After ‘Post’ exposé, Finnish police investigate antisemitic MP
The Jerusalem Post first reported Sunday on the scope of the newly elected Finnish Social Democratic MP’s hate-filled attacks on Jews, Israelis, Kurds, Somalis and Sunni Muslims.
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALFinland's flag flutters in Helsinki, Finland, May 3, 2017(photo credit: INTS KALNINS / REUTERS)
The Finnish tabloid Iltalehti reported on Monday that the country’s office of the prosecutor-general requested that the police launch an investigation into antisemitic, racist and homophobic writings by pro-Iranian regime MP Hussein al-Taee.The Jerusalem Post first reported Sunday on the scope of the newly elected Finnish Social Democratic MP’s hate-filled attacks on Jews, Israelis, Kurds, Somalis and Sunni Muslims. Al-Taee even compared Israel to Islamic State.Al-Taee admitted on Monday at a press conference that he wrote the Facebook posts, including targeting Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, stating: “Jew doing what a Jew does best. F***s up everybody to gain everything.”He initially said that the Facebook posts were a plot to blackmail him, according to the Finnish News Agency STT.The agency reported on Thursday that al-Taee was hospitalized on Tuesday and will go on sick leave. Antti Ämmälä , a spokesman for the independent Finnish NGO Crisis Management Initiative – where al-Taee served as an advisor for Iraq – told the Post that, “at the moment, we don’t see a scenario where he would return to CMI.”Dr. Efraim Zuroff, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Jerusalem office, told the Post on Sunday that, “This guy [Hussein al-Taee] is obviously an antisemite.”STT reported that the Social Democratic Party parliamentary group’s chairman Antti Lindtman said on Thursday that, “the party would address possible repercussions al-Taee may face for his past inflammatory comments once he returns from sick leave.”It is unclear if the social democrats and the Finnish security services will investigate al-Taee’s connections to the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States government classifies Iran’s regime as the leading international state-sponsor of terrorism.
