Norwegian police have dismissed a complaint against a university professor who called the October 7 massacre “the most beautiful thing that has happened in our century,” The Jerusalem Post has learned on Thursday.
The Post previously reported on the incident in May 2026. Bassam Hussein, a project management professor at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, made the comments during an April 21 lecture organized by the Socialist Forum.
At the time, Vikas Thakur, dean of the Faculty of Engineering at NTNU, told the Post that NTNU has no responsibility for the event due to it being arranged at a venue outside of the university campus.
When asked whether NTNU considers Hussein’s statements to be glorification of terror, Thakur said, “We understand that the statement may be perceived that way,” but that “he spoke as an individual citizen with a background from Gaza, not on behalf of the university.”
Anti-antisemitism activist group StoppNRK then lodged a complaint against Husseein with Norwegian police.
Case dismissed because conduct is not criminal offense
On Thursday, Investigator Arild Hansen and Prosecutor Sunniva Tronvoll notified StoppNRK that the case has been dismissed because “the reported conduct is not considered a criminal offense.”
In the letter, seen by the Post, the police informed StoppNRK that the dismissal may be appealed to the nearest higher prosecuting authority. The deadline for filing an appeal is three weeks.
“It is unbelievable and unacceptable that Norway, a country where nearly half of its Jewish population was murdered during the Holocaust, allows the glorification of the genocidal terrorist organization Hamas,” On Elpeleg, the head of StoppNRK, told the Post.
He confirmed that StoppNRK will appeal the decision.
“It is becoming increasingly unsafe to be a Jew – or anyone who opposes terrorism – in Norway,” he concluded.