THIS POST WAS UPDATED
A scoop by Yle exposed how the Finnish defense ministry silently signed a 10-year memorandum of defense (MoD) material cooperation with the government of Israel to 2034. Even though Finland’s opposition parties have strongly criticized the government and National Coalition Party (NCP) Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen, the latest scandal shows how far the country has regressed on human rights and the rule of law.
Minister Häkkänen’s Islamopobic and Russophobic views are well known.
All four parties in government, the NCP, Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, Swedish People’s Party and Chritian Democrats, are to blame for the situation. Despite NCP Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s leadership in challenging racism, we have seen the opposite happen in Finland.
Racism has grown and become normalized under the present government and therefore ha lost a big chunk of its credibility.
Antti Häkkänen together with President Alexander Stubb and Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen. “Hey look what I bought,” said Häkkänen. “I have heard that these have been tested on erasing a whole people.” Helsingin Sanomat
The MoD was signed when Israel started the killing of over 70,000 children and women in Gaza. Green League chair Sofia Virta described the government’s Israel policy as a “historic shame.”
“When we demanded pressure on Israel, the government tightened cooperation,” she was quoted as saying in the Helsinki Times, “When we demanded that dependencies on Israel be reduced, the government deepened them,” Virta said in a party statement.”
Left Alliance Chairperson Minja Koskela asked if Prime Minister Orpo and Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen had been adequately informed. “The silence does not surprise me, because the chosen line is intolerably shameful,” Koskela said in a statement.
The interesting question to watch is if the government will, like its continuous racism scandals, sweep the issue under the rug with silence and inaction.
