Central Council of Jewish Communities in Finland condemns Helsingin Sanomat article for highlighting buyer’s religion in business news story

According to the complaint, since November 2024, protesters have regularly gathered in the immediate vicinity of the Centre, targeting Jewish children and community members with offensive, contemptuous and distressing messages, often shouted from only 30 to 40 metres away.

Suggesting that the Holocaust did not happen will become a punishable offence, with the penalty ranging from a fine to two years’ imprisonment.

Minister of Finance Riikka Purra gave the Government’s address to a memorial ceremony for Jews handed over to Nazi Germany by Finland during the Shoah.

Only eight per cent of those who had experienced antisemitism had reported their case to the police or a supervisory authority in Finland.

The Chancellery of the Finnish State Council decided that starting from January 27, 2024, Finland will switch to commemorate the IHRD, in accordance with international practice.

The governing coalition’s parties agreed on the content of a statement submitted to the Finnish parliament that calls for “non-discrimination in Finnish society” and for new legislation to work towards that goal.

Finland’s economy minister, Vilhelm Junnila, has been forced to resign after making repeated Nazi references.

Ben Zyskowicz, who has served as Helsinki representative for decades, says a man approached him at a metro station in Helsinki and attacked him, hurled antisemitic slurs and threatened to push him onto the tracks.

The Helsinki District Court convicted parliamentary election candidate of the blue-black movement party Ville Nurmela for the attack on the synagogue of the Turku Jewish congregation. The attack was carried out on Holocaust Memorial Day in January 2020.

The Finnish parliament constitutional committee decided after a 10-5 vote result that the proposal to forbid religiously motivated shechita and halal slaughter is not proportional with regards to freedom of religion and the agricultural committee took the same decision with a 12-3 vote.

The Finnish government signs an agreement to donate $1 million to Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance, blood bank and breast milk bank service.

European Commission Coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life, Katharina von Schnurbein, has called on the Finnish authorities to do more to combat hate speech, including antisemitic narratives.