The co-chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Finland's parliament asserted on national television that American Jews hold vast control over the wealth and media in the United States, thus impeding the US government from remaining neutral on the Middle East conflict.
Pertti Salolainen, discussing the United Nations General Assembly vote to upgrade the status of the Palestinian Authority to 'non-member observer state' on Finnish television YLE, accused the United States of being unable to remain impartial on Mideast matters “because they have a large Jewish population who have a significant control of the money and the media." He added: "The US, for internal political reasons, is afraid to become adequately involved. This is a sad truth about US politics.”
Reportedly, Salolainen later dismissed criticism of his remarks and said he had given “a pure analysis of foreign policy.” According to YLE, Salolainen in an email sent to the broadcaster on Saturday denied that he had made anti-Semitic statements.
Gideon Bolotowsky, the president of the Central Council of the Jewish Communities in Finland, said Salolainen’s words had caused a frost on Finland’s political relations with Washington as well as in Jerusalem, and urged the parliamentarian to resign. “Salolainen should change his bedtable reading and not only the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Mein Kampf," Bolotowsky said.
