The Finnish peace organization Hakunilan kansainvälinen yhdistys is hosting a peace forum at the University of Helsinki titled After the death of the "peace process": Which way for peace in Israel/Palestine?. The forum is supported by the Finnish Ministry of Education.The conference will host Ilan Pappe, an Israeli historian, Ali Abunimah, the founder of Electronic Inifada and Bruno Jäntti, the chairman of ICAHD Finland.
Under the guise of the impartial sounding name, the panel features Ilan Pappe, an Israeli new historian and an advocate for a multinational state, in essence rejecting the idea of a Jewish state. The conference also features an activist who labeled Mahmud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as “collaborators”, and refers to PA participation in peace talks as collaboration.
Abunimah advocates for a bi-national state, but also acknowledges that in a one-state solution “we couldn’t rule out some disastrous situation” for Jews.
The Finnish member of the panel is Bruno Jäntti whose organization is leading the efforts to boycott Israel.
During the past year – on the contrary to its seemingly peaceful demeanor – ICAHD Finland has provided a platform to two notorious anti-Israel ideologues, Norman Finkelstein and Avi Shlaim. The political ideology of Norman Finkelstein is also the guiding ideology of ICAHD Finland. Finkelstein routinely compares the Israelis with Nazis and admires terrorist organizations such as Hizbollah:
“I did make a point of publicly honoring the heroic resistance of Hezbollah to foreign occupation …Their historic contributions are…undeniable.”
Furthermore, in Yoav Shamir’s documentary Defamation, Finkelstein executes a Nazi salute after Shamir mentions the ADL Chairman Abraham Foxman.
Pappe, Jäntti and Abunimah have aligned themselves with the most radical segment of the Palestinian population especially considering the sizable segment of the Palestinians that prefers a two state solution. All three activists advocate for the end of Israel as a Jewish state regardless of the differences in their respective means to achieve such an outcome.
What is noteworthy is how the word peace is used as a euphemism to refer to Israel’s destruction since the peace forum at the University of Helsinki does not feature a single peace activist.
Unfortunately I will not be able to attend the conference, but I encourage all those who value intellectual honesty to participate and challenge the three on their lies.dennis.mitzner@gmail.com