David Weiss (fictional person)
Encyclopedia
In March 2009, Haviv Rettig
Gur was contacted by a man claiming to be David Weiss, captain in the Norwegian military. Weiss was quoted in a news story written by Gur in The Jerusalem Post
in which Norwegian Jews said they experienced tensions related to their Jewishness, mostly from Muslim immigrants and through anti-Israel discourse in the media.
Contrary to the claims of some Norwegian journalists, Gur did not accuse Norwegian Minister of Finance Kristin Halvorsen
of chanting "Death to Jews" in a demonstration. His story was correcting a previous, inaccurate report written by another journalist that seemed to suggest this. (That article has been removed from the Post's website.)
The article concerning possible anti-Semitism in Norway was discussed by Norwegian media and landed on the front pages.
The article caused Norwegian Jews to react and in following articles denounced the claims printed in the Jerusalem Post.
Which led to a retraction of the article regarding Kristin Halvorsen.
On the 4th of April the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten
published an interview with "David Weiss" where he claimed to be reprimanded by his superiors for speaking out against antisemitism in Norway, reiterating his claim of Norwegian state-sponsored antisemitism and claimed that he had to live in a secret location and had a special security clearance. He also admitted to conducting espionage in favor of foreign interests.
On the same day Dagbladet (Norwegian newspaper) published an article containing a press statement by the Norwegian Armed Forces
. The press statement was unusual since it broke with the "no comment" policy when referring to the clandestine services of the armed forces. In the press statement, Major Bent-Ivan Myhre of the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Defense, stated that there were no records of such a person. When asked why the Norwegian MoD made such a statement, he replied that it was unacceptable that the Norwegian Armed Forces were falsely implicated or used to credit a story.
On the 5th of April 2009, Aftenposten chief political editor Harald Stanghelle in an article, denounced the Norwegian MoD claim, and considered the claim as fake indicating that "this is not the first time the armed forces has not told the truth".
Later on the 5th of April, Dagbladet published a new article "Expose of David Weiss, he is a hoax", where the journalist had tracked down the 45-year-old man (name not published) that was identified as being the pseudonym "David Weiss" and confronted him.
In the pursuant interview with Dagbladet he admitted that the person of David Weiss, Norwegian officer, was a hoax / fictional person.
Gur's version of the events is related here.
Haviv Rettig
Haviv Rettig Gur was an Israeli-American journalist and the Jewish world correspondent for the Israeli English-language daily The Jerusalem Post until June 2010, when he was appointed spokesman of the Jewish Agency...
Gur was contacted by a man claiming to be David Weiss, captain in the Norwegian military. Weiss was quoted in a news story written by Gur in The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily English-language broadsheet newspaper, founded on December 1, 1932 by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. The daily readership numbers do not approach those of the major Hebrew newspapers....
in which Norwegian Jews said they experienced tensions related to their Jewishness, mostly from Muslim immigrants and through anti-Israel discourse in the media.
Contrary to the claims of some Norwegian journalists, Gur did not accuse Norwegian Minister of Finance Kristin Halvorsen
Kristin Halvorsen
Kristin Halvorsen is a Norwegian socialist politician and was the Minister of Finance from 17 October 2005 until 20 October 2009. She is now the Minister of Education in Stoltenberg's second cabinet....
of chanting "Death to Jews" in a demonstration. His story was correcting a previous, inaccurate report written by another journalist that seemed to suggest this. (That article has been removed from the Post's website.)
The article concerning possible anti-Semitism in Norway was discussed by Norwegian media and landed on the front pages.
The article caused Norwegian Jews to react and in following articles denounced the claims printed in the Jerusalem Post.
Which led to a retraction of the article regarding Kristin Halvorsen.
On the 4th of April the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten
Aftenposten
Aftenposten is Norway's largest newspaper. It retook this position in 2010, taking it from the tabloid Verdens Gang which had been the largest newspaper for several decades. It is based in Oslo. The morning edition, which is distributed across all of Norway, had a circulation of 250,179 in 2007...
published an interview with "David Weiss" where he claimed to be reprimanded by his superiors for speaking out against antisemitism in Norway, reiterating his claim of Norwegian state-sponsored antisemitism and claimed that he had to live in a secret location and had a special security clearance. He also admitted to conducting espionage in favor of foreign interests.
On the same day Dagbladet (Norwegian newspaper) published an article containing a press statement by the Norwegian Armed Forces
Norwegian Armed Forces
The Norwegian Armed Forces numbers about 23,000 personnel, including civilian employees. According to mobilisation plans , the strength during full mobilisation would be approximately 83,000 combatant personnel. Norway has mandatory military service for men and voluntary service for women...
. The press statement was unusual since it broke with the "no comment" policy when referring to the clandestine services of the armed forces. In the press statement, Major Bent-Ivan Myhre of the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Defense, stated that there were no records of such a person. When asked why the Norwegian MoD made such a statement, he replied that it was unacceptable that the Norwegian Armed Forces were falsely implicated or used to credit a story.
On the 5th of April 2009, Aftenposten chief political editor Harald Stanghelle in an article, denounced the Norwegian MoD claim, and considered the claim as fake indicating that "this is not the first time the armed forces has not told the truth".
Later on the 5th of April, Dagbladet published a new article "Expose of David Weiss, he is a hoax", where the journalist had tracked down the 45-year-old man (name not published) that was identified as being the pseudonym "David Weiss" and confronted him.
In the pursuant interview with Dagbladet he admitted that the person of David Weiss, Norwegian officer, was a hoax / fictional person.
Gur's version of the events is related here.