Norway must strengthen teacher training to tackle antisemitism, a European human rights watchdog said Wednesday, warning that Jewish pupils have faced increased harassment and bullying since October 7, 2023.
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), established by the Council of Europe, is an independent human rights monitoring body that specializes in preventing and combating racism, intolerance, and related discrimination.
Its sixth report on Norway was adopted in December 2020, and since then, ECRI said the nation has made progress in a number of fields. The new, seventh report was released Wednesday.
A lot of the report's discussion revolves around Roma people, the Romani/Tater population, and LGBTQ individuals; however, there is also reflection on Norway's policies towards Jews and Muslims.
ECRI noted that recent surveys suggest that antisemitic attitudes are not widespread in Norway. However, a 2024 survey conducted by the Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies revealed that there was an increase in negative attitudes towards Jews following the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023.
According to recent statistics on hate crimes, published in the police’s annual hate crime report, there were 45 incidents of antisemitic hate crimes in 2024.
ECRI also noted that there have been reports of increased antisemitic harassment and bullying in school following 7 October 2023. Several NGO representatives met by ECRI’s delegation indicated that Jewish pupils felt increasingly unsafe in school.
ECRI commended various existing programs in Norway designed to combat antisemitism, such as the federal Action Plan Against Antisemitism, the Jewish pathfinder scheme in schools, and Dembra (Democracy against prejudice and exclusion), a program for schools for the prevention of racism, group-based hostility and anti-democratic attitudes. Dembra's website provides teaching materials regarding anti-Muslim racism, antisemitism, hate speech and extremism. Schools, as part of their participation in Dembra, can also visit the Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies (HL center).
Nevertheless, ECRI recommended, "as a matter of priority," that the authorities strengthen the capacity of the educational system to deal with sensitive societal issues related to antisemitism and anti-Muslim racism by providing teachers and school principals with compulsory and practical training, together with appropriate support material.
HL center director resigns citing loss of confidence from community
The Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies (HL center) has been in the news for other reasons this week, after its director resigned following a turbulent term at the helm.
Jan Heiret, who entered the role in 2024, will leave with immediate effect this week, citing a lack of support from the board.
"In the situation that has arisen, I feel that the board no longer supports me. Without such support, it is impossible to do a good job as the head of the center. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that I have to step aside," Heiret said.
Difficult relationship developed between director, Norway's Jewish religious communities
Chairman of the Board Hans Petter Graver said, "Over time, a difficult relationship has developed between the director and Jewish religious communities in Norway. The HL Center is dependent on the trust of these institutions, which helped establish the center as a research and dissemination center with a broad mandate."
Heiret will move to a research position at the center, and Chairman Graver will act as interim director.
Heiret's exit follows extensive efforts by the Jewish community to oust him over, among other things, his views on the Israel/Gaza war and his calling Israel's war a 'genocide.'
In June 2025, Heiret told Aftenposten that “Based on the fact that leading researchers are increasingly in agreement, it is likely that a genocide is taking place in the Gaza Strip, at least in a political and social sense."
Additionally, Heiret chose to mention Gaza during his speech on International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2025, which Louise Kahn, founder of Kos & Kaos: The Nordic Jewish Network, and Robert Hercz, the head of B’nai B’rith Norway, condemned as “distortion.”
“Many saw this as inappropriate, revitalizing the Holocaust and feeding the dangerous narrative that equates Israel with perpetrators of genocide,” Kahn told The Jerusalem Post in August 2025, during a visit to Oslo.
When interviewed by the Post during the visit, Heiret said he considered it his duty under the center’s mandate to discuss modern genocide and modern risks of genocide.
“We have a very broad mandate. Of course, Holocaust and antisemitism, that’s why we are here, but at the same time, we work with all kinds of racism, such as Islamophobia."
Heiret said he did not claim Israel is committing genocide, but that it’s “important for the international community now to try to stop what’s going on in Gaza.” He did, however, accuse Israel of “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza.
In terms of Zionism, the center “defends Israel’s right to exist.” However, Heiret said, “Zionism is a very difficult concept; there are very many definitions, and some of them are difficult to defend.” At the end of the conversation, he encouraged the Post to speak to the anti-Zionist pro-Palestinian Jewish group.
Heiret's stance angered many in the Jewish community who felt he was taking the community's funding (the center was established with restitution funds) and using it to “stab the Jewish community in the back.”
Norwegian B’nai B’rith sent a letter to the board of the Holocaust Center in January 2025 asking it to reconsider Heiret’s position, arguing that the community no longer "had confidence in Heiret’s ability to convey the real story about the genocide in the Holocaust." Another letter was sent in April 2026, which was also viewed by the Post.
However, on Wednesday, John Arne Moen, a journalist and the leader of the Jewish Community in Trondheim (DJST), wrote in a statement that the claims that Heiret’s departure is connected to the war in Gaza "are entirely false."
While Moen said he is fully aware that some individuals within the Jewish community have expressed criticism over the Center’s attitude toward the State of Israel, he said this "has not been an issue for DMT and DJST." [DMT is the Jewish Community of Oslo].
Instead, he said that "for a considerable period, we have expressed concern that the Center’s leadership, and above all its Director, has been remarkably passive at a time when we are witnessing and experiencing increasing antisemitism in society."
"Like leading politicians, Heiret has made general statements about antisemitism, but at the same time, we have experienced a marked reluctance to address specific incidents, statements, and actions."
Moen acknowledged the fact that Heiret assumed the position of Director of the HL Center without professional knowledge of antisemitism, but said that the lack of confidence of both DMT and DJST in the director comes from "concerns [the Jewish community] is not being heard."
"We did not demand that Jan Heieret resign; what we have stated is that DMT and DJST cannot have confidence in the Center’s leadership when it comes to combating antisemitism in Norwegian society as long as Jan Heieret remains Director. We therefore believe that Jan Heieret was wise to conclude that this had placed the Center in a situation best resolved by his decision to step down," Moen added.
He nevertheless emphasized that we have complete confidence in the research conducted by the HL Center itself.