FINNISH GOVERNMENT FUNDED UMBRELLA ORG DISCRIMINATES AGAINST JNF BRANCH IN FINLAND, CALLS IT RACIST…….

This can only happen in an environment where Jew hatred and ignorance on Israel flourishes.

UPDATE: As a colleague aptly puts it: “Finland officially commemorates the Holocaust memorial tomorrow, and at the same time refuses JNF from participating to multicultural festival because it has been supporting the Jewish state which was partially designed to protect the Jewish people. Appalling.”

The Finnish Jewish branch (KKL Finland) of the Israeli JNF organization is a central Jewish organization, and was refused entry to this year’s World Village Festival organized by Kepa, an umbrella organisation advancing multiculturalism (for almost 300 organizations) in Finland. Kepa is also funded in part by the Finnish Foreign Ministry, whose bio includes the focusing on development policy issues, as well as providing training and advice for civil society organisations (CSOs) in Finland.

Their (Kepa’s) annual budget is 6.3 million per year. (page 4 at pdf) The MFA has funded them 17,6 million from 2013-2015 (they have given the grant for three years at a time). Also Kepa receives money from other sources, such as membership fees etc but the MFA funding is the major source of money. So they have to make a budget for each year, and for 2013 it was 6 million. It means that almost all of their money comes from the MFA funding (3×6 = 18).

The person responsible for getting the Jewish organization banned, is none other than Syksy Räsänen, vice chairman of the Finnish branch of the anti-Israel ”Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions” (ICAHD).

Mr.Bad Hair Day writes in blog mentioned by Kepa, that :

“The World Village Festival in 2014 was an exhibitor of the Jewish National Fund Finnish branch of Keren Kajemet LeIsrael. The organization also known as the JNF , the English name of the Jewish National Fund. Now that the 2015 exhibitor registration is open and the JNF can try to register with the festival again, it is necessary to talk about it, what kind of organization in question is all about.

At the festival JNF presented itself as an environmental organization that does not take a position on policy. However, it gave the Israeli government pamphlets that presented the Occupied Palestinian Territories as part of Israel, in violation of international law. JNF’s staff told reporters that the other occupied areas belong to Israel, and that they represent Israel and coordinate their activities with the Israeli government.

JNF is not just a mouthpiece for the Israeli government, it is a major political player.

JNF was founded in 1901 to promote the Zionist movement’s colonial policy in Palestine. The Zionist movement carried out by Israel in 1948, was the establishment of large-scale ethnic cleansing, with more than 700 000 Palestinians were driven from their homes. The Palestinians will remember the event as nakba, the catastrophe.[…]

JNF planted a forest to hide hundreds of “cleansed” Palestinian village ruins. […]

JNF participates in the Palestinian ethnic cleaning of the occupied Palestinian territories and in Israel. JNF has sought to oust the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, Palestinians living in the way of the settlements . […]

In accepting the JNF into the festival Kepa certainly did not know what kind of organization is all about. Now it would be appropriate for Kepa to make public position, the JNF and other racist organizations are not welcome. Otherwise, it may happen that this will not be the only case when the racist organizations advertise themselves at the festival.

This is just a portion of the highly anti-Israel blog post that the Finnish organization Kepa (Finnish MFA funded) used to discriminate against the Finnish branch of the JNF (KKL). Syksy Räsänen has been at the forefront of anti-Israel agitprop for many years, being an active public voice for ICAHD Finland (one of only five international branches) he’s been responsible for much of the negative image of Israel in Finland. This latest outrage will only serve to encourage future similar worded anti-Israel/anti-Semitic outbursts and policies in Finland.

NOTE: They issue here for me is (besides the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish assault), is the fact that the government of Finland is funding this umbrella organization that is discriminating against the Jewish state. The Finnish government is then, by default, waging a propaganda war against Israel.