PressTV... Tension is running high between Tel Aviv and Helsinki as an Israeli organization is barred from an exhibition in Finland as part of an anti-Israel boycott movement.
Finnish World Village Festival's decided on Monday to prevent the Jewish National Fund (JNF) from attending next week's exhibition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) held annually in the Finnish capital, Helsinki.
The JNF was informed that it is not permitted to participate in the event due to "the existence of question marks on the legitimacy of its activities."
Following the incident, Israel's ambassador to Finland, Dan Ashbel, contacted the Finnish Foreign Ministry officials to express anger over the decision, but the ministry responded that "it is a private event that the Finnish Foreign Ministry has no impact on."
The Finnish branch of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions hailed the decision, describing it as a victory for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.
Anti-Israel boycott
The BDS is a global campaign which uses economic and political pressure on Israel to comply with the goals of the movement - the end of Israeli occupation and colonization of Palestinian land, full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, and respect for the right of return of Palestinian refugees.
The BDS movement against Israel began in July 2005 by 171 Palestinian organizations, calling for “various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law.”
The campaign has also influenced the laws of European Union member states, which are now barred from cooperating with the Israeli companies that are linked to the occupied territories.
The EU has also blocked all grants and funding to any Israeli entity based in the illegal Israeli settlements.
Israeli illegal settlements
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank including East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
The United Nations and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in the 1967 war and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on the occupied lands.
MSM/HMV