February 18, 2013

(JTA) — A Finnish department store chain that published an article about the U.S. as “the Zionists’ puppet” in its newsletter may face hate speech charges, a state prosecutor said.

Finland State Prosecutor Mika Illman is quoted as telling the Iltalehti daily last week that the J.Karkkainen chain could be charged this spring in connection with last year’s publication of an article titled: “The U.S., a World Power, is the Zionists’ Puppet.”

Printed in the chain store’s newsletter, Magneetti Media, the article reached a readership of 360,000, the daily reported. Two complaints were filed against the chain store, Iltalehti reported, one of them by the Central Council of Jewish Communities in Finland and another by an identified private person. The Council is quoted as calling the text “anti-Semitic and racist.”

The Tundra Tabloids, a pro-Israel Finnish blog, published screenshots from the website of Magneetti Media showing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak against the background of a smoldering World Trade Center after the 9/11 bombings and a swinging noose. 

Another article titled “Israel wants war with Iran to conceal the events of 9/11” appeared on the website in August, the blog reported.

In December, Finnish lawmaker Pertti Salolainen dismissed criticism of his statement that the U.S. had ”a large Jewish population who have a significant control of the money and the media. The U.S. for internal political reasons is afraid to become adequately involved. This is a sad truth about U.S. politics.”

His words were “a pure analysis of foreign policy,” he said.

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