Finland
(Updated December 2003)
The Finnish Jewish community is rather small (1500
members) of the overall Finnish population of 5.2 million. In Finland,
the Jews are well integrated into society and are represented in nearly
all sectors of it. Most of them live in the metropolitan area of Helsinki,
with small numbers of members living also in the cities of Turku and
Tampere. Due to Finland’s continuing pro-Arab attitude since the
1967 Six Day War, there were minor threats against the Jewish community
during the Middle East crisis. In the monitoring period there have also
been many pro-Palestine demonstrations and movements directed against
the government of Israel and its actions in the Palestinian areas. These
activities cannot be evaluated as anti-Semitic; nevertheless there is
always a possibility that they can create extreme expressions of opinion,
so that people may no longer distinguish the Israeli government from
the Jewish people, thus increasing the danger of anti-Semitic thoughts
and acts.
1. Physical acts of violence
On 6 May a window of the Jewish synagogue in the centre of Helsinki
located on the building’s 2nd floor was smashed and raw eggs thrown
against the walls at the Jewish Community Building. The attack was carried
out by a group of about 10 skinheads. This is the first time that an
incident of this kind has occurred in Helsinki.
Earlier in the spring there were two bomb threats. One bomb threat was
not reported at all in the media and the other one was reported on different
scales depending on the paper.
2. Verbal aggression/hate speech
Direct threats
The Jewish community in Helsinki has received threatening letters throughout
the spring, especially in the earlier part, but also in May.
Telephone
Earlier this spring, at the same time as the Israeli army invaded the
city of Jenin, the Finnish Jewish community began to receive threatening
phone calls on a daily basis. Also in the monitoring period covered
by this report there have been threatening phone calls to the Jewish
Community Centre because of the recent incidents in the Middle East.
On 4 April an anonymous telephone bomb threat to a Jewish school in
Helsinki caused the evacuation of the Helsinki synagogue and the Jewish
old people’s home. No device was found.
Graffiti and anti-Semitic inscriptions
There has not been much anti-Semitic graffiti in Helsinki. While most
of the graffiti expresses pro-Palestine sentiments, some of it is also
very anti-Israeli.
Publicly distributed leaflets
Pro-Palestine movements have distributed their leaflets on many occasions.
Some of these leaflets contain (extreme) anti-Israeli material, and
others have asked people to boycott Israeli products to help attain
peace in Israel.
Media
According to a representative of the Jewish community in Helsinki ,
Jews are blamed for what happens in Israel and the news and articles
in the Finnish media have tended to be biased about issues dealing with
the situation in Israel. He believes that the anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish
tone of these writings could have been intentional or unintentional.
He also sees that the recent development of anti-Semitism in Europe
may lead to an increase in anti-Semitic acts in Finland.
Some of the writers of letters to newspapers have expressed their concern
over the way the Finnish media handles the situation in Middle East.
Some writers see that the media can really damage the general picture
of Jews and weaken their position in society by presenting news from
a narrow point of view, without taking all relevant matters into consideration.
Public discourse
The Archbishop, when referring to the situation in Middle East, said
that the borders of a state cannot be drawn with the help of the Old
Testament’s guidelines. He has agreed that the Jewish people are
God’s chosen people, but still this fact should not affect how
Christians react to the policy the Israeli government practices. Some
people reacted very strongly to the Archbishop’s opinions. They
could not understand how the Archbishop of the Finnish Lutheran Church
could criticise the actions of the Israeli government. Others believed
that he showed a great deal of courage by expressing his opinions on
the situation in Middle East.
Internet
In some of the Internet’s news groups and chat rooms there has
been discussion about the situation in Israel. The opinions have been
both pro-Palestine and pro-Israel. On some occasions the discussion
has been impolite from both sides. Hence, there are some anti-Semitic
opinions in Internet chat rooms. It is common in these Internet discussions
that people cite the Bible in making their arguments. Some argue that
the Bible says that Jews are the chosen people of God and now they are
persecuted as the Bible has predicted; others argue that the Jews killed
Jesus and they will always be blamed for this.
3. Research studies
During the period no research studies were done in the field.
4. Good practice for reducing prejudice, violence and aggression
FLHR interviewed the representative of the Friends of Israel Association,
who said that they have done a lot of work to reduce prejudice and violence
towards Jews. The main method for doing this has been the dissemination
of information. They have organised events informing the public about
Israel and the Jewish culture. Some speakers have come from Israel to
give lectures about the situation in Israel. There was also one pro-Israel
demonstration on 11 May 2002.
5. Reactions by politicians and other opinion leaders
There has not been much discussion about the increase of anti-Semitism;
more generally politicians have expressed their concern about a rise
in support for extreme right-wing parties in Europe. Politicians and
parties have declared that this kind of development is unacceptable
in Finland and that a lot of work must be done to prevent this development
from also taking place here.
Sources:
C.R.I.F. - Released by the European Jewish Congress |