Shaun Henrik Matheson on September 27, 2019 (Screen grab/Facebook)
The Simon Wiesenthal Center on Friday called on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to censure the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation over a digital music radio host’s anti-Israel comments that were later praised by a neo-Nazi group.
Shaun Henrik Matheson made the comments to his predominantly young audience on the NRK P13 digital music channel radio.
“I wish the vaccine did not work in Israel,” he said. “Israel is a shitty country!”
Dr. Shimon Samuels of the anti-Semitism watchdog wrote to Delphine Ernotte, the newly-elected president of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) raising “an apparent indifference to antisemitism in one of your 116 member organizations, the Norwegian NRK,” saying that Matheson’s rant was “unacceptable.”
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Israel is in the midst of an extensive vaccination campaign, and is beginning to see a drop in COVID infections and severe cases. Israel exited its third nationwide lockdown, but inbound and outbound flights remain suspended except for special cases. So far, 5,821 Israelis have died of the virus.
Meanwhile, Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have received 30,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, and 2,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine donated by Israel. It may take a while still for a mass vaccination campaign to get under way, and many months for it to reach enough members of the population. 1,741 people have died so far in the West Bank, while 555 have died in Gaza.
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