In Finland, a Jewish member of parliament was threatened and beaten during an election campaign. Video footage published by the Iltalehti newspaper shows MP Ben Zyskowicz of the opposition National Coalition Party being dragged to the ground by a dark-clad man.
The attacker shouted at him and threatened to kill him, Zyskowicz said. It was about NATO and Judaism. Later, the man tried to push him under the subway and hit his face with his hand, Zyskowicz said.
Zyskowicz is of Jewish faith and has been a member of parliament since 1979 – longer than any other of the 200 MPs. The incident reportedly happened on Saturday afternoon in eastern Helsinki. According to Zyskowicz, he was slightly injured, he filed a criminal complaint, and the attacker was arrested.
General elections on April 2nd
Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö condemned the act, which he called a “cowardly attack”. Hate, threats and violence during the election campaign are a violation of democracy, Niinistö wrote on Twitter. Prime Minister Sanna Marin spoke of a “shocking” act. An attack on a campaign candidate is an attack on democracy, Marin said.
Parliamentary elections will be held in Finland on April 2nd; However, voters have been able to cast their votes since the middle of the week. The country is currently governed by a five-party coalition led by Marin’s Social Democrats. However, a continuation of the alliance is unlikely, as tensions among the coalition partners had recently increased. In polls, the Social Democrats, the “National Coalition Party” and the right-wing populist “True Finns” are currently ahead.
Finland had applied for NATO membership together with Sweden in May 2022. Until recently, Turkey and Hungary had blocked the ratification. In the end, however, things got moving; unlike Sweden, Finland is likely to become a member of the defense alliance shortly. Turkey recently announced that it would support Finland’s motion, and the vote in the Turkish parliament should take place in a few days. According to media reports, the Hungarian parliament will vote on the Finnish application on Monday.
It is unclear whether and when Sweden can join the alliance. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently demanded that Sweden first extradite 120 “terrorists”. However, the Swedish Supreme Court has repeatedly prohibited this.
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