Helsinki Embassy Vandalized by Neo-Nazis

The Israeli embassy in Helsinki was targeted by neo-Nazi and far right vandals in recent days, at least the fifteenth such incident in the past year and a half, according to Ynet on Thursday.

In an attack last weekend, the embassy’s glass front door was smashed, and images of swastikas and Adolf Hitler were hung in the entrance to the building. A sign was hung which read “No More Zionism!”

Israel’s Foreign Affairs Ministry denounced the attack as “(A)nother link in the chain of anti-Semitic attacks targeting the embassy.

“The Israeli Embassy in Helsinki expressed its disgust over the events to the Finnish authorities and demanded they act in full force to locate the culprits, bring them to justice and prevent similar incidents from happening in the future,” a statement said.

Ambassador to Finland, Dov Segev-Steinberg, has taken the matter up with senior officials in Finland, who have expressed concern, but have made no arrests and have not taken measures to improve security at the building.

In February, the Nordic Resistance Movement, a far-right and neo-Nazi group, demonstrated illegally in front of the building.

Anti-Semitism in Finland has been on the rise. On Independence Day last year (celebrated on December 6), right-wing extremists waved Nazi flags in the center of the capital.

Kai Aslak Mykkänen, the country’s former interior minister, defended the act saying the country has the freedom of expression.