Israel | Criticism from the ranks of Basic Finns and KD to Foreign Minister Valtones, the reason being the UN vote – “I can’t understand and I can’t accept it”

The ruling parties MPs have criticized Finland’s UN voting decision in the message service X.

Finland voted at the UN last Wednesday in favor of declaring Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories illegal.

A total of 43 countries voted no. 124 countries were in favor and 14 against. Russia also voted in favor. Israel and the United States voted against.

Christian Democrats Päivi Räsänen wrote in his update on X that he cannot “understand and accept” the voting result. The foreign minister also signed Räsänen’s publication Elina Valtonen (kok), from whom he asked for an explanation.

Christian Democrats also chairman of the party’s parliamentary group Peter Ostman criticized Valtonen’s actions Ilta-Sanom last week. According to Östman, Finland’s voting decision was in line with Russia and Iran.

Also from the ranks of the fundamental Finns parliamentary group of the second government party, there has been criticism of the voting result. Chairman of the parliamentary group of fundamental Finns Jani Mäkelä wrote in X that he was surprised by the voting decision.

Also a basic Finnish MP Vilhelm Junnila criticized in X Foreign Minister Valtonen’s decision to “vote in line with Russia and Iran in the UN.”

Vote based on the view of the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Israel’s occupation and settlements are illegal and should end.

The ICJ, located in The Hague, Netherlands, issued a ruling on the matter already in July advisory opinionwhich was non-binding. The ICJ stated at the time that Israel is obliged to immediately stop the operation of all new settlements and to evacuate all residents of the settlements from the occupied lands.

In December 2022, the UN passed a resolution asking the court to issue an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories since 1967.

Räsänen emphasized to HS on Monday that the situation in Gaza is shocking, and every death is too many.

“I don’t think at all that Israel is blameless in this. But anyone familiar with the matter knows that a decision to oblige Israel to remove half a million Jews from their homes will not help the conflict. It only makes it worse.”

According to Räsänen, with its own voting decision, Finland was fomenting a solution that will only increase bloodshed in the region.

Räsänen said that the voting result even reminded him of ethnic cleansing.

Räsenen according to him, he had no prior knowledge of the vote.

“Such matters should definitely be dealt with in a tp-utt, where representatives of all government parties are involved, when it comes to Finland’s position on such an important matter and at such a critical moment,” says Räsänen.

Räsänen hopes that a broader political discussion could be held on the matter “in such a way that it is not just one foreign minister who decides the matter”.

Räsänen believes that there will certainly be an opportunity to discuss the matter with Foreign Minister Valtonen in the parliament.

“Nevertheless, I would demand that the subject could be discussed both before and after the decision-making, and also that the entire decision-making process be clarified.”

Foreign minister Valtonen answered Ilta-Sanom briefly to the criticism caused by Finland’s voting decision in a text message sent by his special assistant.

Valtonen communicated to IS that Finland’s position in the UN General Assembly vote has been decided in the normal way, and the decision is in line with Finland’s foreign and security policy.

In his message, Valtonen did not comment further on the government parties’ criticism of Finland’s voting decision.

Räsenen According to Finland, in the vote, Finland stood on the same front as Iran, Russia and China.

“Finland chose the wrong side. It could have voted, for example, with the United States, Hungary and the Czech Republic, at least blankly, like Sweden, Denmark and Germany,” he said.

In addition to Finland, EU countries such as Estonia and France voted in favor of the resolution. Non-EU Norway also voted in favor.