With Israel for Peace ( Norwegian: Med Israel for fred, MIFF) is a Norwegian pro- Israel organisation. It styles itself as a "non-religious, non-partisan pro-Israel organisation", and has more than 11,000 registered members as of 2017. [1] A main concern of the organisation is what it sees as a negative bias towards Israel in mainstream Norwegian media coverage. [1] The director of the organisation is Conrad Myrland, and the president is Morten Fjell Rasmussen. [1]
MIFF was founded in 1978. Since then it has grown substantially from 1,200 members in 2005, to more than 11,000 as of 2017. [1] In January 2009, during the Gaza War, a peaceful rally by MIFF was attacked amid violent anti-Israel riots in Oslo. [2] By early 2014 MIFF had more than twice as many members as the main pro-Palestine organisation in Norway, the Palestine Committee of Norway. [3]
In July 2014, amid the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, the organisation accused Mads Gilbert of lying about Israel, and put ads in Norwegian newspapers debunking claims made by Gilbert. [4] The organisation was itself accused of stirring up television viewer storms against NRK reporter Sidsel Wold [5] and TV 2 reporter Fredrik Græsvik. [6] In August 2014 MIFF held a rally with up to 600 people in Oslo, with speakers including members of parliament Hans Fredrik Grøvan and Kristian Norheim. [7] [8] The organisation received a record 900.000 kr in gifts and membership fees during the month of August 2014. [9] Notable members of MIFF includes retired football player Anders Rambekk, [10] member of parliament Erlend Wiborg, [11] and former member of parliament Hallgrim Berg. [12]
In 2015 MIFF became a co-founding member of the European Alliance for Israel, which included delegates from fifteen European countries, of which MIFF was the largest group by membership. [13] [14]
In October 2023, amid the 2023 Israel–Hamas war about 500 people attended a rally in Oslo arranged by MIFF. Among the speakers were politicians such as Progress Party leader Sylvi Listhaug. [15]