A professor at a number one Norwegian university described the Oct. 7 Hamas assaults as “the most beautiful thing that happened this century,” drawing condemnation from Israeli officers and elevating questions concerning the boundaries of educational expression in Norway.
Bassem Hussein, a professor on the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering on the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), made the comment throughout an occasion within the metropolis of Trondheim organized by a Norwegian group known as Socialist Forum.
The subject of the occasion, in response to the choice Norwegian information outlet Document, was “the situation in the Middle East and its consequences for Europe”.
“Hussein, who is originally from Gaza, believes that 7 October showed that ‘Israeli superiority’ is merely a myth and that Hamas’ terror massacres were ‘a needle in the backside’ of the Israeli ‘dragon,'” Document wrote about his talk, which was delivered in Norwegian and posted on YouTube by the other participant in the debate, Pål Steigan, a former leader of the Maoist Workers’ Communist Party in Norway.
Israel’s interim charge d’affaires in Norway, Eytan Halon, responded to the video on 𝕏, calling it “a shocking glorification of terror.”
“This Hamas supporter cannot continue teaching Norway’s students,” Halon wrote.
Shocking glorification of terror by Prof. Bassem Hussein from Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
The 7/10 assault was the “most beautiful thing that happened this century”, he mentioned final week.
This Hamas supporter can’t proceed educating Norway’s college students @NTNU pic.twitter.com/hyWtFHjP9T
— Eytan Halon (@eytanhalon) May 2, 2026
There doesn’t seem to have been any instant response from NTNU.
Hussein has a historical past of radical anti-Israel and pro-Hamas activism. In January 2025, he led chants at a tribute to Yahya Sinwar. He additionally beforehand set up an encampment of tents outdoors the university the place he lectures, demanding that it sever all ties with Israel.
At the time, Document requested NTNU administration whether or not it was acceptable for a professor to be praising Sinwar, and obtained the next transient response.
“Freedom of expression is strong in Norway, and only the law sets the limit. If a statement is contrary to the law, it is a matter for the police or the judiciary,” Rector Tor Grande responded.
The controversy comes amid strained relations between Israel and Norway. Israel recalled its ambassador to Norway in May 2024 following Norway’s formal recognition of a Palestinian state, and the embassy has operated with out an official ambassador since then. Israel has additionally thought of shutting down its embassy within the nation.
In August 2025, Norway introduced that its sovereign wealth fund could be divesting from Israeli corporations and appealed for an opinion by the International Court of Justice in The Hague over Israel’s determination to close down UNRWA.
Concerns about antisemitism in Norway have additionally surfaced in latest months. In October final yr, Norwegian state broadcaster NRK aired controversial content material in an episode of a satirical youngsters’s information present:
(*7*) this system’s host, Tuva Johannessen, said in what was imagined to be a joke about killing Jews.
“It’s 2025, not 1945 – yet we’re hearing Nazi jokes on state TV again,” Israeli educator On Elpeleg, who lives in Norway, said on the time, arguing that the incident was a symptom of a wider downside with antisemitism in Norwegian society. “It’s unbelievable that this broadcaster, which collaborated with the Nazis and boosted their morale between 1940 and 1945, is still operating like this 80 years later,” Elpeleg warned, referring to the Norwegian pro-Nazi Quisling regime throughout World War II.