Hoem tells NRK that she has already been in contact with Kaur over the weekend. No time has been set for the meeting with the RU leader.
– She has said the same thing as she has said publicly, and I am happy about that. We are very disappointed in the second round that came from the Secretary General and in her answers yesterday. And at the same time I have to say that I accept and appreciate that they retract the words they used, and that they have also deleted the videos, says Hoem to the channel.
It was on Friday that Kaur published a Tiktok post in which she labeled Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and oil fund chief Nicolai Tangen as terrorists. Kaur later apologized for calling Støre a terrorist and deleted the video.
Sorry
On Saturday, Kaur admitted to NRK that the characterization as a terrorist was “very stupid” of her, and that she should not have said it.
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– It was a derailment to call someone a terrorist, and by doing so I trivialized the experiences of the survivors and relatives. I apologize for that, know that it was absolutely not the intention, Kaur wrote on her Facebook page.
On the same day, the organisation’s general secretary Syver Kleve Kolstad stated that 22 July is being used as a counter-argument against people who criticize Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, and called it “completely reprehensible”.
– There is no doubt that Støre supports terrorism, says Kolstad in a Tiktok video according to the channel.
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– Jonas Gahr Støre supports terrorism by allowing Norwegian money to be invested in Israel. Thus, he also supports Israel’s terror against the Palestinians, he explained to NRK.
– Many are disappointed
Astrid Hoem says she wishes the apology was even clearer, and that greater understanding was shown for what the Labor Party’s youth organization is reacting to. AUF was the target of the terrorist attack against the organisation’s summer camp on Utøya on 22 July 2022.
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– There are many who are disappointed, perhaps especially because it comes from the left. We have said that the moderate right must take responsibility for speaking out clearly when you see the far right using this type of language. Then we on the left must also speak out clearly when we see those words being used in our own region, says Hoem.
AUF’s general secretary Jan Halvor Vaag Endrerud calls the statements “bordering on unprofessional.”
– This is just proof that you have not understood the seriousness of your claims. I feel that the apologies that have come in the last few days have not been genuine.
Signing out
Inside both Rød Ungdom and the mother party Rødt, Kaur’s actions have caused strong reactions. On Saturday, Alberte Brekkhus, former leader of Rød Ungdom, announced that she is resigning.
– Today I resigned with a heavy heart from the organization I grew up in, wrote Brekkhus on his open Facebook page.
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On Sunday, the Kristiansand politician Ayat Majbel Saeid, who for several years has sat on Rød Undom’s central board, wrote in a post on Facebook that she is doing the same. There she also writes that she retains her membership in the mother party, writes Fædrelandsvennen.
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Ayat Majbel Saeid believes Rød Undom’s leader has behaved like an online troll with the controversial terrorist plot.
– You cannot be the leader of a youth party and behave like an internet troll, then dismiss it as a joke when criticized, says Ayat Majbel Saeid.
Counting the buttons
Several high-profile Rødt politicians have also come out with strong criticism of the RU leader. On Saturday, former party leader Bjørnar Moxnes wrote on Facebook that he has been contacted by several Rødt people who are counting the buttons on whether they should continue in the party or opt out, writes NRK.
– To these I would like to say that yesterday’s statements do not represent us, Moxnes wrote.
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Rødt profiler Mímir Kristjánsson wrote on Facebook on Saturday that he was both embarrassed and angry:
– The leader of the Labor Party is not a terrorist. Neither are Nicolai Tangen and Jens Stoltenberg. Comparing Støre to Netanyahu is hopeless. Putting Støre on a terror list while denying that Hamas has carried out terror is even worse, wrote Kristjánsson.
