Hitler-fan David Irving brought against Debora Lipstadt, MacDonald testified on Irving’s behalf and explained his theories.

In MacDonald’s books, Marxism and the Russian Revolution of October 1917 are both alleged to be Jewish conspiracies. He also claims that the Jews and Asians are threatening to take power from the Europeans in the USA and considers it genetically dangerous to "import Africans".

Brendberg regards MacDonald’s books as classical, academic work and as being worthy of decent, critical debate.

"Cease and desist"
There has also been reaction to Brendberg’s activities within the Arbeidernes Kommunistparti (Workers Communist – AKP), a group within RV.

A statement from the AKP’s central board says, among other things, that "Hans Olav Brendberg has raised discussion in several fora about the Jewish role around the world. The central board of the AKP considers that his views function as antisemitism, and promote conspiracy theories about Jews. This is a fundamental break with the AKP’s views on how economic and class forces drive the world’s development, be it in the USA, the Middle East and the world at large."

The statement ends with the party’s central board ordering "Brendberg to cease, and desist from, these discussions in the public domain."

Jöran Jermas
In Norway, Brendberg is known for his work as translator for the "Israeli" writer, Israel Shamir. On his web page, Shamir presents himself as a leading Russian-Israeli intellectual and as a writer, translator and journalist.

According to the same web page, Shamir has occupied a string of important positions as a translator of classical works and has worked as a journalist in several heavyweight media institutions, including the big Israeli paper, Haaretz.

However, when Monitor started investigating Shamir’s past last year, it proved very difficult to verify that Shamir had ever occupied these positions. His supposed job as Moscow-correspondent for Haaretz turned out to be just a few freelance articles.

The Swedish Census Registry, however, does give a few clues about Shamir and his movements. We know that, according to this register, his name was entered onto it in October 1984, and that he later obtained Swedish citizenship.

Also according to the register, Shamir still lives in Dalagatan, Stockholm, not in Jaffa, Israel, as he publicly claims. Shamir’s first wife and two sons also live in Stockholm.

In July 1993, Shamir emigrated to Russia, and later to Israel, where he married a younger woman in July 1994. During the autumn of 1998, however, he and his new wife returned to Sweden where, according to public records, he still lives.

Strange figure
Even though Shamir claims to be one of Israel’s leading intellectuals, he has lived in Sweden for a long time but has hidden this fact in his writings.

Another strange detail about Shamir is that there are hardly any references to him on the Internet before 2001. What makes this doubly strange is that in 2001, Shamir changed his name to Jöran Jermas.

A strange time, indeed, to change his name, Justas he was being noted and just after starting to publish his works under the name of Israel Shamir.

Though Brendberg claims that Israel Shamir is an Israeli citizen, and thus cannot sue people who upset him in Norway, it is well documented that Shamir is a Swedish citizen, has a completely different name, and has– for long periods lived in places – other than Jaffa, as he claims.

UFO conspiracies
While Jermas/Shamir) has chosen Brendberg as his Norwegian errand boy, he has found other and even more extreme friends in Sweden. One of his Swedish translators, a certain Lars Adelskog, is not only a leading figure in the Swedish UFO movement but can also be found in the jungle of conspiracy theories where the Illuminati, the Freemasons and lizards in human form are supposedly working together to end civilisation as we know it.

Adelskog’s last publication was a book with the profound title En tom säck kan inte stå (An empty bag cannot stand), published by the openly nazi publisher, Nordiska Förlaget. Nordiska Förlaget also sells books by the above-mentioned Kevin MacDonald together with books by, among others, Adolf Hitler and David Irving. In his latest book, Adelskog tries in typical nazi style to "prove" that the WWII genocide of the Jews never took place.

Earlier, this same Adelskog was editor of the Swedish "alternative" magazine Nexus, where he also spread his pet conspiracy theories. Unsold issues of Nexus were later touted by the Nationalsocialistisk Front through its web-store.

Jermas/Shamir himself is no stranger to conspiracy theories. When he visited Norway in 2001, he made the laughable claim, in the mainstream newspaper Adresseavisa, that many Jews were warned – by SMS text messages – to get out of the World Trade Centre in New York before the 9/11 horror attacks.

Zavtra
One other outlet that eagerly promotes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories is the Russian magazine Zavtra and its editor, Alexander Prokhanov. While in Moscow Jermas was working as a journalist for Zavtra, the magazine that has been described as Russias most anti-Semitic newspaper. When the notorious racist, and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke went to Russia to promote his new book "Jewish supremacism", and his new organisation National Association for the Advancement of White People, it was after being invited by Prokhanov.

In other words, it is an interesting web of national Bolsheviks that slowly become visible in Europe and the states.

Jöran Jermas is an eager propagandist. He appears as a friend of the Palestinian people and claims to be promoting system critics against the state of Israel. Because of this several of his texts have been quoted in international debates on the Middle East.

I 2002 was Shamir portrayed by Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå (The Swedish news agency) in the text, that was kept to Shamirs own biography, Shamir appears as a serious jou5rnalist criticising Israel.

However, prominent representatives for the Palestinians do not share this view.Ali Abunimah, prominent media critic on the website Electronic Intifada and Hussein Ibish, press spokesman of American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), warned already in 2001 that Shamir appeared as an anti-Semite and not a critic of Israel. They claimed that his critique of Israel was nothing but classic elements in the European anti-Semitic tradition.

Ignorance?
It is unknown whether Brandberg is privy to Jermas’ different identities, locations and contacts. What can be safely stated, however, is that Brendberg reads what "Shamir" writes, and that, within his texts is material that anyone would understand as extreme racism and antisemitism.

Brandberg has consciously chosen to convey this and other politically toxic material to the Norwegian public, and it is because of this that RV has now, unprecedentedly, decided to chuck him out.

Teacher of religion
Some have questioned whether a person that spreads such views on Jews should be allowed to work as a teacher of religion in the Norwegian state school system.

The leader of the Norwegian association against Antisemitism, Christine Mohn, made the right answer crystal clear when asked about her attitude to this question: "No, definitely not!"