The move comes after the domestic security service raised the terror threat level from moderate to high last week.
By JNS
Norway is introducing temporary border checks after raising its terror threat level, police said on Saturday. According to the statement, the inspections will be in effect until Oct. 22.
Norway is not part of the European Union but is a member of the Schengen Zone, with no border controls between countries. The Nordic country shares land borders with E.U. and Schengen members Sweden and Finland.
Police said that not all travelers will be be checked as part of the new border controls and that delays are not expected at border crossings.
The move comes after the domestic security service raised the terror threat level from moderate to high on Oct. 8 (level 4 on a scale of 1 to 5).
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“It is primarily the threat to Jewish and Israeli targets that has been further intensified,” according to the Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste (PST).
“There are several negative conditions that have increased the terrorist threat, among other things linked to the ongoing escalation of the conflict in the Middle East,” the statement continued.
“Furthermore, there are several Jewish holidays in October. Several actors may see such markings as a symbol of terrorist acts.”
According to the PST’s definition, level 4 means that the security services have assessed that “one or more people have concrete and realistic plans and are taking concrete steps to carry out terrorist attacks and/or that several conditions increase the terrorist threat.”
The Norwegian security measures come after gunfire and explosions occurred near the Israeli embassies in Copenhagen and Stockholm earlier this month.
“Going forward, we will be paying increased attention to the fact that state actors can use criminal networks to carry out terrorist acts, and what consequences this has for the police’s efforts against these organisations,” said the security services’ director general, Marie Benedicte Bjørnland, as quoted by Euractiv.
In this regard, Norwegian police on patrols will be armed, according to Bjørnland (law enforcement usually don’t carry weapons on routine patrols).
“The decision is based on the police being able to take faster action in the event of a terrorist attack to prevent, limit the extent of damage, or stop an ongoing attack.”
Oslo has been a fierce critic of Israel during its year-long war against Iran and its regional terror proxies instigated by the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023.
A PLO flag flutters in the wind after it was raised in the courtyard outside City Hall in Oslo on Nov. 29, 2023. Photo by Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB/AFP via Getty Images.
On Saturday, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide put out a statement appearing to put Israel and Hamas on a similar level and accusing Jerusalem of “indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks” and preventing Gazans from receiving humanitarian aid, charges which Jerusalem vehemently denies.
“We have repeatedly criticized both Israel and Hamas for violating the rules of war. Israel’s brutal warfare in Gaza includes indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, as well as measures that prevent the population from receiving humanitarian aid. This is in violation of the rules of war,” the statement read.
This past summer, Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz informed Oslo on that he was canceling the diplomatic status of eight Norwegian representatives operating out of the country’s embassy in Tel Aviv whose sole role was to represent the Scandinavian nation to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
The ministry’s move was in retaliation for anti-Israel actions by Norway since the Hamas invasion on Oct. 7.
“There is a price for anti-Israel behavior,” said Katz, in a statement released by the Foreign Ministry.
“Instead of fighting Palestinian terrorism after October 7 and supporting Israel fighting against Iran’s evil axis, Norway chose to award the rapists and murderers of Hamas in the form of recognition of a Palestinian state,” he said.
Katz also cited Norway’s stand against Israel with the International Criminal Court, “one-sided” anti-Israel statements by Norwegian officials, and Norway’s independent moves regarding the P.A.
The ministry said the decision would be “particularly painful” for Oslo, which has assumed a leading role in the Palestinian issue.
Israel also canceled an agreement that it had struck with Norway in January to hold P.A. taxes and customs duties for safekeeping, part of a deal to freeze P.A. funds destined for Hamas in the Gaza Strip.