Finnish President Defends Purchase of Israeli Defensive Systems
September 18, 2024
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Finland’s President Alexander Stubb issued a statement on Wednesday pushing back against criticism of Helsinki's purchase of a unit of Israel's David Sling air defense system while the war against Hamas is ongoing. He also declared that the decision not to recognize a Palestinian State, as neighboring Sweden and Norway have done, along with Iceland, Ireland and Spain, is not related to the purchase of Israeli-built defensive systems.
“In the case of Israel and Palestine, values-based realism is prevalent in our thinking on the recognition of Palestine in the sense that we want that recognition, not if, but when it happens, to have an impact towards a two-state solution and a peaceful solution,” he said in an interview with Reuters.
Regarding the purchase of the David Sling system he said "I only look at realism, in other words, the fact that we need those weapons. So that’s when I look at Finnish security.”