Finland's ambassador to Israel talks diplomacy, Jews, NATO

If my numbers are right, 94 sovereign countries maintain embassies in Israel. Until now, only four of those have followed protocol and placed their embassies in Israel’s capital, Jerusalem. Ninety others are still situated in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area for outdated and unjustified reasons. Yet all diplomatic business is conducted in Jerusalem.

One of those embassies is from the Republic of Finland, a country known for its snow, vast forests, Aurora Borealis, hot springs, and the proverbial home of Santa Claus. It’s a tourist’s paradise. The crime rate is low, and most offenses are traffic violations. Usually nothing of international impact is happening there.

The bilateral relations between our two countries go back to the beginning of the establishment of Israel in 1948, when Finnish president Juho Kusti Paasikivi recognized the Jewish state almost immediately; although it took until November 1950 for official diplomatic relations to be established. But that was 72 years ago, and we have been friends ever since. That’s why it was my special pleasure to welcome the Finnish Ambassador to Israel, Kirsikka Lehto-Asikainen, to talk with me about her country.

Today, our countries have strong economic and cultural ties, and there is considerable tourist travel between Israel and Finland and regular direct flights between Tel Aviv and Helsinki. Is Finland a member of the Schengen area; and if so, do Israelis require visas to enter Finland?

Yes, we are part of the Shengen area, and Israelis do not need a visa to travel to Finland. That is reciprocal. The flight is only about four and a half hours. Before corona, there were about 20,000 Israelis traveling to Finland annually, mostly to Lapland; and about 20,000 Finns came to Israel every year before corona. We hope to reach those levels again, now that things are getting back to normal.

When I travel to a country for the first time, I am immediately struck by certain features that stand out. You have represented your country in Israel for more than three years. What impressions will you take away at the end of your tour of duty here?

Well, many, many memories. First of all, perhaps the very broad, diverse and active relations we have with Israel in many sectors – political dialogue and economic innovations, cultural, and the people-to-people relations. And this is a beautiful country, of course. I have tried to travel as much as possible throughout the country, visiting different places. And then the Israeli people, of course.

Although you have been in the diplomatic service for 25 years, I have observed that Israel is usually a training ground for ambassadorial posts in major countries. What would be your preference – London? Washington?

Looking at my colleagues here from different countries, I think this is a very important country for many other countries because they tend to send senior and very experienced diplomats to Israel. So I wouldn’t say it’s a training place because I see colleagues from very important places like Washington and others. For myself personally, I have a particular connection to France, so maybe one day I will be able to serve as Finnish ambassador in Paris. But I am focusing on being here now in Israel, and my next posting will actually be to go back to Helsinki for family reasons sometime in the summer.

Somewhere in the foreign service?

Yes.

And that brings me to current events. The whole of Europe, and particularly the northern states of Sweden and Finland, are affected by the threats of Russia. President Putin, a former KGB functionary, appears to be intent on restoring his country to its territorial size as it was under the Russian Empire and subsequently the Soviet Union. In February of 2022, he began a second attack on Ukraine, having already occupied their Crimean Peninsula since 2014. Finland is a Western-orientated country and has come into focus because it shares a 1,340 km. long border with Russia. Having already once been occupied by Russia, during the winter of 1939/40 and made part of the Soviet Union, Finland has expressed fears to be again on Putin’s target list. Are you militarily prepared and able to defend such a long border?

Absolutely. But to clarify, we were never occupied by the Soviet Union. We had two wars with the Soviet Union. There were two capitals which were part of the war and which were not occupied – that was Helsinki and London. But anyway, we had our history with the Soviet Union, and we were one part of Russia, but we have always been prepared for this scenario as well. We have maintained very strong military forces, military capability and a conscription army, so I think that we are prepared for this. Now we have a dramatical change in Europe, having a war in Europe where Russia has started a brutal, unjustified and unprovoked war against Ukraine, a sovereign state. They are talking about possible use of nuclear weapons; that is something unheard of. This has led to dramatic changes also in Finland and Sweden, that we have decided to apply to NATO. We see this situation as not only an attack on Ukraine, it’s an attack against the whole European security, order and also global security and order. This has to be taken very seriously, and we are, of course, helping Ukraine to fight against Russia and to defend their country and their independence.

Since the war in Ukraine, thousands of Russians are crossing into Finland to avoid conscription. While I assume that such migrants are accepted on humanitarian grounds, do you have concerns that among them are military spies and agents?

We’ve got some Russians traveling to Finland, but now we have restrictions: One must have family reasons or a work-related reason. So actually, there is no more travel taking place on our border. We have some Russians who have come to Finland, and we shall deal with all the cases individually, whether they will be able to stay on a humanitarian basis or the basis of avoiding going to Ukraine; but at the moment, Russians are restricted from coming to Finland.

