In August 2006, author Jostein Gaarder sparked a controversy in Norway after publishing an op-ed "God's chosen people" in the Aftenposten, one of the country's major newspapers, in which he produced scathing criticism of Israel which at the time was engaged in the 2006 Lebanon War. He called for, among other things, for the world to stop recognizing the State of Israel, just like it, according to him, had not recognized the Taliban regime in Afghanistan or the Apartheid regime in South Africa. The name of the op-ed alludes to the concept of "choseness" in Judaism.