Injured and threatened

"I feel that I and those close to me are more injured and threatened by Gaarder than by those who deface a synagogue," Levin said.

Gaarder argued that the state of Israel can no longer be recognized, and that the nation "has raped world recognition and will have no peace before it lays down its arms". Gaarder also argues vehemently that he is no anti-Semite, but the imagery in his piece renders calm discussion difficult.

"It is the nastiest thing I have read since "Mein Kampf". Gaarder makes it easy for himself, there is nothing that can not be said about Jews today. The same people who would not draw Mohammed out of respect for Muslims can safely say things like this about Jews and Israel without receiving death threats. I am a Norwegian Jew, but not religious and do not back Israeli politics, but when I see statements like this I am nearly forced to become a hostage of reactionary ideas," Levin said.

Levin said that with 'friends' like Gaarder, Jews didn't need enemies.

"It is a shame that a presumably intelligent person calls the Ten Commandments "amusing stone tablets" and kicks away at what both the Christian and Jewish civilizations are built upon. ... He walks into his own trap when he goes from talking about the state of Israel in one paragraph to attacking the Jewish people in the next," Levin said.

"This is a very, very good and wise piece. There is no doubt that Israel is now digging its own grave as a state, it no longer helps that they have the USA behind them. Many people are doubtless unable to read a two page article but if one is an anti-Semite anything can be used to support that view, but here Gaarder is completely correct," said Anne B. Ragde.

"My admiration for Jostein Gaarder has not been diminished by this. Gaarder does his intellectual duty, and he does this better than anyone else, even if I cannot support everything he says. No thinking person can read this as an incitement to hate Jews," said author Edvard Hoem.

"That I am in agreement with the basic contours of Gaarder's critic of Israel's conduct of war should astonish no one. He has chosen a very harsh form, my impression is that it can be easily quoted and misinterpreted by anti-Zionists, but Gaarder must speak with his own voice. All intellectuals should write when the world burns as it does today but right now the most important thing is to criticize Norway's own weakness around the creation of a Palestinian state," said author Jon Michelet.

"What is happening is first and foremost very sad, and the pro-Israeli standpoint I grew up with has taken some shots. Gaarder makes important points - this is a large and difficult topic that everyone, regardless of background, should take up and reassess now. But it is important to remember that Israeli lives are also being lost in this conflict," said author and musician Levi Henriksen.