You mentioned NATO. In May of this year, your Prime Minister Marin and President Niinistö announced Finland’s intent to apply to join NATO, and already in July the Accession Protocol was signed and ratified by I believe 27 so far of the 30 NATO member countries. But all member states must ratify. Until everything is completed, Finland will be a non-voting associate member. 

We are a NATO invitee and already join NATO’s work and discussions.

When does Finland expect to be admitted as a full member?

It depends on the ratifications. We are still waiting for Hungarian and Turkish ratification. We heard from the NATO meeting that Hungary will ratify at the beginning of February, but we have not as yet a timetable from Turkey. 

Article 5 of the NATO Treaty provides that if a NATO ally is the victim of an armed attack, every other member will consider this as an attack against all and will take action to assist the member who is attacked. Why did you now want to join NATO, which could involve Finland in a war somewhere, where it does not affect your own security, when all these years you relied on your own defense?

We will, of course, first and foremost rely on our own defense, but the situation has now dramatically changed in Europe since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We have a long cooperation with NATO as a partner, and we have become very close to NATO; and as a result of Russia’s activities, it was now the time for us to apply for membership of NATO. We believe that the Finnish membership will strengthen NATO, and we know that they are also very much welcoming us in the sense of what we can do for the Baltic security and stability. We want to be part of NATO and have a common defense. To be part of Article 5 of course means that we also have responsibilities. We have rights, and we have security from the other NATO members, and we are also ready to defend our future allies.

Does Finland consider a Russian attack on its territory a strong possibility?

We don’t have any military threat from Russia against Finland today, but we have always been prepared for this possibility and all the possible alternatives.

In regard to Finland’s Jewish community:  I believe their presence started in the mid-18th century, but it was only sometime after Finland became a sovereign state in December 1917, that in 1919 Finnish Jews were granted equal rights. What is their total number in Finland now?

The community numbers about 1,500 to 2,000 people. It’s a small community but very active and well-integrated in Finland. The main synagogues are in Helsinki and Turku. Although Nazi parties operated in Finland during WWII, Jews of Finnish citizenship were protected, and even a personal request by Gestapo chief Himmler for their deportation was not heeded, and Jewish soldiers were given leave for their religious festivals. However, Finland’s police chief did hand over eight Jews to the Nazis, who were immediately murdered. To Finland’s credit, the event caused a national scandal, and even ministerial resignations were reported.

Today, there is an important problem for the Jewish population in your country and also for Muslims. The Finnish animal welfare act stipulates that religious slaughter of animals may be carried out only in the presence of a veterinarian, and slaughter without stunning is banned. Violations are punishable with a fine of up to two years of imprisonment. Kosher and halal meat is produced in Finnish slaughterhouses only from animals that have been stunned before bleeding, which in effect renders the meat non-kosher. Appeals have been made to the Finnish government by various organizations, and even by Benjamin Netanyahu, to change the animal protection act and allow kosher slaughter. Is this likely to happen?

First, let me comment on an earlier point. We never had Nazi parties operating in Finland: they were extreme right-wing parties. I want to say that we always protected our Jewish community, and they were an important part of our country for a long time. We also had to work with Germany in order to fight for our independence against Russia, but we never cooperated with them ideologically. We never admitted that we had any Jewish question, though they were asking us a number of times, but we never gave up anything Jewish. Our former prime minister Paavo Lipponen already apologized officially years ago. It’s also a kind of paradox that Jewish soldiers were fighting on the front next to German soldiers, and they even were awarded some iron crosses for their brave services, which of course they did not accept, but that is a paradox. 

As for animal welfare legislation, this is something that has already been in the process at the EU level and has been going forward nationally. I think it is still possible to import kosher meat, and we will not impose any restrictions there. But when it comes to slaughter in Finland, there will be rules and regulations based on animal welfare.

On her visit to Finland earlier this year, the EU’s antisemitism watchdog Katharina von Schnurbein pointed out that neither the authorities nor the general public in Finland is fully aware of the lingering antisemitic sentiments. To what extent has the current international malaise of antisemitism gained a foothold in today’s Finland?

I think we take the question of antisemitism very seriously, and we take measures nationally, of course, to avoid it and to fight against it as part of our common duty. It is also included in our education system. We make sure that these things are very thoroughly dealt with. We are fully committed to the work of the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) for instance, which Finland has also adopted, and is implementing its definition of antisemitism, which has been endorsed in our human rights strategy. So we do take it very seriously, and the authorities do everything they can. ■